University of Chicago: Department of Economics

I. Specialized Fields Of Economics For The Ph.D. Degree
II. Requirements For The Ph.D. Degree
    A. Residency Requirements
    B. Teaching Requirement
    C. Requirements Before Admission to Candidacy
    D. Requirements After Admission to Candidacy
III. Requirements For The M.A. Degree
IV. Written Examination Rules
V.  Summer Research Grant Disbursement Policy

The Department of Economics offers a program of study leading to the Ph.D. degree. The program includes courses and comprehensive examinations in the three "Core" subjects of Price Theory; the Theory of Income, Employment, and the Price Level; and Quantitative Methods. In addition to the Core, Ph.D. requirements include demonstration of competence in two Specialized Fields of concentration, courses in three elective Fields for the General Distribution requirement, a Research Paper, the approval of a Thesis Proposal, and the completion of the Doctoral Thesis.

The usual load is three courses per quarter for two years; this permits completion of nine courses during the regular academic year. The comprehensive examination for the Core subjects is given in the Summer Quarter. An examination in each Specialized Field of concentration is given once a year.

Ph.D. students may request permission to choose electives outside the Department of Economics for Field or General Distribution requirements. Satisfactory grades on course work done at the graduate level at another institution may also be used to satisfy part of the course requirements for General Distribution by petition to the Director of Graduate Studies.

With good preparation, students commonly take five years to complete the Ph.D. Students who begin with the intention of obtaining the Ph.D. but who change their plans or fail to satisfy the Ph.D. requirements will in most cases find themselves eligible for the M.A. degree. (In addition, successful progress toward the Ph.D. degree normally results in a student meeting requirements for a Master's degree as well.) Requirements for the M.A. are listed below in Section III.

A program of a typical Ph.D. student consists of the following sequence:

First Year: Courses in price theory, the theory of income, and quantitative methods to prepare for the "Core" examination.

First Summer: Core examination.

Second Year: Courses in Specialized Fields and participation in Workshops. Certification in two Specialized Fields, one by exam and one by GPA or exam (see below). Identification of a Research Paper topic.

Third & Fourth Years: Completion of Research Paper, General Distribution requirement, and participation in Workshops. Decision on a thesis topic, and presentation of a Thesis Proposal Seminar at which the Department formally approves the topic. Admission to Candidacy.

Fifth Year: Completion of the Doctoral Thesis and presentation of a Public Lecture at which the Department formally approves the thesis.

Students are advised to become completely familiar with the degree requirements contained herein. Requests for clarification of rules should be directed to the Graduate Student Affairs Administrator. The rules are subject to changes by the faculty from time to time, and students in the program are urged to consult the most recent booklet. Any variation in the requirements must be requested in writing and approved by the Department Chairman or the Director of Graduate Studies.

Grading

Quality letter grades and the numeric values used to calculate GPA's and to establish cohort rankings are as follows: A=4.0, A-=3.7, B+=3.3, B=3.0, B-=2.7, C+=2.3, C=2.0, C-=1.7, D+=1.3, D=1.0, D-=1.0, F=0. Students are required to take quality letter grades for the courses used to meet the M.A., the second Specialized Field (the one without written exam), and the General Distribution requirements. The level of quality grades necessary to meet each of these requirements is described in their respective sections below.

The grade of "P" (meaning "Pass") indicates that the student has submitted sufficient evidence to receive a passing grade and may only be used for the fulfillment of the Research Paper Requirement.

The grade of "I" (meaning "Incomplete") indicates that the student has not yet submitted all the evidence required for a final grade and is normally assumed to lead to a letter grade by the completion of the required work; if an "I" grade is not changed to a quality letter grade it has the same meaning as a grade of "R".

The grade of "R" (meaning "Registered") indicates that the student has registered for a course but has submitted no evidence of the quality of his/her work in the course; no other inference can be drawn from the grade.

