University Catalog

Consult the "Four-Year Guarantee Requirements" for information on eligibility. The concept of "adequate progress" as it is used here only refers to maintaining eligibility for the four-year guarantee; it is not a requirement for the major. To maintain adequate progress in economics, students should meet the following requirements:

The Economics Department offers four tracks for students who have a relatively high GPA and want to focus their upper-division course work in a specific area of interest. Interested students must have completed at least 6 hours of economics course work at CU and have at least a 3.00 GPA in economics work completed at CU. Requirements are listed on the economics website at www.colorado.edu/economics.

Business Emphasis +

International Emphasis +

Public Economics Emphasis +

Quantitative Emphasis +

A minor is offered in economics. Declaration of a minor is open to any student enrolled at CU-Boulder, regardless of college or school. For more information, see www.colorado.edu/artssciences/students/undergraduate/academics/minors.html.

The honors program in economics provides an opportunity for highly motivated majors to undertake individualized research and to graduate with honors (cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude) in economics. Economics majors with senior standing and both economics and overall GPAs of 3.40 or better are eligible to participate. Participants enroll in the economics honors seminars, which provide instruction in research methodology essential to the preparation of the honors thesis. Students interested in the economics honors program should contact the departmental honors advisor during their junior year.

This program offers course credit while providing students the opportunity to integrate theoretical concepts of economics with practical experience in economics-related institutions. Juniors and seniors interested in the program should contact the departmental internship coordinator.

1. Admission Requirements. +

2. Degree Requirements. +

3. Sequence of Study. +

4. Comprehensive Final Examination. +

5. Satisfactory Progress Toward a Degree. +

6. Other Requirements. +

Admission. An applicant for admission as a regular degree student must:

1. Hold a baccalaureate degree from a college or university of recognized standing, or have done work equivalent to that required for such a degree and equivalent to the degree given at this university. For those applicants who do not have a master's degree in economics, the undergraduate grade point average must be at least 2.75 (2.00=C).

2. Have completed intermediate microeconomic and macroeconomic theory courses, 6 semester hours of calculus at the university level or equivalent, and statistics.

3. Submit Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores for aptitude (verbal, quantitative, and analytical). International applicants must also submit a TOEFL score.

4. Arrange for the submission of four letters of recommendation.

Graduate study in economics is quantitative and analytical. Students should be comfortable with basic calculus (derivatives and integration), linear algebra, matrix algebra, and basic statistics.

It is not necessary to have an MA degree to be admitted to the PhD program; qualified applicants may be admitted directly to the PhD program and may obtain the MA degree while working toward the PhD.

The university deadline for international applications is December 1 for the following fall semester. The department encourages international applicants to comply with this deadline. Late applications may be considered. However, they may be at a disadvantage with respect to the award of financial aid. United States applicants who wish to be considered for financial assistance should apply by February 1. Students must begin the program in a fall semester.

Degree Requirements. Full-time students are expected to complete all requirements for the PhD degree within five years of entering the program (the maximum time allowed by the Graduate School is six years), and the schedule of required courses below is centered on this expectation. Failure to make timely and satisfactory progress toward the degree, as prescribed in a supplemental document on file in the graduate secretary's office, may result in loss of financial assistance or dismissal from the program.

Course Requirements

1. Prior to beginning the program, students must demonstrate an acceptable degree of competence in differential and integral calculus and optimization techniques. (This requirement is in addition to the six hours of calculus required to apply to the program.) Such competence is normally demonstrated by taking ECON 7800 (an intensive, two-week preparatory course offered immediately prior to each fall semester) and passing its final examination with a grade of B- or better. No credit is offered for this course.

Other methods by which the required competence may be demonstrated are:

• Obtain a letter from the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) confirming that the student has had sufficient mathematical preparation in prior studies;
• Pass the final examination in ECON 7800 at a level of B- without taking the course; or
• Pass a course which is substantially equivalent to ECON 7800 at another accredited graduate institution.

Students who fail the examination in ECON 7800 will be given a second opportunity to pass an equivalent examination two weeks later. Students who fail this examination on the second attempt must enter into extensive consultation with the DGS.

2. There are seven core courses in the PhD program: ECON 7010, 7020, 7030, 7040, 7050, 7818, and 7828. Course requirements beyond the core courses include:

• Seven elective courses at the 8000 level. Basic fields of specialization are econometrics, economic development, economic history, industrial organization, international trade and finance, labor and human resources, natural resources and environmental economics, public economics, and urban and regional economics. Ordinarily, a student would take two elective courses in a basic field of specialization in preparation for a dissertation.
• credit hours in a research colloquium.
• At least 30 hours of dissertation credit.

3. At least four of the core courses must be taken on the Boulder campus. Courses transferred for credit must be approved by the DGS. After entry into the PhD program, all remaining courses must be taken on the Boulder campus.

4. All courses for PhD credit taken on the Boulder campus must be passed with a grade of B- or better. A student who receives a grade of C+ or lower in a core course must retake that course the following academic year.

5. No more than 12 credit hours (exclusive of dissertation credit) from a single faculty member may be counted toward PhD requirements. Independent study is allowed only to satisfy elective requirements. No more than 6 credit hours of independent study may be applied to the PhD degree and no more than 3 credit hours of independent study may be taken from a single faculty member. Students who wish to take independent study must apply to the Graduate Curriculum and Review Committee (GCRC) in order to do so. In consultation with the DGS, students may choose to take up to two graduate offerings in other departments as elective courses.

6. Course requirements in the first and second years include:

First Year

Second Year

Preliminary Examinations. Written preliminary examinations in microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, and econometrics must be taken in the August examination period following the successful completion of the core courses in these areas. Under most circumstances this period would be prior to the second year. An examination attempted and failed must be taken again and passed in the next examination period. A second failure results in dismissal from the program, subject to appeal under extraordinary circumstances to the GCRC. In no case are attempts beyond the third granted.

