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General Information about the Ph.D. Program
The Ph.D. program in Economics at Brown trains students in economic theory
and the tools of economic analysis. Through course work, participation
in seminars, and supervised research students are taught to conduct theoretical
and empirical research at the highest level.
The Ph.D. degree usually requires two years of course work, followed by supervised research and the completion of a doctoral dissertation. The first year involves core courses in microeconomics (Economics 2050, 2060), macroeconomics (Economics 2070, 2080), econometrics (Economics 2030, 2040), and two additional courses, one in mathematics (Economics 2010) and one in applied economics analysis (Economics 2020). Students take written core examinations in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics at the end of the first year. Starting in the second year, each student chooses two fields of specialization, and takes an oral field exam. Each field comprises two advanced courses within an area. Beyond the fields, the student takes three additional advanced courses, for a total of seven. The rest of pre-dissertation requirements include a research paper turned in at the end of the third year and two successful seminar presentations. The detailed description of all requirements, along with guidelines for the student, can be found in the Economics PhD Handbook.
The culmination of the Ph.D. program is the dissertation, which embodies
the results of the student's original research. Work on the dissertation
usually takes two-three years after completion of course work. Students
working on dissertations participate actively in research workshops. After
a faculty committee has approved the dissertation, the student takes a
final oral examination on the subject of the dissertation.
The work in the Ph.D. program is demanding and the standards of performance
are high. The Department's reputation for providing superb training has
enabled its graduates to compile an excellent placement record. Some of
the institutions at which recent graduates have obtained positions include
major research universities (Chicago, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Minnesota,
New York University, Penn State, University College London, University of British Columbia, University of Pittsburgh, University
of Toronto, University of Virginia), prestigious
liberal arts colleges (Williams), government and international agencies (International
Monetary Fund, Federal Trade Commission, World Bank, Congressional Budget
Office, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, US Census Bureau),
and private industrial, consulting, and research firms. Brown graduates
have an outstanding record of research accomplishments and publications.
The Department offers a one-year MA program. Applicants to the MA program are evaluated using the same criteria as applicants to the PhD program. Students in the MA program are not funded by Brown. However, those MA students who take the core examination and pass it will continue in the PhD program and receive funding. In addition, PhD students can earn the MA on the way to the PhD or can receive the MA if they choose not to complete the PhD program. The MA requires passing eight courses in the areas of Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Econometrics.
The Department currently has about thirty faculty members. The faculty
includes several Fellows of the Econometric Society,
several Sloan Fellows, several Guggenheim Fellows, several recipients of prestigious prizes and awards, the editor of the Journal of Economic Growth, the editor of the Journal of Financial Intermediation, a past editor of the American Economic Review, and several associates
and fellows of the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Center
for Economic Policy Research. The Department's faculty publishes regularly their research in the top journals of economics and other disciplines, as well as in top field journals (see our "Selected Faculty Publications"). Members of the faculty in the Department have also delivered numerous named, keynote and plenary lectures in main international scientific conferences. The atmosphere in the Department is highly
collegial. Interaction among faculty members and graduate students is
easy and extensive. The department collaborates with the Brown
Population Studies and Training Center, which provides support for
students doing research in population economics and economic development.
Active workshops provide opportunities for faculty, graduate students,
and visiting scholars to discuss current research. Library and computer
facilities are excellent.
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Application for Admission and Financial Aid
The University and the Department offer financial aid to highly qualified
applicants in the form of first-year Fellowships, Teaching Assistantships,
Research Assistantships, and Dissertation Fellowships. Financial aid is usually offered to the students in the PhD program through the first five years of graduate study. All financial aid after the first year is conditional on making good academic progress towards the PhD degree as defined in the department's PhD Handbook.
Entry into the Ph.D. program in economics is possible only in the Fall
semester. The application deadlines is the beginning of January (please refer to the Graduate School web page for exact date) for admission starting the following September. About 10 students enter the program each year.
