Overview
SMU’s highly ranked economics master’s programs transform business-oriented and tech-savvy students into professional economists, business analytics experts and business leaders. Ranked in the top 27% of economics master’s programs in the U.S. by the TFE Times, the program offers innovative graduate degrees that emphasize theoretical rigor as well as technical quantitative and predictive analytics training across a wide array of courses.
The Master of Science in applied economics and predictive analytics (M.S.A.E.P.A.) is a degree offered by the Department of Economics to meet the accelerating demand for analytics training on the part of business, government and nonprofits. Predictive analytics refers to the process of building models that forecast consumer behaviors under different circumstances and help customize product offerings that better suit consumers’ tastes and preferences. It also refers to using data to build models to predict time series variables of importance to businesses and governments, like product sales and tax revenues, and to evaluate competing government programs and business strategies. With courses in forecasting, econometrics, trade policy and strategic behavior, the M.S. degree focuses on economic analysis and decision-making along with technical quantitative training, providing additional skills typically found in statistics, engineering and business programs.
The M.S.A.E.P.A. is a 30-credit-hour degree with evening classes to accommodate students with full-time regular employment or internships.
