Doctor of Philosophy (Thesis Based)

The Department of Economics provides a thesis based PhD program in which students develop competency in the core areas of economics as well as mastery in their chosen fields. Faculty and students are involved in the following fields of research:

  • Applied Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Econometrics
  • Environmental, Natural Resource, and Energy Economics
  • Monetary and Financial Economics
  • International and Development Economics
  • Labour and Education Economics
  • Industrial Organization and Regulatory Economics
  • Public Economic and Law and Economics
  • Health Economics

We are no longer admitting students into our "Natural Resource and Environmental Economics" specialization program.  Students can still conduct thesis research in the field within our PhD Economics program.

Academic Admission Requirements:

  • The equivalent of a Masters degree in Economics with a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 on the University of Alberta 4-point grading scale in the last 2 years (60 credits) of full time study.
  • The equivalent of a GPA of at least 3.2 on the University of Alberta 4-point grading scale in all Masters level conomics courses 
  • International students may refer to the Minimum Academic Requirements by Country to determine eligibility.

Students in the Doctor of Philosophy in Economics are required to take 12 courses which will consist of the following:

• ECON 591 - Graduate Research Workshop I
• ECON 598 - Econometric Theory and Applications
• ECON 599 - Applied Econometrics
• ECON 604 - PhD Microeconomic Theory I
• ECON 605 - PhD Microeconomic Theory II
• ECON 681 - PhD Macroeconomic Theory I
• ECON 682 - PhD Macroeconomic Theory II
• 5 Graduate Level (500/600) ECON field courses

Students who have completed any of the required course and applied them to another degree must fulfill the 21-units of required courses with other graduate level Economics courses.

Doctoral applicants do not require a secured supervisor to apply for the program. Upon admission into the program, students will be assigned an academic supervisor for the first two years of their program.  Students will find a thesis supervisor in the last semester of the second year of their program.

Please refer to the Application Process section for information regarding other requirements and to apply.