All applicants must take the verbal, quantitative, and analytical sections
of the Graduate Record Examination. In order to ensure that their scores
reach us by January, applicants should take the GRE in October, or, at
the latest, in December. Applicants whose native language is not English
must also take the TOEFL examination. Further information about the GRE
and TOEFL examinations can be obtained from the Educational
Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey 08540.
In preparing for the Ph.D. program in economics a student can pursue
an undergraduate major in any field. However, four semesters of economic
analysis and two years of calculus are required for admission. Courses
in economic theory, differential equations, and linear algebra are highly
recommended. A strong undergraduate record, particularly in Economics,
Mathematics and other analytical subjects, provides evidence of the applicant's
ability and preparation for undertaking graduate work.
Additional information and application forms (paper and electronic) are
available from the Graduate
School or by writing to Box 1867, Brown University, Providence, Rhode
Island 02912. For answers to specific questions about the Economics Department,
contact Angelica_Vargas@brown.edu.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Living in Providence
Providence is an historic New England city with an ethnically diverse
metropolitan area population of about one million. Quoting from The New
York Times, "...a vibrant, charming city, one of the most attractive
medium-size cities in the country, rich in history and culture and uniquely
rich in beautiful dwellings and public buildings of the late 18th and
early 19th centuries." Providence has developed into a significant
travel destination, with 5.5 million visitors yearly.
The University is in the oldest and best residential area of the city.
Most faculty and students live in this neighborhood. In addition to many
university cultural and athletic events, Providence has good restaurants,
an active nightlife, an excellent repertory theatre, a symphony orchestra,
and several fine art museums and galleries. The civic arena hosts rock
concerts, athletic events, and more. The University's athletic center
provides excellent facilities for squash, swimming, ice skating, tennis,
and general fitness.
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Graduate Courses
2009-10 class schedule. This list is subject to revision. Check this website for updates.
Please see the course catalog in Banner for full course descriptions.
Selected Faculty Publications
Anna Aizer
"Home Alone: Maternal Employment, Child Care and Adolescent Behavior," Journal of Public Economics, forthcoming.
"Networks or Neighborhoods? Correlations in the Use of Publicly Funded Maternity Care in California," with J. Currie. Journal of Public Economics, forthcoming.
"Low Take-up in Medicaid: Does Outreach Matter and For Whom?" American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, 2003.
Nathaniel Baum-Snow
"Did Highways Cause Suburbanization?" Quarterly Journal of Economics, May 2007.
"Suburbanization and Transportation in the Monocentric Model" Journal of Urban Economics, forthcoming
"Effects of Urban Rail Transit Expansions: Evidence from Sixteen Cities," with M. E. Kahn, Brookings Papers on Urban Affairs, 2005.
George Borts
"Long-term Rail Contracts -- Handle with Care," Transportation Journal, 1986.
"The Greenhouse Program: Is it Economically Feasible and Justifiable?" Northeast Journal of Business and Economics, 1984.
Pedro Dal Bó
"Cooperation under the Shadow of the Future: experimental evidence from infinitely repeated games," American Economic Review, 2005.
"Plata o Plomo?: Bribes and Punishment in a Theory of Political Influence," with Ernesto Dal Bo and Rafael Di Tella, American Political Science Review, 2006.
"Social Norms, Cooperation and Inequality," Economic Theory, forthcoming.
"Tacit Collusion under Interest Rate Fluctuations," RAND Journal of Economics, forthcoming.
Geoffroy de Clippel
"Two Remarks on the Inner Core,"with Enrico Minelli,Games and Economic Behavior, 2005
"Values for Cooperative Games with Incomplete Information: an Eloquent Example,"Games and Economic Behavior,2005.
"The Type-Agent Core for Exchange Economies under Asymmetric Information,"Journal of Economic Theory,2007
"Impartial Division of a Dollar,"with Herve Moulin and Nic Tideman,Journal of Economic Theory,forthcoming
Allan Feldman
"Welfare Economics,"in S.Durlauf and L.Blume(eds.),The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics,2nd Edition,Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.,London,forthcoming2007
Welfare Economics and Social Choice Thoery,2nd Edition, with R.Serrano,Springer Science and Business Media,New York, 2006
"Victim or Injurer,Small Car or SUV: Tort Liablity Rules Under Role-Type Uncertainty," with Jeongyun KimInternational Review of Law and Economics,Vol.26,No.4,2006,pp.455-477.
