2012-2013 Bulletin 
    
    Mar 28, 2024  
2012-2013 Bulletin [ARCHIVED BULLETIN]

Economics, PhD


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Program Requirements

The rigorous training and applied nature of the department’s core offerings and doctoral fields provide the analytical expertise and practical experience for both domestic and international positions. Students fulfill a standard set of core requirements and qualify in one major doctoral field. Students must complete the coursework described below, pass the written and oral qualifying examinations, complete a satisfactory dissertation, and defend it in an oral examination.

1) A minimum of 72 units of graduate-level course work, including completion of core course requirements listed below.

2) Successful completion of one major field of study (five courses). Please note that for Ph.D interfield students, some of the economics fields will require only four courses). Available standard fields and their respective requirements are listed below:

Business & Financial Economics
Industrial Organization
International & Development Economics
International Money & Finance
Neuroeconomics and Behavioral Economics
Public Choice & Public Economics

3) Completion of the institutional research tool requirement. This requirement is met by successful completion of the Mathematics and Econometrics sequences.

4) Successful completion of qualifying examinations in microeconomics, macroeconomics and the major field of study.

The typical first year consists of core courses as well as research tools. The second and third years mix core and field courses and research workshops. The third year is typically devoted to elective courses and research workshops, completion of written qualifying exams, and beginning the dissertation. The fourth year is normally devoted primarily to the dissertation.

TRANSDISCIPLINARY COURSE REQUIRED

All doctoral students are required to complete the transdisciplinary course requirement. They take the transdisciplinary course during their second year of doctoral enrollment.

FINAL PAPER PORTFOLIO
As for all Master’s degree programs in SPE, during their last semester in the program, students must provide the program office a copy of a paper that they wrote their first semester in the degree program they are pursuing along with a paper they wrote later that they consider an example of their best work in their respective degree program. (These papers will be used by CGU’s accrediting agency.)
[see SPE Student Handbook for detailed program requirements]

 

Core requirements for the Ph.D. program are as follows:


Political Economy (Choice)


  • Econ 300 Political Economy and Social Inquiry or
  • Econ 343/286 Public Choice or
  • SPE360 Advanced Political Economy
Mathematics and Quantitative Methods

  • Econ 308 Mathematics for Economists I 
  • Econ 382 Econometrics I
  • Econ 383 Econometrics II
  • Econ 384 Econometrics III
Global Commerce and Finance - Applied Field

 

Econ Core

Micro (16 units)

  • Econ 313 Microeconomic Analysis I
  • Econ 316 Math Methods in Micro
  • SPE 315 Game Theory or Econ 317 Advanced Microeconomics II
  • SPE 329 Economics of Management and Organization

  Macro (8 units)

  Quantitative and Research Methods (20 units)

  • Econ 308 Math for Economists I
  • Econ 382 Econometrics I
  • Econ 383 Econometrics II
  • Econ 384 Econometrics III
  • SPE 471 Strategic Modeling for PEB Decisions

  Additional Core Classes (8 units)

  • Econ 351 The Global Political Economy or

An approved substitute in international economics

  • Econ 337 Behavioral Finance and Risk Management

  Political Economy and T-Course Requirements (8 units)
  Approved T-course and a course in political economy or public choice, such as:

  • SPE 410 Foundations of Political Economy
  • SPE 411 International Political Economy
  • Econ 300 Political Economy and Social Inquiry or
  • Econ 286 Public Choice

  Elective Fields (12 units)
 

  • International Money and Finance
  • Business and Financial Economics
  • International Commerce and Development 

Students take core quals in micro and macro based on Economics 313 and 302 respectively, and a field qual   Total: 72 Units

 

 

 

 

Field Options


 

Courses should provide the students with the background to successfully complete the field qualifying examination. The advisor should be consulted in order to maximize exposure to key concepts.