An "R" grade -- which, it should be noted, cannot be requested after the last class meeting of a course and cannot be changed to a quality grade at a later time (or vice versa) -- should be taken only after careful consideration of the possible consequences. Quality letter grades are useful to both the student and members of the faculty who advise the student. The grades are valuable as predictive devices with respect to the successful completion of the requirements for a degree and are used in making financial aid decisions. Quality grades in the core courses may be considered together with performance on the Core Examination to demonstrate competence equivalent to a Ph.D. Pass on the Ph.D. Core Examination.

I. SPECIALIZED FIELDS OF ECONOMICS FOR THE PH.D. DEGREE

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*For the M.A. degree, only one of a student's 9 courses may be counted under field 15.  That course must be in the Division of the Social Sciences, the Law School, the Booth School of Business, the Department of Mathematics, the Department of Statistics or the Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies.

II. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PH.D. DEGREE [return to top]

A. RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS [return to top]

In addition to program requirements specified by the Department of Economics, doctoral students must meet University residence requirements as set forth in the Student Manual of University Policies and Regulations. See the section on the "Residence System For Students In Ph.D. Programs" in the Student Manual at:http://studentmanual.uchicago.edu/academic/index.shtml#residence_phd

B. TEACHING REQUIREMENT  [return to top]

Pedagogical training is a component of our doctoral education and for all students beginning in the Autumn Quarter of 2007 and later, the degree program requires compensated service equivalent to five appropriate teaching assistantships.

C. REQUIREMENTS BEFORE ADMISSION TO CANDIDACY [return to top]

1. Core and Specialized Field Requirementsa. Core requirements. The core courses consist of Economics 30100‑30200‑30300 (Price Theory), 31000‑31100‑31200 (Quantitative Methods), and 33000‑33100‑33200 (Theory of Income). The Core Examination, given in the Summer Quarter of each year, tests mastery of material in these nine courses. To be admitted to Ph.D. Candidacy, a student must demonstrate competence in this material either by:

i. Receiving a grade of Ph.D. Pass on the Core Examination; or by:

ii. Performance on the Core Examination together with quality grades in Core Courses that the Core Examination Committee judges to demonstrate competence equivalent to (i).

Students must apply to the Department to take the Core Examination by the last Friday of Spring Quarter. No one will be admitted to the Examination without prior application. (See also Section IV. Below.)

No more than two attempts are allowed to earn a Ph.D. Pass on the Core Examination: one in the first year and the other, if necessary, in the second year.

b. Specialized Field Requirements. Demonstration of competence in two Fields to be chosen from the list in Section I. above. If field 12 is chosen, the program of work must be approved by the Department.

One of the two Specialized Fields must be certified by a Preliminary Examination (see i. below) and the other by taking a sequence of courses for quality letter grades with an average GPA of 3.0 (B) or better, or by taking a second examination (see ii. below).

i. Exam Field. Successful performance on one written Preliminary Field examination. As preparation for the examination, students are expected to take the courses required for the prelim as listed in the Areas of Study below.

No more than two attempts are allowed to earn a Ph.D. Pass on the field certified by a Preliminary Examination: one in the second year and the other, if necessary, in the third year.* A different field may be chosen for the second attempt at the Exam-Certification at the end of the next program year.

ii. GPA Field. Successful completion within a single academic year of a required sequence of courses in a second field as listed in the Areas of Study below with quality letter grades and achievement of a grade point average of 3.0 or better to demonstrate competence in the field.

On rare occasions students may compose their own course sequence for the GPA-certified field, but this must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies in advance of taking the sequence.

If a student's grade point average is lower than 3.0 in this second field, he or she must earn a Ph.D. Pass on the written preliminary examination for this field, and is allowed only one attempt to do so. That is, there are two attempts total allowed to pass this second field requirement, one via the 3.0 GPA-Certification and the second via a single attempt on the written preliminary exam.

