Graduate Program
The Economics Department's highly regarded doctoral program enrolls about 22 students each year. The program was ranked as the best economics Ph.D. program in the United States in the most recent National Research Council study and was also ranked as tied for first by U.S. News and World Report. Doctoral students take required courses in microeconomic theory, macroeconomics, and econometrics. Students are also expected to complete four fields in economics (two major and two minor) and to pass general examinations in their major fields. The field options include public finance, industrial organization, international economics, monetary economics, labor economics, economic history, economic development, econometrics, financial economics, and advanced theory.
Graduate study at MIT consists of more than satisfying course requirements. Every major field has a weekly research workshop as well as a weekly faculty-student lunch. Faculty and students discuss research ideas at the informal lunches, while the workshops provide a more formal setting for discussion. Fall workshop schedules typically include many students introducing the research papers that they plan to present on the job market.
Graduates of the Ph.D. program teach in leading economics departments, business schools and schools of public policy. They work on congressional staffs and government advisory councils, and with organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the National Economic Council, the Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Reserve, and the Treasury Department. They are also found among the most influential positions in the market economy, ranging from corporate executives to hedge fund managers to economic consultants.
Graduate Research
Graduate students work closely with faculty to learn the craft of research, particularly in empirical fields where learning-by-doing transfers information about data sets, research strategy, and econometric tools. Student Jason Abaluck is working with Professor Jonathan Gruber on an empirical project that investigates the process by which Medicare-eligible individuals choose their Medicare Part D plan that provides prescription drugs. There are important questions about how seniors will choose across the 40-50 drug plans that they now have available under this new program. Jason’s project involves a unique data set from a middleman between pharmacies and insurance companies that collects data on all prescription drug transactions for a very large sample of individuals. He is using that data to estimate a model of individual choice that incorporates both the factors that drive choice in the standard model, such as relative premiums across plans, and the factors that might cause mistakes, such as a misunderstanding of the prospective risk of prescription drug spending. The results of this study will provide important insights into the costs and benefits of allowing choice within public insurance programs.
Field Lunches
A key component of the dissertation advising system at MIT is a set of weekly
"field lunches" at which students who have passed their general exams
try out new research ideas. The presentations can range from very early stage
research, hardly more than a literature review and a few ideas for future work,
to nearly-complete dissertation projects. The informality of these workshops
makes it possible for students to explore research topics in a setting where no
one is expected to present finished work. Faculty members view attending field
lunches as a central departmental responsibility.
Many past graduates of MIT's Ph.D. program report that field lunches were invaluable in providing them with a sounding board for new research topics. Since most thesis writers volunteer to present a talk each semester, the field lunches also have the important benefit of setting near-term, but manageable, deadlines for dissertation progress.
All students who have passed their general examinations are required to attend at least one field lunch each week and to make a presentation in at least one lunch during the course of the year. Many students present their research in multiple workshops, and thereby obtain a range of different faculty and student input. First and second year students who are carrying out research are also welcome to participate in these workshops.