Undergraduate Program
Undergraduate Research
MIT Economics fosters close ties between undergraduates and faculty members through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). Undergraduate Katherine Redfield is involved in a UROP project with Assistant Professor Panle Jia. Together they are investigating the factors that led to the historic losses of over $30 billion by the U.S. airline industry in the first part of this decade. They are considering the impact of three factors on the airline industry: changes in air travel demand, the entry and expansion of low cost air carriers, and changes in fuel and other operations-related costs. To help Professor Jia distinguish between these factors, Katherine is gathering data on air travel patterns from regulatory databases, using survey data to measure the demographic characteristics of passengers and how they are changing over time, and assisting in the complicated programming of models of consumer demand for air travel. This project illustrates how MIT Economics faculty are working with MIT undergraduates to bring the technical skills of modern economics to bear on questions of economic importance.
Undergraduate Economics
The Economics Department at MIT has a long tradition of outstanding training
of both undergraduate and graduate students. The unique analytical skills
of the MIT undergraduate student body allows the faculty to offer a rigorous
and comprehensive program unlike that of any other U.S. college or university.
The Economics Department's faculty is equally committed to graduate and undergraduate education.
Senior professors teach introductory micro- and macroeconomics courses. The Department's success in attracting exceptional undergraduates and preparing them for advanced study demonstrates the soundness of this philosophy and the excellence of the program.
Many faculty have written undergraduate and graduate textbooks that are used in colleges and universities around the world. Paul Samuelson first developed his pioneering economics text in an introductory economics course for MIT undergraduates. Rudi Dornbusch and Stanley Fischer's intermediate macroeconomics textbook introduced modern macroeconomic analysis to undergraduates and has been translated into many languages. Olivier Blanchard's recent text brings state-of-the-art macroeconomic theory and applications to undergraduates.
The undergraduate major in economics begins with a two-semester introductory sequence that explores theoretical and applied topics in microeconomics, macroeconomics, international trade, and economic development. Additional training in microeconomics, macroeconomics, statistics, and econometrics follows. Majors have a choice of additional applied and advanced courses drawn from a menu that includes public economics, industrial organization, government regulation, labor economics, monetary economics, economic development, economic history, international economics, health economics, and other courses. The level of mathematics mastery among undergraduates allows economics courses to be taught at a high level.
The MIT Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) supplements coursework. UROPs allow undergraduates to participate in ongoing research in the Department and to meet with faculty members outside of class. They perform tasks such as gathering and analyzing economic data, writing computer programs, checking mathematical calculations, and gathering research materials.
The Undergraduate Economics Association (UEA) provides an informal forum for students to meet and to explore various topics with faculty. Sponsored by the faculty, the UEA is run by and for economics majors to address such issues as career planning and current topics in economic policy. Students and faculty also enjoy the relaxed interaction that the UEA provides.
Undergraduate economics majors go on to graduate work and to careers in business, government, finance, consulting, and law. Many become professional economists. Around the world, MIT graduates in economics hold distinguished positions in academia, business, and government.
About 20 percent of economics graduates enter a graduate program in economics or finance. This may be the highest yield of Ph.D. candidates for any undergraduate economics program in the country. Approximately half of the Department's graduates choose to gain experience in business, government, consulting, and nonprofit organizations before seeking out business and public policy schools for post-graduate study. The number of post-graduates choosing to study law is growing. Use of formal economics in law is likely to strengthen this connection.
Whatever their destinations, undergraduate economics majors acquire essential skills for a wide variety of jobs, an excellent foundation in economics, and an opportunity to meet faculty and fellow students in a challenging intellectual environment. The Department looks forward to providing continued leadership in economics education.