Specialized Fields must be declared on a written Application for Specialized Field Certification by the last Friday of the Spring Quarter of a student's first Post-Core year. At least one field must be declared for Exam-Certification and one for GPA-Certification. The choice of which field is the "Exam Field" and which is the "GPA Field" may be changed at least two days prior to the date of each individual student's earliest scheduled exam.

No course can be counted for credit in more than one field.

A student who cannot Ph.D. Pass the specialized field requirements after two years of field courses may not continue for the Ph.D. degree.

*Unless the student is out-of-sequence. See #6. Completion Time below.

2. Research Paper Requirement

The Research Paper Requirement is designed to introduce the Ph.D. student to the demands and excitement of research, promote early contact with the faculty, and introduce the process of selecting a research topic and writing about it. (The thesis itself comes later and may be on a different topic.) Every student is required to write a research paper under faculty supervision.

a. Work on the Research Paper should start after the student has achieved a Ph.D. pass on the Core.

i. When the student can jointly agree on a Research Paper topic with a faculty member, a Research Paper Registration form signed by this faculty member must then be presented to the Office of Graduate Student Affairs no later than the last Friday of Spring Quarter of the second year.*

ii. The final draft of the Research Paper is due no later than the end of the Fall quarter of the third year.* The signing faculty member must approve by giving a grade of "P" (with a grade of "A" allowed for outstanding papers). Unsatisfactory papers or those with requested revisions will be due one quarter later, or no later than the end of the Winter quarter of the third year.*

This is a binding requirement for admission to candidacy, without exception, just as passing the Core or the Specialized Field Requirements in two attempts are binding requirements.

b. Related, from the second year on into subsequent years the Ph.D. student is required to attend at least one Workshop or faculty supervised Working Group on a regular basis -- though possibly a different one in different quarters or years, if preferred. This includes the standard Workshops as well as certain special gatherings (Working Groups) listed as "600-level" Workshops. The 600-level Workshops require consent of the instructor, and he or she is not obliged to grant permission to everyone.

Students are strongly encouraged to present their Research Paper, or another research idea, in one of these workshops or groups, for the purpose of practice, experience, and general feedback. Standing before a small number of faculty and defending ideas while welcoming constructive criticism is something necessary to learn to do early on.

*Unless the student is out-of-sequence. See #6. Completion Time below.

3. General Distribution Requirement

Demonstration of competence in at least three courses in three different fields outside of the two Specialized Field Requirements chosen from the fields listed in Section I above. Competence is demonstrated with a grade of C- or better.

Students may petition the Director of Graduate Studies to count graduate Ph.D. level courses outside the Department of Economics (in the Graduate School of Business, Mathematics, History, Demography, or Statistics, etc.) at the University of Chicago or elsewhere as fulfilling one of these General Distribution Requirements. It is most unusual, however, for us to accept courses taken elsewhere.

4. Fourth Year Registration Requirements

Before registering for their fourth year in the program, students must provide the department with:

• a short (one-page) description of their thesis project;

• a brief (one-paragraph) memo from their (tentative) thesis committee chairman giving his/her view of the project.

5. Thesis Proposal and Thesis Seminar

Students must write a thesis proposal and give a thesis seminar following the procedures described below.

When students have satisfied the requirements under headings 1-3 (in Section II.C.) above, they may form a tentative thesis committee. The thesis committee consists of at least three faculty members. Faculty from related parts of the university may serve, but at least one member must be in the Department of Economics. Other outside members may also serve with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

The student, before appearance at the thesis seminar, shall prepare a thesis proposal (not to exceed 50 double-spaced typewritten pages) explaining the thesis topic, the existing state of knowledge on the topic, its potentialities, and the proposed plan of attack on the research problem. Any thesis proposal exceeding 50 pages will be returned to the student for modification.

When the tentative thesis committee has approved the proposal by completing and signing the Thesis Seminar Form, the candidate submit one hard-copy and one pdf file of the Thesis Proposal paper to the Graduate Student Affairs Administrator, at least two weeks prior to the date of the seminar. The Department shall then circulate the proposal to all faculty members of the Department, two weeks in advance of the thesis proposal seminar. The two-week circulation period and the thesis seminar must occur while the University is in session. This rule must be strictly adhered to.

