Graduate Programs

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Economics

Introduction

The Department of Economics offers a professionally oriented graduate program that leads to a Master of Science in Social and Applied Economics.

This program is designed to develop professional economists who can solve contemporary economic problems with a unique set of skills created by a curriculum that combines applied economics with social economics. In doing so, the program bridges the gap between research and the application of research for use in a wide variety of business and government professions. Students are encouraged to develop and evaluate new approaches to economic problem solving. The curriculum stresses research and field experience, which is complemented by the faculty’s teaching and research emphasis on the interplay of theory and applications.

Admission

An applicant for graduate study in the social and applied economics program is required to meet the general requirements of the School of Graduate Studies and also to be accepted by the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of Economics. Students need not have an undergraduate degree in economics to enter this program; however, the student’s undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and, if applicable, graduate GPA will be considered. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) general test is required. (Students selecting to do the dual degree with the MBA may substitute the GMAT for the GRE.)

Application forms for admission and for the GRE are available in the office of the chair of the Department of Economics or from the School of Graduate Studies. Both full- and part-time students are accepted for admission to the program.

Degree Requirements

Candidates for the Master of Science degree in Social and Applied Economics must successfully complete a minimum of 48 credit hours in courses numbered 600 or above, exclusive of prerequisite survey courses. Of the total 48 hours, 44 must be taken in the department (40 credit hours of courses plus four credit hours of internship). Students must achieve a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 in all graduate courses exclusive of the internship, which requires a grade of pass. No more than nine credit hours of C grades may be applied toward the degree.

As many as 12 graduate credit hours may be transferred into the M.S. program in social and applied economics by petition to the Graduate Studies Committee in the Department of Economics and subject to approval by the School of Graduate Studies.

All candidates are required to complete an internship. Prior to the internship, students should have completed a minimum of 24 credit hours (including EC 709 and EC 712). Approval by the student’s advisor and the Graduate Studies Committee of the department is also required. Detailed information on internship objectives, standards, and supervision is available upon request from the director of the M.S. in economics program.

In very rare cases, the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of Economics may require a student to take and pass a comprehensive written and/or oral examination as a degree requirement.

Prerequisites
A bachelor’s degree in economics is not required prior to entering the program; however, basic courses in economics principles, introductory statistics, and calculus are minimum requirements. Students who have not had these courses or the equivalent should complete the courses before entering the program. Upon approval of the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of Economics, students may make up deficiencies in program prerequisites after admission to the program, but before taking courses requiring these specific prerequisites. The following survey courses have been designed to meet the program prerequisites: EC 510 (for calculus), EC 509 (for statistics), and EC 521 and 522 (for principles of micro- and macro-economics). MBA 520 may be substituted for EC 521-522.

Faculty

Professors
John P. Blair, urban and regional economics, economic policy, public finance
Joseph G. Eisenhauer (Chair), economics of risk, ethics, labor economics, applied microeconomics, statistics
Rudy Fichtenbaum, econometrics, labor economics, macroeconomics, health economics
Paulette Olson, labor economics, history of economic thought, methodology, economics of gender
Evan W. Osborne, microeconomic theory, law and economics, public choice, international economics
Robert Premus, regional-urban economics, public finance, economic theory, monetary economics
G. Thomas Sav, microeconomics, public finance, energy economics, property rights
Thomas Traynor, forecasting, econometrics, industrial organization, microeconomics

Associate Professors
Tran Huu Dung, microeconomics, international economics, physical economics
Barbara E. Hopkins, comparative economic institutions, development economics, gender analysis, economics of the Pacific Rim

Assistant Professors
Sirisha C. Naidu, environmental and natural resource economics, economics of development and conservation
Zdravka Todorova, institutional economics, macroeconomics, monetary theory

M.S. Director
Leonard Kloft, globalization, economic history, international economics, cliometrics, electronic commerce

Financial Assistance

Other financial assistance programs are available for graduate students. This assistance may be provided through financial aid and/or graduate academic fellowships. For further information concerning financial aid, please contact the Office of Financial Aid. Information regarding graduate academic fellowships may be obtained by contacting the director of the graduate program.

Graduate Assistantship

Assistantships are available on a competitive basis for the first year of study. Undergraduate GPA, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, TOEFL score, and other materials are used in the assistantship decision. The department reserves the right to adjust the level of funding conditional on the availability of funds and the student’s academic progress. Assistantships require students to spend a specified amount of time assisting either in instruction or in research. The balance of their time is devoted to graduate studies. Graduate assistants are required by the graduate school to register for a minimum of eight hours of graduate credit per quarter (a maximum of six credit hours for each five-week summer term is considered the normal load).

Program Description

Any modification of the following program requirements requires petition approval by the department, college, and university graduate studies committees. The program is designed so that students may complete the degree in one calendar year.

Dual Degree with M.B.A.
Students may obtain both the Master of Business Administration degree and the Master of Science degree in Social and Applied Economics under the dual-degree program, which permits common course work to apply to both programs. This policy does not apply to students who receive an M.B.A. degree from schools other than Wright State. For further information, contact the director of the M.S. program in economics or the director of the M.B.A. program.

Course of Study

Required Courses	36

EC 709 Econometrics and Its Applications	4
EC 712 Forecasting Economic Activity	4
EC 715 Applied Microeconomics	4
EC 717 Applied Macroeconomics	4
EC 724 Development of Economic Thought	4
EC 725 Economic, Social and Ecological Systems	4
EC 726 Contemporary Political Economy	4
EC 780 Economic Problems Seminars	4

EC 785 Internship*	4
Electives	12

Choose three courses:
EC 602 Monetary Economics
EC 610 Introduction to Mathematical Economics	4
EC 635 Comparative Capitalist Institutions	4
EC 644 Problems of Economic Development and Transition	4
EC 645 Political Economy of Women	4
EC 719 International Economics	4
EC 722 Economics for Managers	4
EC 730 Regional and Urban Economics	4
EC 731 Economics of Public Finance	4
EC 740 Cost-Benefit Analysis and Social Project Evaluation	4
EC 755 The Economics of Health and Health Policy	4
EC 765 Labor Market Theory and Policy	4
EC 777 Economic Studies	4
EC 781/782/783 Research in Economics
Two courses must be in economics. One course may be noneconomics. Approval of advisor is required for electives taken outside of the Raj Soin College of Business.
Economics	8-12
Noneconomics	0-4
Total	48