In addition to the formal admissions and degree requirements, courses workshops, and faculty members, there are many complementary programs likely to be of interest to prospective students considering doctoral study in economics at Chicago.
News
2021 Student Award Recipients
The Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics is proud to announce this year’s recipients of the Martin and Margaret Lee Prizes and Graduate Student Teaching awards.
Additionally, two new prizes were awarded in 2021. The first was the Yiran Fan Memorial Prize, a fellowship established in memory of late UChicago Ph.D. student, Yiran Fan, which includes contributions from Fan’s parents and was awarded to a student in the Joint Program in Financial Economics. The second was the George S. Tolley Prize, initiated by economist Vinod Thomas, AM’74, PhD’77 to recognize and reward a third-year doctoral student in the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics whose research paper demonstrates the potential for the impact of economic analysis on policy.
Lee Prize Award Winners
Highest Score Earned on the Price Theory Core Exam - Pictured from left to right: Lewei He and Zizhe Xia
Highest Score Earned on the Theory of Income Core Exam - Pictured from left to right: Lewei He, Zizhe Xia and Judy Yue
Highest Score Earned on the Quantitative Methods Core Exam: Ian Pitman
Graduate Student Teaching Award Winners
Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award - Mateusz Stalinski and Sidharth Sah
Yiran Fan Memorial Prize - William Cassidy and Aditya Chaudhry
George S. Tolley Prize - For "Exchange Rate Policy and Heterogeneity in Small Open Economies" - Thomas Hierons and Jordan Rosenthal-Kay
The George S. Tolley Prize
A donation made in honor of George S. Tolley will fund a $5000 prize for three years, beginning in 2021. The George S. Tolley Prize will be awarded to a student whose 3rd year doctoral research paper demonstrates the potential for the impact of economic analysis on policy. The prize will be a special award bestowed over and above the awardee’s graduate funding package. It will be conferred in the Fall Quarter of the winning student’s fourth year in the doctoral program.
All rising fourth year students who have completed their third year research paper are eligible to apply. If you would like to be considered, please email your interest along with your third year research paper to Graduate Student Affairs Administrator, Kathryn Falzareno at kfalzareno@uchicago.edu, before October 28, 2022. The winner will be selected by a faculty committee led by Mikhail Golosov, the Director of Graduate Studies, and will be announced at the annual Graduate Student/Faculty Lunch in November.
The Political Economy Club
The Political Economy Club (PEC) is the organization run for and by graduate students in the Department of Economics. The PEC is in charge of organizing the department's social hours every other week (known colloquially as TGIFs) as well as special events during the year, such as the skit show and the spring picnic.
The Political Economy Club Mentor-Mentee Program
The Mentor-Mentee Program is an opportunity for first-years to socialise with and learn from more experienced students, especially in the context of life at UChicago as a new PhD student. Students are paired according to research preferences or other points of connection. In this way, first-year students gain some insightful advice into navigating the beginning of their research journeys, and have a convenient peer point of contact for questions or assistance. For any questions, please contact PEC leadership.
Guest Lecture/Visit Series
Graduate students have also organized a Guest Lecture/Visit Series through which they invite prominent scholars around the country to speak about their current interests, discuss research agendas and ideas with economics students at Chicago, and simply be available to meet informally over the course of a day.
Math Camp
Prior to the official beginning of Autumn Quarter each year, the department sponsors an optional two-week, non-credit course on quantitative methods in economics. Known informally as Math Camp, this voluntary program for entering students introduces some basic mathematical concepts used in economic theory and core classes. In addition, the program serves effectively as an informal way for new students to get to know each other before the academic year begins.
Resources
In addition to normal sources of financial aid, which include fellowships and teaching opportunities, the department has special funds for travel to partially defray expenses associated with presenting a paper at professional conferences, gathering data in the field, acquiring data sets, and dissertation support.
STEM Eligibility
The PhD program is STEM eligible for international students.
Placement
The department is fully committed to the placement of its doctoral students in professional academic, nonacademic, and research positions in the United States and abroad. In addition to the efforts of individual faculty members on behalf of their own students, the department holds an initial informational session each October for all students on the job market, compiles a placement brochure and distributes it to more than 500 organizations nationally and internationally, responds to inquiries and posts job openings, and conducts mock interviews with students prior to the January American Economic Association meetings (the principal forum through which graduate students interview with prospective employers).
Chicago-trained economists are highly sought after in the academic, private, and public sectors.