The student's tentative thesis committee is expected to attend the thesis proposal seminar. The purposes of the seminar are: 1) for the student to present his or her thesis proposal to faculty; 2) to help the student define and solve the research problem; and 3) to assist the Department in evaluating the student. Approval of the thesis proposal shall be determined by a vote of attending faculty at the conclusion of the seminar.

At the start of the seminar, the student must provide the chairman of the thesis committee with a Thesis Proposal Approval Form. This form must be completed and signed by the chairman of the thesis committee in a manner reflecting the outcome of the faculty vote. The student must return this form to the Student Affairs Administrator immediately following the faculty vote.

6. Completion Time, Academic Probation

Students must be admitted to Ph.D. Candidacy by the end of their fourth year in residence.

Students who have not been admitted to candidacy by the end of their fourth year will be placed on academic probation. Such students will remain on academic probation until the start of the first quarter following their admission to candidacy. (NOTE: Students on academic probation will not be eligible for student office spaces in the Department, the Advanced Residence Tuition financial aid, or the AR tuition award for teaching. Students ineligible for AR Tuition aid or awards at the beginning of a quarter remain ineligible throughout that quarter regardless of any changes in their probationary status. No changes in financial aid will be made once an academic quarter has begun.)

(NOTE: If a student with Social Sciences Division (SSD) funding for their fifth year is not a Ph.D. candidate by the end of their fourth year of residence, they will not receive their SSD stipend in their fifth year until the quarter after their admission to candidacy. If they are admitted to candidacy during their fifth year, they will be entitled to three full quarters of SSD stipend, beginning with the quarter following admission to candidacy.  If they are not admitted to candidacy by the end of their fifth year, they will forfeit one quarter of SSD funding for every quarter they are not yet admitted to candidacy in their sixth year.  Thus under no conditions will SSD funding be available in the seventh year.)

For students who have had to take the entire core twice before earning a Ph.D. Pass, these requirements are phased-in in such as way so as to require them to also propose their thesis and be admitted to candidacy as above by the end of the fourth year. Thus the written preliminary Field exam is due by the end of their third academic year, with the second attempt, if necessary, by the end of fourth. The second Field with competence demonstrated by grades only must be done in the third year. The Research Paper Requirement is due by the end of the Spring quarter of the third academic year, so in this case the student will need to find a faculty supervisor in the first quarter of the third year. Revisions, if necessary, are due by the end of the Summer quarter of the third year.

Students who have to retake only one of the parts of the Core Exam will not be allowed to phase-in the requirements and must be on the same timetable as if they had passed the entire Core.

D. REQUIREMENTS AFTER ADMISSION TO CANDIDACY [return to top]

1. The Eight-Month Requirement

Admission to Ph.D. candidacy must have been granted at least eight months before the awarding of the Ph.D. degree.

2. The Thesis

a. The final (permanent) thesis committee is ordinarily the same as the tentative thesis committee, but the candidate may request a change in the composition of the committee. Any such request must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies.

b. A Ph.D. thesis submitted for final approval by the Department of Economics faculty will ordinarily contain a central core not in excess of 60 double-spaced, typewritten pages. This central core must be self-contained, but may be supplemented by supporting material. In scope and quality, the central core shall be comparable to a first-rate journal article.

c. After the central core of a candidate's thesis has been approved by the thesis committee (indicated by their signatures on the Approval Form for Public Lecture), the candidate shall prepare copies of the central core and submit them to the Graduate Student Affairs Administrator. The candidate may submit one hard-copy and one pdf file or bear the expense of submitting duplicated copies for distribution to the faculty of the Department. The central core must be circulated for a three-week Reading Period while the University is in session.

d. Before the three-week Reading Period can begin, a date and a time for the Public Lecture must be set so it can be announced when the central core is circulated. While the Public Lecture may be held at least two days after the beginning of the Reading Period, it is preferable that it be scheduled at the end of this period.

