About The Department

The MIT Economics Department is ranked first among U.S. departments. It is at the forefront of both theoretical and applied economics. Its faculty has made pioneering contributions from theory to macroeconomics, to finance, to industrial organization, to international trade.

Its faculty has long been involved in policy discussions, a tradition that goes back at least to the time when Paul Samuelson and Robert Solow served as advisers to President Kennedy. This tradition continues today with the faculty's active involvement in policy research and policy setting both in the United States and abroad. Today, many faculty members serve as consultants to the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and assist governments abroad.