"The Hand Rule and United States v.Carroll Towinc Co.Reconsidered," with Jeonghyun Kim,American Law and Economic Review,Vol.7,No.2,2005,pp.523-543.
"A Simple Model of Effecient Tort Liability Rules,"International Review of Law and Economics, Vol.18, No.2,1998, pp. 2001-215.
Andrew Foster
"Economic Growth and the Rise of Forests," with M. Rosenzweig, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2003.
"Household Division, Inequality and Rural Economic Growth," with M. Rosenzweig, Review of Economic Studies, 2002.
"Imperfect Commitment, Altruism, and the Family: Evidence from Transfer Behavior in Low-Income Rural Areas," with M. Rosenzweig, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2001.
"Women`s Schooling, Home Teaching, and Economic Growth," with J. Behrman, M. Rosenzweig and P. Vashishtha, Journal of Political Economy, 1999.
"Comparative Advantage, Information and the Allocation of Workers to Tasks: Evidence from an Agricultural Labor Market," with M. Rosenzweig, Review of Economic Studies, 1996.
Rachel Friedberg
"The Impact of Mass Migration on the Israeli Labor Market," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2001.
"You Can`t Take It With You? Immigrant Assimilation and the Portability of Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, 2000.
"Immigration and the Receiving Economy," with J. Hunt, in C. Hirschman, P. Kasinitz, and J. DeWind, eds. The Handbook of International Migration, Russell Sage Foundation, 1999.
"The Impact of Immigrants on Host Country Wages, Employment and Growth," with J. Hunt, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1995.
Oded Galor
"Das Human_Kapital: A Theory of the Demise of the Class Structure," Review of Economic Studies, 2006.
"Natural Selection and the Origin of Economic Growth," with O. Moav, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2002.
"Population, Technology, and Growth: From Malthusian Stagnation to the Demographic Transition and Beyond," with D. Weil, American Economic Review, 2000.
"Ability Biased Technological Transition, Wage Inequality and Economic Growth," with O. Moav, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2000.
"Income Distribution and Macroeconomics," with J. Zeira, Review of Economic Studies, 1993.
Vernon Henderson
"The Theory of Urban Growth," with D. Black, Journal of Political Economy, 1999.
"On Strategic Community Development," with J-F Thisse, Journal of Political Economy, 2001.
"How Migration Restrictions Limit Agglomeration and Productivity in China," with C.C. Au, Journal of Economic Development, 2006.
"Are Chinese Cities Too Small," with C.C. Au, Review of Economic Studies, 2006.
"Spatial Organization of Firms," with K. Aarland, J. Davis and Y. Ono, Rand Journal of Economics, forthcoming.
"Networking off Madison Avenue," with M. Arzaghi, Revenue of Economic Studies, 2008
"The Dynamics of City Formation", with A. Venables, Review of Economic Dynamics, 2009
Peter Howitt
"The Microfoundations of the Keynesian Multiplier Process," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, 2006.
"Appropriate Growth Policy: An Integrating Framework," with P. Aghion, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2006.
"Beyond Search: Fiat Money in Organized Exchange," International Economic Review, 2005.
"Endogenous Growth and Cross Country Income Differences," American Economic Review, 2000.
"Endogenous Growth Theory," with P. Aghion, MIT Press, 1998.
Frank Kleibergen
"Testing Parameters in GMM without assuming that they are identified," Econometrica, 2005.
"Testing Subsets of Structural Parameters in the IV Regression Model," Review of Economics and Statistics, 2004.
"Invariant Bayesian Inference in Regression Models that is robust against the Jeffreys-Lindleys Paradox," Journal of Econometrics, 2004.
"Bayesian and Classical Approaches to Instrumental Variable Regression," with E. Zivot, Journal of Econometrics, 2003.
"Pivotal Statistics for testing Structural Parameters in Instrumental Variables Regression," Econometrica, 2002.