The thesis committee chairman must be present at the Public Lecture. At the end of the Public Lecture, the chairman must indicate that the candidate has obtained a passing grade by signing the Report of Final Examination for the Degree of Ph.D. on behalf of the final thesis committee as required by the University.

In special circumstances the Public Lecture can be waived. This requires a formal petition from the thesis committee chairman, stipulating the reason for this course of action. The petition must be approved by the Department faculty.

e. Final acceptance and approval of the thesis shall follow the Public Lecture and the three-week Reading Period, and will depend upon (a) acceptance of the dissertation by the thesis committee and (b) approval of the core by the Department faculty. At the end of the Reading Period, the chairman of the thesis committee must submit a memo to the Director of Graduate Studies stipulating whether or not there are any faculty objections to approval of the thesis. If objections are raised, the matter will be brought to a faculty vote. The memo must be received before the Department can certify that a candidate has satisfied all departmental requirements for the Ph.D. degree.

f. One single-sided final copy of the thesis on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, and $60 (in cash or money order) to cover the cost of binding, must be submitted to the Department through the Graduate Student Affairs Administrator. Failure to do so will result in the removal of one's name from the Convocation List. All final copies of the dissertation must fulfill the "University-wide Requirements for the Ph.D. Dissertation" as specified by the University of Chicago Dissertation Office.

g. All departmental requirements for the Ph.D. degree must be satisfied no later than the final submission deadline set by the Dissertation Office before the Convocation at which the degree is granted.

h. In addition, the candidate must fulfill the University-wide convocation and dissertation requirements. These include: application for the degree by the first day of the quarter in which it is to be granted; submission of a copy of the dissertation for review and approval by the Dissertation Office by their Draft Deadline; submission of final corrected copies of the dissertation by the Dissertation Office's final submission deadline; final approval of the thesis by the Department of Economics Chairman indicated on the Dissertation Office's Departmental Approval form; completion of all other forms required by the Dissertation Office; and payment of University publication fees. For additional information about University requirements see http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/phd

III. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE M.A. DEGREE [return to top]

NOTE: The Department does not admit students who intend to do only a Master's degree. However, students who choose to leave the program or fail to meet program requirements will in most cases find themselves eligible for the M.A. degree. In addition, successful progress toward the Ph.D. degree normally results in a student meeting requirements for a Master's degree as well.

There are two alternative sets of requirements that can be used for the M.A. degree:

A. Receiving a passing quality letter grade in the nine Core courses: Economics 30100, 30200, 30300, Economics 31000, 31100, 31200, and Economics 33000, 33100, 33200. At least five of the grades in these courses must be "B-" or better. In addition, a grade of M.A. Pass on the Core Examination is required.

B. Receiving a passing quality letter grade in nine courses of registration in graduate level courses in economics. At least five of the grades in these courses must be "B-" or better, and the following courses are required: Economics 30100, 31000, and 33000. In addition, two of the courses must be in one Specialized Field as specified in Section I. above, and one preliminary examination must be passed at the M.A. level. Normally this examination is in the field in which the two courses are taken, but an M.A. Pass on the Core Examination may be substituted.

IV. WRITTEN EXAMINATION RULES [return to top]

Candidates for degrees in economics must complete Core and Preliminary Examinations in a timely manner. It is very important, therefore, that students, before applying for a written examination, consult with their counselors regarding the examination rules and the adequacy of their preparation for the examinations for which they are applying.

A. EXAMINATION GRADES

1. Core Examination

The Core Examination consists of three parts (Price Theory, the Theory of Income, and Quantitative Methods) written on separate days in the same quarter, and students writing the examination for the first time must write all three parts. Students will receive a single grade of Ph.D. Pass, M.A. Pass, or Fail based on their performance on the entire Core examination and their grades in the Core courses. Students receiving a grade of Fail or M.A. Pass on their first writing of the Core Examination must, on their second attempt to pass this examination at the Ph.D. level, rewrite each part unless they are informed in writing, on the occasion of the grading of their first Core examination, that they are required to rewrite only a specific part of the examination.