Students who have failed any of the core courses are ineligible to take the preliminary examination in the area of failure. These students must retake the failed course(s) in the following year and attempt the relevant preliminary examination in the first scheduled examination period thereafter.

Students must pass all preliminary examinations within two-and-one-half years of beginning the PhD program. Exceptions for part-time students may be allowed under extraordinary circumstances by the DGS.

MA Degree. An MA degree will be awarded to students who have successfully completed all core courses in the PhD program, completed 30 hours of graduate credit, and performed satisfactorily on the PhD preliminary examinations.

Third-Year Research Colloquium. Each third-year student is required to register for 3 credit hours per semester in the research colloquium, which will meet weekly under the direction of a faculty member. The purpose of the colloquium is to provide students the opportunity and guidance to complete the required third-year paper and to facilitate progress toward the dissertation stage. Meetings in the fall semester allow preliminary discussions of the research and lectures in research methodology, data sources, and the like. In the spring semester each student presents work in progress in the colloquium.

Under some circumstances, students may delay taking this colloquium until the fourth year with the approval of the DGS.

Comprehensive Examinations. Students must take an oral comprehensive examination before admission to candidacy. This examination may occur either at the time of the student's research presentation in ECON 8219 or at a later date and will encompass the materials in the presentation and all relevant course work completed by the candidate. At least two faculty members from the student's basic dissertation committee, as well as three additional faculty members, must certify the acceptability of the performance on the oral examination. Students who fail this comprehensive examination will be given a second chance during the following fall semester. For those students for whom the presentation in ECON 8219 does not serve as the oral comprehensive examination, a separate oral examination must be scheduled before admission to candidacy.

Admission to Candidacy and Dissertation Requirements. Students are formally admitted to candidacy for the PhD degree after completing all course requirements and all preliminary and comprehensive examinations and after earning four semesters of residency (see the front section of this catalog for details). After admission to candidacy, students must register each fall and spring semester for dissertation credit (ECON 8999) until attaining the degree; the accumulated credit for the thesis must total at least 30 semester credit hours to attain the degree. A student must prepare a written dissertation and successfully pass an oral examination before a dissertation committee and other interested persons on its content before receiving the degree. The minimum residence requirement for the PhD degree is six semesters of scholarly work beyond the bachelor's degree.

Administration: Examining Committees for Examinations. Examining committees for preliminary examinations consist of three members of the economics department who teach in the relevant area. Examining committees for comprehensive examinations consist of at least two members of the economics department who teach in the relevant area, with a third member appointed from another department in cases where the student has structured a field including a course from that department.

Preliminary Examinations.

1. Written examinations are numbered so that insofar as possible the identity of the student is unknown. Each faculty member grades independently and writes no comments in the examination booklet. A meeting of the graders is called by the chair of the examination committee and the committee grade is submitted to the graduate secretary. The possible grades include High Pass or Distinction (used sparingly), Pass, Fail, and Marginal Fail (used sparingly).

2. Shortly after submission of grades a general faculty meeting is held to discuss and report examination results. In cases where the committee initial grade was marginal fail, if two of the members of the committee then vote affirmatively, a grade of pass will be recorded; if two of the members of the grading committee then vote negatively, a grade of fail will be recorded. If the vote of the grading committee is tied and the third member is absent (but will be available within seven days), the decision to pass or to fail is to be made by the reconvened grading committee. If fewer than two members of the grading committee are present and voting, or if the vote of the grading committee is tied and the third member is not available within seven days, the decision to pass or fail will be made by the assembled faculty; in such circumstances the grade is reported as pass if a majority votes affirmatively.

3. When examination results are reported, a student who failed should have an opportunity to discuss his performance with a member of the examining committee.

Dissertation Guidelines.

1. To facilitate progress on the dissertation, a "basic committee" consisting of a supervisor and two other members who are most interested in the proposed research is organized by the student, in conjunction with the DGS, during the third year. Any subsequent changes in this committee (or of the full committee later) must be approved by the supervisor and recorded with the graduate secretary after all basic committee members have been consulted.

2. By January 1 of the academic year following the research colloquium, each student must submit a written dissertation proposal to his or her basic committee and the graduate secretary. The dissertation proposal form must be signed by each member of the basic committee and submitted to the graduate secretary as well by this date. An acceptable proposal must include a statement of purpose and a justification for the importance of the work; a full literature review and a statement of how this research will contribute to the literature; and a detailed description of the methodologies to be used and of the data bases, if appropriate. By April 1 of the same academic year, students must present the proposal in an open seminar.

3. A successful proposal defense will result in a letter from the basic committee to the candidate indicating that successful completion of the planned research will constitute an acceptable dissertation. Students who fail to present a proposal in a timely fashion will be denied a passing grade on dissertation credit for which they are registered.

4. Ordinarily, within three months of the dissertation proposal presentation, the DGS, in consultation with the dissertation supervisor, appoints remaining members of the full dissertation committee. A full dissertation committee consists of at least four faculty members from the economics department and one member from outside the department.

5. Normally students are expected to complete their dissertations by the end of their fifth academic year. The graduate secretary provides details on submission of the dissertation and arrangements for the oral defense. After the defense, minor changes are agreed upon between candidate and supervisor. If major changes arise, the candidate and supervisor will consult with the DGS on a future course of action.

Yearly review. Each spring the DGS and the department's Graduate Curriculum Committee meet to review the progress of each student in the PhD program. The regulations herein serve as a standard of minimal acceptable progress, but additional rules on this issue are specified in a document available for the graduate secretary or the DGS.