Business and Financal Economics


 
This field integrates key findings and approaches from several business-related fields including finance, organization theory, strategy, and the theory of the firm. This field is particularly suitable for those who wish to enter the private sector or teach in a business school. Students on this track are exposed to many of the concepts and results presented in MBA programs, but the material is covered at a more advanced level. Students have the opportunity to specialize in either applied microeconomics or financial markets.

1)       Econ 337 Behavioral Finance and Risk Management, Econ 336 Financial Economics, or another approved finance course  

2)      Two (2) of the following courses: 

  • Econ 326 Advanced Industrial Organization
  • Econ 335 Financial Economics and Economic Organization
  • Econ 338 Advanced Topics in Money and Finance
  • SPE 324 Economics of Management and Organization

  3)   Two (2) additional approved courses related to business and financial economics. A partial list of possibilities:  

  • Econ 265 Industrial Organization
  • Econ 267 Law and Economics
  • Econ 273 Economics of Innovation
  • Econ 350 International Money and Finance
  • SPE 301 Behavioral Neuroscience of Decision-Making

Industrial Organization


The central research question in Industrial Organization is: “How can the behavior and performance of firms and markets be explained and predicted with observable data?” Industrial Organization economists apply microeconomic theory and econometrics to study firms and markets. Both theoretical and empirical work is important, and there are several implications for business strategy and public policy. Industrial Organization at CGU emphasizes dynamics and connections to related fields such as Finance, Law and Economics, New Institutional Economics, Organization Theory, Strategy, and the Theory of the Firm.

  1)   Econ 265 Industrial Organization

  2)   Two (2) out of the following three (3) courses: 

  • Econ 326 Advanced Industrial Organization
  • Econ 335 Financial Economics and Economic Organization
  • SPE 324 Economics of Management and Organization
  3) Two (2) approved courses from areas such as financial economics, industrial organization, law and economics, managerial economics, public choice, public economics, regulation, and strategy.

International & Development Economics


 

This field is designed to give students a broad overview of the key elements of global economics including international trade theory and policy, international money and finance, and development economies. Students then specialize with one or more advanced courses in one of these three areas. This gives students a strong background for academic appointments as well as work in the public and private sector.

Choose two (2) of the following three (3) courses:

1)       Econ 347 International Trade OR Econ 355 International Trade Theory and Policy OR Econ 374 Trade and Development Policies AND

2)      Econ 350 International Money and Finance   One (1) additionalapproved course that has a substantial focus on the economics or political economy of growth, trade, or policy. Recommended courses include, but are not limited to: 

  • Econ 304 Growth and Development
  • Econ 342 Asian Economic Development or
  • Econ 224 Asian Political Economy
  • PP 471 Decision Making Models
  • SPE 360 Advanced Political Economy
  • Econ 329 Political Economy of Institutions & Development
  • SPE 302 Political Economy of Development
  • PP 336 Political and Economic Development in Latin America
  • Econ 354 Advanced Growth and Development
  • SPE 207 China in the Global Economy

[note: check class lists]

International Money and Finance


This field emphasizes the key concepts essential for students wishing to pursue careers in academics, government, and the private sector in the areas for international finance, global macroeconomics, and the political economy of international monetary and financial relations. It is based on the premise that specialists in any of these areas require a broad understanding of the interrelationships among exchange rates, international financial markets, open economy macroeconomics, and the political economy influences which drive government policies in these areas.

  1) Econ 350 International Money and Finance   2) Econ 358 Advanced Topics in International Monetary and Financial Economics         OR an alternate approved advanced seminar   3) An approved course in Finance (example - Econ336 Financial Economics)   4) Two (2) approved courses - Recommended courses include:
  • Econ 337 Behavioral and Empirical Finance
  • Econ 357 Open Economy Macroeconomics
  • Econ 359 Finance and Development
  • Econ 304 Advanced Growth and Development

Neuroeconomics


 

Neuroeconomics uses neuroscientific techniques to understand economic decisions. This exciting new field of study focuses on teaching students techniques from neuroscience and psychology and then applying them to understand economic behaviors.   In 2001 when Vernon Smith and Daniel Kahneman shared the Nobel Prize in economics, both had published papers in neuroeconomics. This field is not designed to produce students who are neuroscientists, but students will learn sufficient neuroscience to be critical consumers and producers of this literature, including laboratory techniques. Besides studying neuroeconomics, students also specialize in a second economics field.