To recapitulate, the possible outcomes of taking the Core Examination are:

• Ph.D. Pass

• M.A. Pass and retake Price Theory

• M.A. Pass and retake Theory of Income

• M.A. Pass and retake Quantitative Methods

• M.A. Pass.

• Fail

Students who receive an M.A. Pass or a Fail on their first attempt on the Core examination must retake all three parts of the Core examination to receive a Ph.D. pass.

Students who have not PhD-passed the Core Examinations should not be doing other teaching or research work in the university during the academic year.

2. Specialized Field Preliminary Examinations

Specialized Field Preliminary Examinations are graded Ph.D. Pass, M.A. Pass, or Fail. The grade of M.A. Pass is satisfactory for meeting requirements for the M.A. degree, but not for meeting the Ph.D. Field Examination requirement.

Each Specialized Field is made up of a number of courses. These courses are listed in the section below entitled Areas of Study (see page 13) under their respective Specialized Field heading. Courses marked with an asterisk(*) are intended to provide the basis for the Specialized Field requirements. Students are expected to be familiar with the material covered in these courses, but Field requirements generally do not exceed three courses. When a Field has two or three courses marked with an asterisk, then those courses constitute the required sequence for the Field, whether evaluated by Preliminary Examinations or by GPA. When there are more than three such courses in a Field, familiarity with the material covered in any three of them is often, but not always, sufficient for the Field examination. Students wishing clarification should check with the Chairman of the Examining Committee. A course without an asterisk is an optional course in the Field and may be counted for General Distribution purposes.

Whenever a course is designated for more than one Field Examination, students can only take the examination in one of the fields.

If a student applies to take a preliminary examination and does not write the examination, a grade of "Fail" is automatically recorded. However, students may withdraw from an examination with the prior approval of the Director of Graduate Studies.

B. EXAMINATION SCHEDULING

1. The scheduling of the Core Examination may not be changed.

2. The scheduling of a Preliminary (Field) Examination may be changed by petition of the chairman of the examination committee. The petition should be made in writing to the Director of Graduate Studies at least six weeks in advance of the examination. It should state the reason for the requested change. The change must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies before it can go into effect. If the Director considers the request to be valid, a notice will be posted of the proposed change in date outside the department office for ten days. If no written objections to the change are received by the Director within these ten days, the change then will be made. No changes in schedule will be made later than one month prior to the examination.

C. EXAMINATIONS IN ABSENTIA

    Students writing an examination in absentia must pay a $60 service charge for each part of the examination at the time they submit their examination application. Proctors for in absentia examinations will be chosen by the Department. For each examination, students should submit names of proposed Proctors who are University of Chicago graduates or affiliates known to the Department of Economics faculty. The Department will select the Proctor either from among these recommendations or from its own list of proctors. If acceptable proctors are not available, then the examination may not be taken in absentia.

V. SUMMER RESEARCH GRANT DISBURSEMENT POLICY  [return to top]

    A. Students with Social Sciences Division (SSD) funding of two summer research grants will receive the first grant as an automatic payment their first summer after matriculating.  Their second summer research grant will be automatically paid in their second summer only if they Ph.D. Passed the Core on their first attempt the previous summer.  If a student must re-take all or part of the Core in their second summer, they will receive an automatic payment of their second summer research grant in their third summer.

    B. Students with Social Sciences Division (SSD) funding that provides tuition only for their first two years and one summer research grant will receive an automatic payment their second summer regardless if they passed the Core their first attempt the previous summer or not.

    C. Students without Social Sciences Division (SSD) funding for their first two years but who have one summer research grant as part of SSD funding for their 3rd through 5th years will receive an automatic payment of their summer research grant in their third summer.

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