The Graduate Program: Overview
THE DOCTORAL PROGRAM
The program provides
students with a sophisticated and critical grounding in economic analysis, so
that they can contribute creatively to research, teaching, and social policy.
This commitment has gained the Department an international reputation as a
center of research in innovative approaches to economics. The entering graduate class consists of ten to twelve students each year. The focus of the Department, as well as its policy of maintaining small classes and promoting close contact between faculty and students, has permitted the program to attract talented students on a par with other highly selective graduate programs in the country.
The students are of diverse backgrounds, nationality, gender, and race. They are drawn by the program's strengths in such areas as political economy, development economics, international economics, economic history, gender and class, labor economics, comparative economic systems, and growth and distribution as well as in theoretical and applied micro-and macroeconomics. This leads to a breadth of perspective unusual among graduate programs in economics.
Students can work with faculty on research employing a variety of approaches to economics, including neoclassical, Marxist, institutionalist, feminist, and post-Keynesian approaches. The faculty's research interests include pure theory, empirical work, and policy analysis.
The Department is committed to innovation in economic theory, to improvement
in economic life, and to be an open environment for critical intellectual
inquiry. This diversity has proved fertile ground for learning and research.
Our
graduates have been recruited by leading liberal arts and research institutions
in the United States and abroad. They include such public institutions as the
Universities of California, Texas, Michigan State, and Vermont; private universities such as
American University, Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Notre Dame, and the University of Southern
California; and such liberal arts colleges as Bowdoin, Colby, Smith, Mount
Holyoke, Vassar, Knox, Franklin and Marshall, Skidmore, William and Mary, Grinnel, and
Middlebury. Others have chosen to work in such non-academic
institutions as the Inter-American Development Bank, the World
Bank, the United Nations, the Economic Policy Institute, and
various labor union research and education departments.
The University is located in Amherst which is situated in the historic Pioneer Valley--one of the most
interesting natural and social environments in New England. Bordering on the
Berkshire hills, the area is noted for its year-round musical and arts activity.
The home of Smith, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Amherst Colleges as well as the
University of Massachusetts, the Valley enjoys sophisticated musical, artistic,
political, and recreational resources. Amherst is two hours from Boston, four
hours from New York, and one hour from Bradley International Airport. There are
ample bus and train connections for domestic and international travel.
THE MASTER OF ARTS DEGREE
The Graduate Program in Economics is primarily designed for doctoral candidates, but a Master of Arts in Economics can be awarded along the way. Course requirements for the Master's are the same as for the Ph.D.. The Comprehensive Examinations, Dissertation Prospectus, and Doctoral Dissertation are not required. The candidate may elect to submit a Masters Thesis.
Contact Information
|
Professor David Kotz |
Connie Milne |
The University of Massachusetts does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, political or religious beliefs and affiliations, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, national origin, or disability.