Economics @ SMU
The Department's emphasis on economic theory and quantitative skills provides undergraduate and graduate students key critical thinking and problem solving skills demanded worldwide by the corporate sector, policy institutions and academia.
The Department of Economics attracts the most undergraduate majors in Dedman College and the second most at SMU. As the first University Ph.D. program, the department has been a forerunner of graduate research and education for over 60 years.
Emphasis on economic theory and quantitative skills provide undergraduate and graduate students develop the key critical thinking and problem solving skills demanded worldwide by the corporate sector, policy institutions and academia. Students work alongside expert faculty that conduct cutting-edge research in a broad range of areas, publish frequently in top academic journals, win major academic awards, are members of prestigious research bodies like the NBER and IZA, and are editors of major academic journals.
Why Study Economics at SMU?
The National Research Council ranks the SMU Department of Economics among the top 10% of U.S. Ph.D-granting Economics departments in research productivity per faculty member.
Department Highlights
Our Undergraduate Programs page provides resources for both current and prospective students. Likewise, the Graduate Programs page provides more information about both Masters and Ph.D. programs.
Bush-SMU Initiative
The Initiative combines the public policy expertise of the Bush Institute and the academic economic expertise of the SMU Department of Economics.
Ph.D. Alumni Bios
The relatively small size of our incoming classes mean that we develop a close relationship with our students and maintain those relationships with our alumni. Alumni testimonials show that a key strength of the department is our ability to support and mentor students and help them grow from students to researchers. Often, these faculty-student relationships turn into co-authoring relationships as colleagues.
1st Year Ph.D. Student Bios
We currently have 27 PhD students. The student body is diverse in terms of gender and nationalities. Since 2015, 53% of our PhD graduates were male and 47% were female while 83% were international students and 17% were domestic students. Our current PhD student body has international students from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Iran, and Tanzania.
4+1 Master's Degree
The Department of Economics offers current SMU economics undergraduate students the opportunity to take graduate courses towards an M.A. degree in Applied Economics.