phd economics university of florida

University of South Florida

Department of Economics

College of Arts and Sciences

Main Navigation

Ph.d. in economics, doctor of philosophy in economics.

The Ph.D. in economics program at the University of South Florida allows students to specialize in health economics and industrial organization as well as in other applied areas of microeconomics. This degree prepares students for careers as professional economists in academia, business and government.

Program Requirements

The program consists of required courses, field courses, and structured graduate electives. Upon completion of all coursework and passing of the First-Year and Second-Year qualifying examinations, students enter candidacy where they must successfully complete and defend a doctoral dissertation. More details on these requirements can be found the Department's Handbook for Doctoral Students and in the USF Graduate Catalog .

Required coursework for the Ph.D. includes the following:

• ECO 6115 Microeconomics I
• ECO 7116 Microeconomics II
• ECO 6206 Macroeconomics I
• ECO 7207 Macroeconomics II
• ECO 6405 Mathematical Economics I
• ECO 7406 Mathematical Economics II
• ECO 6424 Econometrics I
• ECO 6425 Econometrics II
• ECO 7426 Econometrics III

Students must complete at least two field sequences from within economics. Each field sequence is comprised of two courses for a total of four field courses. The department currently offers fields in the economics of health care, industrial organization, labor economics, and urban and regional economics.

The choice of structured graduate electives will be made with advice and consent of either the PhD Director or the student’s (co-) Major Professor(s). These electives will be used to strengthen the student’s preparation to undertake independent research.

To be eligible to graduate, in addition to the requirements stated above, students must satisfy all Office of Graduate Studies graduation requirements such as maintaining an overall and economics GPA of at least 3.0 and meeting residency requirements.

A brochure describing the Ph.D. program is available.

Related Links: Graduate Catalog Office of Graduate Studies Apply to USF

• Undergraduate
• Student information
• Econ info for students
• Education Opportunities

PhD Program – University of Florida

UF Economics is recruiting a new Ph.D. cohort to matriculate in Fall 2024. As a smaller program, our doctoral students work very closely with faculty and gain exposure to research early. We maintain a highly collegial department and strongly encourage collaboration between the students and with the faculty.

UF Economics offers a vibrant research community. Since moving to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2014, our faculty has doubled in size and continues to grow. We have hired several junior scholars from exceptional programs like Berkeley, Chicago, Northwestern, Penn, and Princeton. These new faculty have recently published papers in such premier outlets as the  American Economic Review , the  European Economic Review ,  Games and Economic Behavior ,  Management Science , and the  RAND Journal of Economics .

Our doctoral students complete supervised research projects during their first and second years. Many of these projects develop into co-authored publications. Students have recently published papers in such highly regarded outlets as the  Economics of Education Review ,  International Journal of Industrial Organization,  the  Journal of Economics , the  Journal of Human Capital, Journal of Regulatory Economics,  and   the  Southern Economic Review.

Our Ph.D. program includes field coursework in econometrics, industrial organization, international trade, macroeconomics, and public economics. Several successful students have also completed dissertations in health economics. Recent graduates have found academic positions at the Howard University, Oberlin College, the University of Alberta, the University of Indiana, and the University of South Carolina. Others have found private-sector opportunities at Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Brattle Group, Charles Rivers, HP, and T Mobile.

The application is available  here  and will remain open until January 15, 2024 . All applicants will be considered for a competitive finding package, which includes a stipend, tuition waiver, and health insurance.

For more information about the doctoral program at UF Economics, please visit the  program website  or contact the Graduate Coordinator, Dr. Richard Romano ( [email protected] ), or Thomas Knight, Department Chair and Professor, Dept. of Economics ( [email protected] ).

You can also see the linked flyer:  PhD Recruiting Flyer

1022 International Affairs Building (IAB)

Mail Code 3308

420 West 118th Street

New York, NY 10027

FSU | Department Of Economics

Site Navigation

Global navigation, department of economics.

College of Social Sciences and Public Policy

Ph.D. Job Market

Meet our 2024-2025 Ph.D. Job Market Candidates

MAEP Career Day

The Master’s in Applied Economics program hosts a Career Day each fall and spring as part of the Professional Development Course. Career Day consists of a networking lunch, mock interviews, a panel discussion, and a reception.