Brian Knight
"Socially Optimal Districting: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration" with Stephen Coate,Quarterly Journal of Economics, forthcoming
"Estimating the Value of Proposal Power," American Economic Review, December 2005.
"Endogenous Federal Grants and Crowd-out of State Government Spending: Theory and Evidence from the Federal Highway Aid Program," American Economic Review, March 2002.
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Tony Lancaster
"Orthogonal Parameters and Panel Data," Review of Economic Studies, 2002.
An Introduction to Modern Bayesian Econometrics, Blackwells, 2004.
"The Incidental Parameter Problem Since 1948," Journal of Econometrics, 2000.
"Panel Data with Survival: Hospitalization of HIV Patients," Journal of the American Statistical Association, 1998.
"Bayes WESML: Posterior Inference from Choice-Based Samples," Journal of Econometrics, 1997.
Ross Levine
"Rethinking Bank Supervision and Regulation: Until Angels Govern," Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
"Bank Supervision and Corruption in Lending," Journal of Monetary Economics,2006.
"Is There a Diversification Discount in Financial Conglomerates?," Journal of Financial Economics,2007.
"Complex Ownership Structures and Corporation Valuations,"Review of Financial Studies, forthcoming
"Internationalization and the Evolution of Corporate Valuations,"Jornal of Financial Economics,forthcoming.
Sophocles Mavroeidis
"Identification Issues in Forward Looking Models Estimated by GMM, with an Application to the Phillips Curve," Journal of Money Credit and Banking, 2005.
"Weak identification of Forward-looking Models in Monetary Economics," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2004.
Kaivan Munshi
"Traditional Institutions Meet the Modern World: Caste, Gender, and Schooling Choice in a Globalizing Economy," with M. Rosenzweig, American Economic Review, 2006.
"New Roles for Marriage in Urban Africa: Kinship Networks and the Labor Market in Kenya," with N. Luke, Review of Economics and Statistics, 2006.
"How Efficiently is Capital Allocated? Evidence from the Knitted Garment Industry in Tirupur," with A. Banerjee, The Review of Economic Studies, 2004.
"Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the U.S. Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2003.
"Inequality, Control Rights and Rent Seeking: Sugar Cooperatives in Maharashtra," with A. Banerjee, D. Mookherjee and D. Ray Journal of Political Economy, 2001.
Talbot Page
"An Experimental Study of the Effect of Private Information in the Coase Theorem," with R. McKelvey, Experimental Economics, forthcoming.
"Taking Coase Seriously," with R. McKelvey, Economics and Philosophy, 1999.
"Sustainability and the Discount Rate Problem," Land Economics, 1997.
"Public and Private Information: An Experimental Study of Information Pooling," with R. McKelvey, Econometrica, 1990.
"Common Knowledge of an Aggregate of Expectations," with L.T. Nielsen, A. Brandenbarger, J. Geanakoplos, and R. McKelvey, Econometrica, 1990.
Mark Pitt
"Credit Programs for the Poor and the Nutritional Status of Children in Rural Bangladesh," with S.R. Khandker, O.H. Chowdhury, D.Millimet, International Economic Review, 2003.
"Simulated Maximum Likelihood Estimation of the Linear Expenditure System with Binding Non-negativity Constraints," with L-F. Lee and C. Kao, Annals of Economics and Finance, 2001.
"Credit Programs or the Poor and Reproductive Behavior in Low Income Countries: Are the Reported Causal Relationships the Results of Heterogeneity Bias?" with S. Khandker, S-M. McKernan, and M. Latif, Demography, 1999.
"The Impact of Group-Based Credit on Poor Households in Bangladesh: Does the Gender of Participants Matter?" with S. Khandker, Journal of Political Economy, 1998.
"Productivity, Health and Inequality in the Intra-household Distribution of Food in Low-Income Countries," with M. Rosenzweig and M. Hassan, American Economic Review, 1990.
Louis Putterman
"Agriculture, DIffusion, and Development:Ripple Effects of the Neolithic Revolution,"Economica,forthcoming
"The Ecology of Collective Action: A Public Goods and Sanctions Experiment with Controlled Group Formation," with Umut Ones, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization,2007.
