A full account of degree requirements and procedures is contained in the Economics student handbook.
PhD candidates must earn 30 credits in addition to the 30 credits taken in the Economics MA program, for a total of 60 credits. Three minimum conditions must be fulfilled for the subcommittee to consider a petition to continued study toward the PhD:
- At least 18 credits must have been completed in residence at The New School for Social Research.
- The student must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better.
- The student must have completed at least one course in the PhD theory core and one graduate-level econometrics course with a grade of 3.5 or better.
Transfer students who already have an MA from or have completed graduate work in economics at another institution may be assigned credit for all or part of their previous graduate studies up to a maximum of 30 credits. If admitted, transfer students must complete a minimum of 12 credits at The New School for Social Research with a grade point average of 3.5 or better, including at least one PhD core course (see below) with a grade of at least 3.5.
PhD Course Requirements
To earn the PhD in Economics, a student must complete 30 credits beyond the MA, including four core courses as well as elective courses:
- Advanced Microeconomics I (GECO 6200)
- Advanced Macroeconomics I (GECO 6202)
- Advanced Econometrics I (GECO 6281)
- Advanced Political Economy I (GECO 6204) or Post-Keynesian Economics (GECO 6206)
- Up to nine credits may be taken as Directed Dissertation Study (GECO 7991)
- Electives up to the total of 60 credits
Students must receive grades of 3.0 or better in all four core courses to continue. (A student who receives a grade of less than 3.0 in a core course is permitted to retake the examination in that course within one year of the end of the semester in which the course was taken. No core course examination can be taken more than twice.) Students are not required to take a PhD qualifying examination in the core course material, although they are free to select advanced macroeconomics, advanced microeconomics, advanced political economy, or advanced econometrics as elective fields from the areas of concentration.
Areas of Concentration
In addition to the core theory curriculum, each student chooses two areas of concentration, which will be the subjects of the student's comprehensive examinations. The Department of Economics regularly offers the following areas of concentration:
- Advanced macroeconomics
- Advanced microeconomics
- Advanced political economy
- Economic development
- Finance
- History of economic thought
- International economics
- Labor economics
- Money and banking
Other areas of concentration may be available subject to faculty availability:
- Class and gender
- Economic history
- Industrial organization
- Race and class
- Public finance
All students must select one concentration from the list above. The second concentration can also be selected from the list or students may, if they wish, define their own second concentration or define an interdisciplinary concentration by combining concentrations from the list above. Individually defined concentrations are subject to approval of the department, which may depend on faculty availability.
Graduate Minors
Students can use elective courses toward completing one of the university’s graduate minors. These structured pathways of study immerse master's and doctoral students in disciplines outside their primary field and expose them to alternative modes of research and practice. Completed graduate minors are officially recorded on students' transcript.
Seminar Requirement
Three credits must be fulfilled in the form of seminar requirements. Seminar credits can be earned only after a student has completed Advanced Microeconomics I, Advanced Macroeconomics I, and Advanced Econometrics I. Seminar credits can be earned only from work associated with an upper-level course, but not through directed dissertation study. All seminar credits require faculty approval. Transfer credit cannot be used to fulfill the seminar requirement.
PhD Qualifying Exam
Students can request permission from the department to take the PhD qualifying examinations after they have:
- Completed 45 credits with an overall grade point average of 3.5 or better in courses taken at The New School for Social Research
- Satisfactorily completed the three-semester requirement in economic analysis and the econometrics core requirement.
The PhD qualifying examination will consist of either:
- A three-hour written exam in each of the two areas of concentration
- A three-hour written exam in one area of concentration and an original research paper of high scholarly quality in the second area. Permission to submit a paper in lieu of examination must be obtained from a faculty supervisor and from the department chair.
Dissertation Oral Examination Dissertation Defense
A student is considered a doctoral candidate only after passing a dissertation proposal defense, which also serves as an oral examination. Students must first submit a dissertation proposal to the supervisor of their dissertation committee. This proposal must be approved by the three members of the dissertation committee prior to the oral examination. Students are also responsible for scheduling a date for their oral exam through the University Records Office six weeks prior to the oral defense date. The student must pass this examination in the area of the proposed dissertation research. The written dissertation and its defense in front of a committee of four faculty members constitute the remaining requirements for the PhD.
Mathematics Requirement
Although there are no formal requirements in mathematics, students must have sufficient competence to pass all courses that use mathematical techniques, such as the PhD theory core courses.
Foreign Language Requirement
All PhD candidates must demonstrate reading knowledge in a foreign language appropriate to their dissertation topic by passing a language examination administered by the department. Alternatively, a student may satisfy the language requirement by showing competence in mathematics, as demonstrated by a grade of 3.5 or higher in GECO 6189 or the equivalent.
MPhil Degree
With the permission of the department chair, the Master of Philosophy degree will be conferred upon a registered student who has fulfilled satisfactorily all the requirements of the department for the PhD except the dissertation and dissertation proposal defense. Registered students in satisfactory academic standing who have fulfilled the requirements for the MPhil can petition for the degree and receive it en route to the PhD, or they may take it as a terminal degree. Students cannot be re-admitted or re-enrolled for the purpose of receiving the MPhil.
At any time within ten years from the date the MPhil degree was awarded and subject to approval by the department chair, a recipient of the MPhil in Economics who has not continued studies in residence at the university may present to the university a substantial body of independent and original published scholarly work in lieu of a sponsored dissertation toward completion of the requirements for the PhD degree.