Economics, Non-Thesis Option, M.A.

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Important Note: For information on the Master of Business Administration with a major in economics or the Master of Science with a major in business economics, refer to the “J. Mack Robinson College of Business” chapter of the graduate catalog.

The Master of Arts in Economics program is designed to meet the needs of students planning careers in local, state, and federal government and in the private sector or those seeking to apply for PhD program in the future. Emphasis is placed upon analytical skills; micro and macroeconomic theory and mathematical statistics are required. At the same time, the program is sufficiently broad to satisfy the needs of social science and economics teachers at the secondary and college level. An economics degree also combines well with training in other disciplines such as finance, real estate, political science, or history.

Economists study the ways a society distributes scarce resources such as land, labor, raw materials, and machinery to produce goods and services-choices that must be made because time, income, wealth, workers, and natural resources are limited. Economic principles are useful at all levels of decision-making and provide an essential framework for analyzing and understanding such issues as inflation, unemployment, deregulation of banking, tax reform, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, labor productivity and foreign debt crises.

Economists use mathematical models to develop programs that predict, for example, the nature and length of business cycles, the effects of inflation on the economy, or the effects of tax legislation on unemployment levels. Being able to present these concepts in a meaningful way is particularly important for economists involved in making policy for their organizations. Most economists are concerned with the practical applications of economic policy in a particular area. They use their understanding of economic relationships to advise businesses and other organizations, including insurance companies, banks, securities firms, computer and data processing companies, management consulting firms, industry and trade associations, labor unions, and government agencies. Some economists work abroad for companies with international operations and for organizations like The World Bank and the United Nations.

Students may choose from a broad array of elective course areas including monetary economics, urban economics, public finance, economic development, international economics, labor economics, industrial organization, economic forecasting, economic history, and history of economic thought.

There are two programs of study leading to the Master of Arts in Economics degree - thesis option and non-thesis option. A student enrolling in either of these programs whose preparation is found to be deficient in basic economics, elementary statistics, or mathematics will be required to take additional undergraduate coursework without graduate credit.

Prerequisite Courses

The courses listed below are in addition to the 33 hours required for the degree and will normally have been completed in a previous undergraduate degree program. However, they may be assigned as part of the admissions process based on a review of each student’s transcript. Prerequisite courses can be exempted if equivalent coursework has been previously completed with grades of B or higher. (If a student received a grade lower than a B in a principles class, but subsequently received a grade of B or higher in an intermediate level class in the same subject, the requirement may also be exempted.)

ECON 3900 Macroeconomics
ECON 3910 Microeconomics

Program of Study for the M.A. Economics Degree

A program of study plan must be completed by the student in consultation with and approved by the department’s Faculty Program Director. The Program of Study plan lists the required and elective courses to be taken by the graduate student to meet the degree requirements of the master’s degree program. The student also must declare whether s/he will take the thesis or the non-thesis option. The Program of Study must be approved by the department’s Faculty Program Director and submitted to Office of Academic Assistance by the end of the first year or after eighteen (18) semester hours of coursework have been completed. The Program of Study form for the Thesis Track, Non-thesis Track, and Policy Track are available at: https://aysps.gsu.edu/programs/economics-ma/.

Degree Requirements

To receive the M.A. Economics degree with the completion of a non-thesis paper, 33 hours of graduate coursework as approved by the Faculty Program Director through an approved Program of Study plan (described above) and a non-thesis paper must be completed.

Required Courses (9 Hours)

ECON 8100 - Applied Microeconomic Analysis 3 Hours
ECON 8110 - Macroeconomic Analysis 3 Hours

Choose One of the Following Two Courses

ECON 8740 - Applied Statistics and Econometrics 3 Hours
MATH 6751 - Mathematical Statistics I 3 Hours

Research Skill Requirement (3 Hours)

Select one of the following:

ECON 8840 - Applied Statistics and Econometrics II 3 Hours
MATH 6752 - Mathematical Statistics II 3 Hours
A course chosen in consultation with the Faculty Program Director

Elective Fields (6 Hours)

A minimum of two courses in one of the following areas must be completed:

Environmental, Urban, and Regional Economics (EURE)
Experimental Economics
International Economics
Labor Economics
Public Finance
Program Evaluation
Quantitative Methods

The list of courses available for each of these fields is provided below. The list is not exhaustive as in many cases there may be several different courses that could satisfy the field requirement. Students should consult and obtain approval for the courses that will constitute their field from the Faculty Program Director as part of the Program of Study plan.

EURE

ECON 8300 - Urban Economics 3 Hours
ECON 8320 - Environmental and Natural Resource Economics and Theory 3 Hours
Other related courses with approval from the Faculty Program Director

Experimental Economics

ECON 8230 - Experimental Economics 3 Hours
Other related courses with approval from the Faculty Program Director

International Economics

ECON 8470 - International Public Economics 3 Hours
ECON 8600 - Economics of Development 3 Hours
ECON 8850 - International Trade 3 Hours
ECON 8860 - Economics of Global Finance 3 Hours
Other related courses with approval from the Faculty Program Director

Labor Economics

ECON 8220 - Human Resources and Labor Markets 3 Hours
ECON 8210 - Health Economics and Policy 3 Hours
ECON 8899 - Causal Inference and Evidence-based Policy 3 Hours
ECON 8310 - Economics of Educational Policy 3 Hours
Other related courses with approval from the Faculty Program Director

Public Finance

ECON 8080 - Economics of the Public Sector 3 Hours
ECON 8450 - Issues in Public Programs and Tax Policy
ECON 8460 - Economics of the State and Local Public Sector 3 Hours
ECON 8470 - International Public Economics 3 Hours
Other related courses with approval from the Faculty Program Director

Program Evaluation

ECON 8899 - Causal Inference and Evidence-based Policy 3 Hours
PMAP 8521 - Evaluation Research: Design and Practice 3 Hours
ECON 8310 - Economics of Educational Policy 3 Hours
Other related courses with approval from the Faculty Program Director

Quantitative Methods

ECON 9780 - Data Management and Analysis 3 Hours
MGS 8040 - Data Mining 3 Hours
MGS 8150 - Business Modeling 3 Hours
ECON 8780 - Financial Econometrics 3 Hours
Other related courses with approval from the Faculty Program Director

Five Economic Courses (15 Hours)

Choose five economic courses chosen in consultation with the Faculty Program Director and approved on your Program of Study

Non-Thesis Paper

A high-quality paper, approved by the student’s major professor and the department’s Faculty Program Director, demonstrating that the student has the ability to examine an economic problem at a level consistent with advanced graduate coursework.