John Hamman Appointed Chair of the Department of Economics

Associate Professor and Bernard Sliger Scholar of Economics John Hamman, Ph.D., was named the new Chair of the Department of Economics on May 10, 2024. He takes over the position from Joe Calhoun, Ph.D., who served as Chair for four years. Read More

FSU Department of Economics Welcomes New Rod and Hope Brim Eminent Scholar Chair

Florida State University’s Department of Economics welcomed Anthony Kwasnica, Ph.D., to the faculty this semester as the new Rod and Hope Brim Eminent Scholar Chair. Read More

DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics Honored with Distinguished Scholar Award

Florida State University’s DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics Randall Holcombe, Ph.D., was awarded the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Association of Private Enterprise Education (APEE) at the 48th annual APEE conference on April 8, 2024. Read More

Follow the Department of Economics on Social Media

Follow us on social media for updates on the Department. LinkTree

32 full time faculty | 2 Graduate Programs | Over 250 doctoral students since 1967

The Department of Economics is the largest department in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy. We have 32 full time faculty and an active research program. At the undergraduate level, we offer an economics major, economics minor, as well as several specialized studies programs. At the graduate level, we offer both an MS program and a PhD program . Our MS program has a strong applied focus and is designed to be completed in twelve months. Our PhD program is arguably the most comprehensive in the State of Florida and has graduated over 250 doctoral students since 1967.

If you cannot find the information you are looking for, or you have suggestions for improvement of the website, please email our IT Coordinator or the Department Chair,  John Hamman .

Get in Touch

Our Programs and Resources

Undergraduate Program

The Undergraduate Economics Program prepares students for careers in business, government, and the academy.

Doctoral Program

The Economics doctoral program at FSU prepares students for a variety of careers in academia, government, and the private sector.

Applied Master's Program

The one year, 30 credit hour terminal master’s in Applied Economics program at FSU prepares students for a variety of careers in government and the private sector.

PhD Job Market Candidates

Meet our PhD Program’s current marketing job market candidates for the 2022–23 academic year.

Recently, we have placed students at top research universities in both tenure track positions, post docs, and visiting professors.

Why Major in Economics?

From developing analytical and problem-solving skills to understanding complex global issues, here are some of the key advantages of pursuing a degree in economics.

Research Spotlight

In this video, we spotlight the research of Dr. Matthew Gentry .

He uses the Research Computing Center to run Monte Carlo simulations, studying bidding behavior for contracts.

Subscribe to COSSPP on YouTube

Department of Economics News

Apply to COSSPP’s prestigious Social Science Scholar program's 2025 cohort

August 30, 2024

Apply for the College’s prestigious Social Science Scholars program online by Friday, October 4 at bit.ly/2025sssp.   The Social Science Scholars Program provides career-accelerating leadership training and experiences to 18 outstanding COSSPP undergraduate students with a major in the College, cumulative GPA of 3 …

Unconquered by Debt: Fall 2024 Financial Wellness Series

The Unconquered by Debt program is offering its Fall 2024 Financial Wellness Series to FSU students every Tuesday at 5 p.m. and Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Stavros Center for Economic Education, beginning September 10. …

COSSPP welcomes 13 new faculty members in Fall 2024

August 27, 2024

The College of Social Sciences and Public Policy has announced 13 scholars will be joining our full-time faculty beginning in fall 2024.   …

All Department of Economics News

COSSPP Makes News FSU Makes News RSS Feed

Read More COSSPP Makes News

Events Calendar

Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs

Search this website

We are pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for the PhD program in Economics.

We encourage prospective students to   apply online .

The requirements for admission to the Ph.D. program are:

• Bachelor’s Degree : A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
• GPA, GRE, and TOEFL : A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 (out of 4) during the last two years of undergraduate education is required. Every candidate must take the GRE. International graduate student applicants whose native language is not English are required to submit a score for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). A total score of 80 on the IBT TOEFL or 6.5 overall on the IELTS is required
• Prerequisites : The following courses at the undergraduate level: Statistics, two semesters of Calculus, and one semester of Linear Algebra. Promising students who have not fulfilled these prerequisites may be admitted on a provisional basis. Unless specifically exempted, such students must take the courses as required, but graduate credit will not be given for these prerequisite courses.
• Recommendations : Three letters of recommendation from persons in a position to judge the applicant’s suitability for graduate study in economics.
• Committee Approval : The above are minimum requirements. All complete applications are evaluated by the Graduate Studies Committee of the Department of Economics at FIU, which makes the final admission decision. Since admission to the program is competitive, the committee’s requirements are normally higher than the minimum standards. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission.
• Separate Admission to Ph.D. Program : The Ph.D. Program is independent of the existing Master’s Program in Economics, and M.A. students must apply separately for admission as Ph.D. students. Certain courses taken in the Master’s Program may subsequently be used to fulfill the requirements of the Ph.D. Program, with the approval of the Graduate Director. (These courses include the Master’s core theory courses.)

The application deadline for the PhD program is January 1 . Due to the structure of our program, PhD applications can only be considered for the Fall term. To be considered for all funding options, all supporting documents need to be received by that date. GRE scores, language tests (TOEFL or IELTS), and transcripts can initially be submitted in an unofficial format. However, official results, including a NACES evaluation for degrees from non-US accredited institutions, need to be submitted prior to acceptance into the program.