 1)       SPE301 Behavioral Neuroscience of Decision-Making

 

2)      Social Science 200 (Caltech) Behavioral Game Theory  

OR Econ327 Applications of Behavioral Game Theory and Finance


3)      Functional MRI Visiting Fellowship (Mass. General Hospital) OR equivalent (40+ hours of contact time)

4)      Two (2) core courses from another field in economics:  

  • Industrial Organization (Econ 265, 326, 335 or SPE 324)
  • Growth and Development (Econ 304, 305, or 342)
  • International Money and Finance (Econ 350, 337, 338, 357, or 358)
  • Public Choice (Econ 343/286, SPE 360)
  • International (Econ 347, 350, or 355)
  • Business & Financial (Econ 325, 323, 326, 335, 336, 337, 338, 343, 360, or SPE 323, 324)

  Two (2) alternative courses may be taken with the faculty contact’s approval.   Recommended additional courses:   Neuroscience

  • Biology 95 Foundations of Neuroscience
  • Biology 149 Neurobiology Seminar
  • Psychology 148pi Neuropharmacology

  Psychology

  • SBOS 260 Perception & Cognition
  • SBOS 325 Psychology of Thinking
  • SBOS 351n Attitudes and Social Influence
  • SBOS 318 Overview of Social Psychology                                               

Additional psychology and neuroscience courses may also be taken.

 

Public Choice and Public Economics


 

The public choice and public economics field encompasses the application of microeconomics to political behavior and to the role of the state in economic life. It attempts to treat alterations in the institutions of politics as outcomes conditioned by such variables as transaction costs, property rights, social values, technology and factor quantities. Using this framework, issues of voting, coalition formation, types of representation, including autocracy, bureaucracy, public enterprise, “outsourcing,” as well as constitutional and legal structures are considered. The traditional role of taxes, public expenditures and regulations are analyzed using public choice under the rubric of public economics: 

1)       Econ 343/286 Public Choice OR SPE 410 Foundations of Political Economy

2)      SPE 360 Advanced Political Economy 

3)      Three (3) approved courses from economic/organization and regulation, domestic and international political economy, law and economics, management, mathematics, normative economics, politics and policy, philosophy, public economics/finance, social psychology and sociology/anthropology

Other Fields


Additional fields can be constructed with approval of the department executive committee and dean. Other fields require a faculty member who will supervise the field and rigor commensurate with existing fields.

 

Transdisciplinary Course Requirement.


All students who enter the doctoral program after the fall 2004 semester are required to complete the transdisciplinary course requirement within the first two years of their program. For details on the requirement, see the “Doctor of Philosophy Degree ” section in this Bulletin.

Qualifying Exams


Written Qualifying Examinations. The written qualifying examinations are designed to test a student’s knowledge of economics and of specialized fields. Students are required to pass three exams: two in the core areas of micro and macro, and one in an elective field. Information on the structure and coverage of the exams for each degree program, and suggestions for preparing for them, are available from the Department of Economics office.

Micro, Macro and Field Examination

 

Examinations are comprehensive and written by the faculty most closely related to the material being examined. Failure to pass the required qualifying examinations or field exam will result in the student’s termination from the economics doctoral program. Qualifying examinations (“quals”) are offered twice each year (microeconomics in January/May and macroeconomics in May/September). The department strongly recommends that students complete the micro and macro quals before taking the field examination.

 

Field exams are usually held in January, May, or September. Two (2) attempts are allowed each for the quals and field exams. A student may petition the examination committee for approval of a third try. Normally a third try on a qualifying exam will be considered only if the student has passed the other qualifying exams.


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