"Early Starts, Reversals and Catch-up in the Process of Economic Development," with A. Chanda, Scandinavian Journal of Economics,2007.
"Voluntary Association in Public Goods Experiments: Reciprocity, Mimicry, and Efficiency," with T. Page and B. Unel, The Economic Journal, 2005.
"Privatization and Firm Performance: A Comparison of Rural and Urban Enterprises in Jiangsu Province," with X.Y. Dong and B. Unel, Journal of Comparative Economics, 2006.
Harl Ryder
"Two-Sided Search, Marriages and Matchmakers," with F. Bloch, International Economic Review, 2000.
"Wage Bargaining and the Choice of Production Technique in Capitalist Firms," with G. Skillman, in Markets and Democracy: Participation, Accountability, and Efficiency, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
"Existence, Uniqueness, and Stability of Equilibrium in an Overlapping-Generations Model with Productive Capital," with O. Galor, Journal of Economic Theory, 1989.
"Heterogeneous Time Preferences and the Distribution of Wealth," International Journal of Mathematical Social Sciences, 1985.
"Optimal Growth with Intertemporally Dependent Preferences," with G.M. Heal, Review of Economic Studies, 1973.
Roberto Serrano
"Mistakes in Cooperation: the Stochastic Stability of Edgeworth`s Recontracting" with O. Volij,Economic Journal, forthcoming
"Decentralizing Trade, Random Utility and teh Evolution of Social Welfare" with M.Kandori and O.Volij,Journal of Economics Theory, forthcoming
"Bargaining," 2nd Edition, The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, McMillan, forthcoming.
"Information Transmission in Coalitional Voting Games," with R. Vohra, Journal of Economic Theory, 2007.
"Market Power and Information Revelation in Dynamic Trading," with P. Gottardi, Journal of the European Economic Association, 2005.
John Tyler
"What is the Value of the GED to Dropouts Who Pursue the Credential," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, forthcoming.
"Basic Skills and the Earnings of Dropouts," Economics of Education Review, forthcoming.
"Using State Child Labor Laws to Identify the Effect of School-Year Work on High School Achievement," Journal of Labor Economics, 2003.
"Who Benefits from a GED? Evidence from High School and Beyond for Females," with R. Murnane and J. Willett, Economics of Education Review, 2003.
"Estimating The Labor Market Signaling Value of the GED," with R. Murnane and J. Willett, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2000.
Rajiv Vohra
"The Ex Ante Incentive Compatible Core in the Absence of Wealth Effects," with
F. Forges and J-F. Mertens, Econometrica, 2002.
"Incentives and the Core of an Exchange Economy: A Survey," with F. Forges and E. Minelli, Journal of Mathematical Economics, 2002.
"Coalitional Power and Public Good," with D. Ray, Journal of Political Economy, 2001.
"On the Failure of Core Convergence in Economies with Asymmetric Information," with R. Serrano and O. Volij, Econometrica, 2001.
"Incomplete Information, Incentive Compatibility and the Core," Journal of Economic Theory, 1999.
David Weil
"Accounting for the Effect of Health on Economic Growth," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2007.
"Saving and Growth with Habit Formation," with C. Carroll and J. Overland, American Economic Review, 2000.
"Appropriate Technology and Growth," with S. Basu, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1998.
"The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth," with O. Galor, American Economic Review, 1996.
"A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," with G. Mankiw and D. Romer, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1992.
Ivo Welch
"A Review of IPO Activity, Pricing and Allocations," Journal of Finance, 2002.
"Predicting the Equity Premium With Dividend Ratios," Management Science, 2003.
"Liquidity and Financial Market Runs," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2004.
"Capital Structure and Stock Returns," Journal of Political Economy, 2004.
"The Optimal Concentration of Creditors," The Journal of Finance, forthcoming.
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Current Students
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Contact
Director of Graduate Studies:
Roberto Serrano
Student Affairs Manager :
Angelica Vargas (Angelica_Vargas@brown.edu)
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