For More Information

Please contact the Graduate Program Director, Dr. Tobias Pfutze at E-mail:   [email protected] , or the Office Associate at Email:   [email protected]

States with strictest abortion laws offer the least support for women and families

States with abortion bans are falling short in helping low-income families, experts say.

New research from Northwestern Medicine in Chicago compared state abortion laws to public programs meant to help families, such as paid parental leave and state-funded nutrition programs for families with children. 

“States with the most severe abortion restrictions have the least public infrastructure to support families,” said Dr. Nigel Madden, a maternal-fetal medicine physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who led the study published Wednesday in the American Journal of Public Health. 

Previous research has shown that about half of the number of women who seek abortions live below the federal poverty line, while three-quarters do not have enough money to cover housing, transportation and food. About 60% already have at least one child at home. 

The majority of women in the United States who want an abortion can still get one, said Caitlin Myers, a professor of economics at Middlebury College who studies the economic implications of reproductive policies.

“But here is this minority of people who are trapped by the bans,” said Myers, who was not involved with the new research. “They cannot order pills online or travel to have an abortion in another state. They are disproportionately the poorest and most vulnerable of an already largely poor and vulnerable group of people who are seeking abortions.”

More than 28 million women who could become pregnant live in states with the most restrictive laws. 

For the study, Madden and her team divided states into three categories based on their abortion laws, from the most restrictive to the least , based on data from December 2023. 

Of the 21 states with the tightest restrictions, 14 have complete abortion bans with very limited exceptions, such as Alabama and North Dakota. Seven states had a gestational age ban, which ranged from six to 18 weeks

(Iowa was not part of the most restrictive group in the study, although in July a near-total abortion ban took effect in the state.)

The researchers evaluated each state on access to reproductive health care, and maternal and family social services. They also looked at whether states mandated paid family and medical leave, if the state had below-average enrollment in supplemental nutritional programs for families with children and childcare assistance for lower-income families. 

Based on these factors, Idaho was the least supportive of low-income families. Abortion is illegal in Idaho, except if the pregnant woman’s life is in danger or if the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest that was reported to the police. 

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Missouri also provided the weakest aid to families, the study found.  

“It’s not one thing, it’s across an array of programs they are falling short,” said Diana Greene Foster, professor in the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved with the research. 

The moderately restrictive group included 13 states, including Colorado, Nevada and Wisconsin, in which abortion is legal, but blocked by certain hurdles. Either Medicaid coverage of abortion was prohibited in these states or state law required a waiting period or that clinicians notify a minor’s parents. 

The least restrictive group included 17 states, including California, New York and Maine, that had either no gestational age ban or did not ban abortion until 24 weeks of pregnancy or later, or that allowed Medicaid funds to pay for abortion. 

Compared to less restrictive states, those with the most restrictive abortion bans had the lowest median percentage of Medicaid coverage outside of pregnancy and the highest rates of uninsured women of reproductive age. 

They also had the highest percentage of births covered by Medicaid, 44%. The most restrictive states also had the highest median percentage –– meaning about half of the states had percentages higher than and half had lower –– of births in which families paid out of pocket, at 4%. 

These states had lower enrollment in state-funded assistance programs and had lower income thresholds, meaning people had to be poorer to qualify for public assistance. Of the states with the strictest abortion bans, none had laws requiring employers to offer paid parental leave after a baby was born. Nationwide, just nine states have enacted laws that require employers to offer paid family leave under certain circumstances.

For everyone else, the federal Family and Medical Leave Act ensures employees who work for certain private or public entities get up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave per year with the promise that their jobs will be there when they get back. Not everyone qualifies, including people who work for companies with fewer than 50 employees. The leave is also unpaid. 

“It means in a lot of cases, our most disadvantaged populations are not able to take the time off that they need after giving birth, to recover and to spend time with their baby,” Madden said. “It has both short- and long-term ramifications for people and their families.”

Low-income people are also more likely to be employed in shift work, on schedules that frequently change or that require them to work outside of business hours, which make it more difficult for them to seek child care, Myers said. 

In an emailed statement, the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said: “This year, more than a dozen states with pro-life laws approved new safety net measures to increase the support offered to women. The new measures range from child care assistance and child tax credits to Medicaid extension and safe haven policies.”

“I don’t think it’s accurate that this abortion debate is one side that is pro-child and the other is not,” Foster said. “Many people who have abortions want children in the future, but they want to have them under the right circumstances — with the right partner, with the money, the job, the housing, to support them well.”

Kaitlin Sullivan is a contributor for NBCNews.com who has worked with NBC News Investigations. She reports on health, science and the environment and is a graduate of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at City University of New York.