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The department has a long and distinguished tradition dating back to the pioneering work of John Bates Clark, Wesley Clair Mitchell, Harold Hotelling and William Vickrey. This tradition is kept alive by a strong, research-oriented faculty whose interests range from pure theory to a variety of applied subjects.

The department is closely associated with Columbia’s Graduate School of Business and the School of International and Public Affairs.

The department also participates in the new interdisciplinary M.A. program in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences. For more information, contact Professor Chris Weiss at cw2036@columbia.edu.

Graduate education in economics at Columbia provides rigorous training and encourages students to do original and innovative work. All students learn to use the basic economic tools and master two specialized fields or one in-depth field. Faculty-student weekly workshops play a key role, providing a forum for new ideas and a free exchange and an opportunity for keeping abreast of the most current issues and research in the field. Workshops are offered in Macro/Monetary Economics, Econometrics, Labor/Applied Micro, International Economics, Economic Theory, Industrial Organization and Strategy and Development/Environmental. Students also participate in weekly colloquia and present their own research. Colloquia are offered in Micro Theory, Applied Micro, Macro and International Trade.

The Watson Library of Business and Economics has an outstanding collection of professional journals in economics, most of which are available on-line. The department operates its own computer laboratory and a graduate student lounge.

Fellowships are awarded in recognition of academic achievement and in expectation of scholarly success. Teaching and research experience are considered an important aspect of the training of graduate students. Thus, graduate fellowships include some teaching and research apprenticeship.

In addition to the requirements listed below, all students must submit 1 official transcript showing courses and grades per school attended, a Statement of Academic Purpose and 3 letters of evaluation from academic sources. All international students whose native language is not English or whose undergraduate degree is from an institution in a country whose official language is not English, must submit scores of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or IELTS. For more information, refer to our Admissions Information and Frequently Asked Questions pages.