A MA in Economics at CGU provides you with a solid grounding in economics, exposure to cutting-edge transdisciplinary research, and commitment to practice, problem solving, and policy shaping.

The MA in Economics develops problem-solving skills using the foundations in economics and the most current advances in empirical research. The program promotes practice-based scholarship that embraces the scientific method to better understand decision-making at the individual and societal levels. You’ll analyze contemporary economics problems and human and market variability, collaborating with top scholars impacting the field today. Our program prepares you to shape policy and advance individual and social well-being in a variety of public- and private-sector careers. Our alumni take different career paths. Some join PhD programs at other institutions, others become analysts, managers, directors, and CEOs at public institutions or private sector firms. One of our graduates served as US Secretary of the Treasury.


Program Highlights
  • Our program is ranked 17th nationally by TFE Times.
  • You will find opportunities for practical application through internships and research projects.
  • Our graduates find employment at prominent private-sector firms, Fortune 500 companies, and government.
  • THE MA in Economics program is an ideal stepping stone towards studying for a PhD at CGU or another institution.
  • You can pursue an MA in Economics in conjunction with another degree program at CGU, such as a PhD in Psychology or Education. You earn a diploma for each degree and “double count” some units from one program to the other to decrease the total units required for graduation.
  • This program is STEM designated, allowing international students who hold F-1 visas to apply for OPT work authorizations for a total of 36 months (an initial 1-year period and a 24-month OPT STEM extension) of paid work experience in the U.S. after graduation.

Program At a Glance

UNITS
36 units

ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME*
12–18 months

*Actual completion times will vary and may be higher, depending on full- or part-time course registration, units transferred, and time to complete other degree requirements.

COURSES BEGIN
Fall | Spring | Summer

DEPARTMENT
Economic Sciences

DIVISION
Division of Politics & Economics

DEGREE AWARDED
MA in Economics

Featured Courses

SPE 486
Data Analytics & Visualization

Covers current state-of-art business intelligence, data analytics, predictive analytics, and visualization techniques used across academia, industry, and policy circles. Students will learn and use widely accepted analytics software platforms, including R, STATA, TABLEAU, and GEPHI.

ECON 359
International Finance & Economic Development

Explores international financial issues as they relate to developing and emerging economies.

ECON 301
Applications of Behavioral Economics

Covers the application of psychological insights into economic behavior, incorporating topics from psychology and sociology, such as risk perception, self-control, fairness, altruism, envy, and reciprocity.

ECON 342
Asian Economic Development

Analyzes the region with the fastest and largest global economic growth and examines whether continued growth is sustainable.

ECON 329
Economic Policy Evaluation

Covers econometric and other statistical methods used to evaluate outcome impacts of programs resulting from the implementation of government and private sector initiatives. Illustrates empirical methods using experimental versus non-experimental data to identify the likely range of economics outcomes, including the uncertainty of costs and benefits.

ECON 337
Behavioral & Empirical Finance

Reviews the history and development of modern portfolio theory, evaluates the empirical evidence on its applicability to real world markets, and reviews recent attempts to develop new approaches to financial economics, including behavioral finance and complex systems.

View All Economics Courses

Curriculum

Micro/Macro (8 units)
Macroeconomic Analysis (4 units)
Microeconomic Analysis (4 units)

Quantitative Methods (12 units)
Option 1:
Quantitative Research Methods (4 units)
Advanced Quantitative Research Methods (4 units)
Qualitative Research Methods (4 units)

Option 2:
Probability and Statistics (4 units)
Econometrics I (4 units)
Econometrics II (4 units)

Electives (16 units)
Students are encouraged to talk with the faculty and program coordinator before choosing electives.

Research Opportunities

As a student in the Department of Economic Sciences, you will have the opportunity to contribute to faculty-led research opportunities that offer practice-oriented learning. Current project topics include:

Applied Microeconomics

  • Wellbeing evaluation: Aims at evaluating community-based health outcomes.
  • Behavioral nudges: Part of a project that aims at utilizing costless technology to nudge mobile clinic users to adopt healthy habits.
  • Effort and Risks: Uses data from professional football to look at effort, risk, and compensation.
  • Brain and choice: Aims at identifying neural predictors of consumption.
  • Retirement savings: Uses administrative survey data to predict savings and measures the mechanisms behind important behavioral biases.
  • Social networks: Involves experiments to identify the conditions necessary for coordinated behaviors within a social network such as Facebook.

International Economics

  • Capital flow reversals: Aims at identifying causes and effects of international capital flow surges and reversals.
  • Faulty mental models: Identifies the effects of behavioral biases on financial discipline during crises.
  • Migrants’ remittances: Studies the interaction of remittances flows and foreign direct investment on economic development.
  • Macroeconomic policy design: Studies the persistence of macroeconomic effects from participating in International Monetary Fund programs.

Faculty & Research

  • C. Mónica Capra profile image

    C. Mónica Capra

    Professor of Economic Sciences

    Research Interests

    Experimental Economics, Behavioral Economics, Neuroeconomics

  • Joshua Tasoff profile image

    Joshua Tasoff

    Associate Professor of Economic Sciences

    Research Interests

    Behavioral Economics, Experimental Economics, Microbial Economics

  • Gregory DeAngelo profile image

    Gregory DeAngelo

    Associate Professor of Economic Sciences
    Director, Computational Justice Lab

    Research Interests

    Law, Political Economy, Public Choice

    Affiliated with

    Computational Justice Lab

  • Robert Klitgaard profile image

    Robert Klitgaard

    University Professor

    Research Interests

    Public Policy, Economic Strategy, Institutional Reform, Corruption

  • Tom Kniesner profile image

    Tom Kniesner

    Senior Research Fellow

    Research Interests

    Labor Economics, Health Economics, Econometrics

  • Graham Bird profile image

    Graham Bird

    Clinical Professor of Economic Sciences
    Program Director: International Money and Finance; International Economic and Development Policy
    Co-Director: Claremont Institute for Economic Policy Studies

    Research Interests

    International Finance, International Macroeconomics, Economic Development

  • Thomas Willett profile image

    Thomas Willett

    Professor Emeritus
    Director, Claremont Institute for Economic Studies

    Research Interests

    International Money and Finance, Political Economy of Economic Policy

  • Paul J. Zak profile image

    Paul J. Zak

    Professor of Economic Sciences, Psychology & Management
    Director, Center for Neuroeconomics Studies

    Research Interests

    Neuroeconomics, Neuroscience of Narratives, Neuromanagement

Where You Can Find Our Alumni

Request information about the Economics program

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John Moore

Assistant Director of Admissions
T: 909-607-3925
E: john.moore@cgu.edu