Applicable only to students admitted during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Economics

College of Letters and Science

Graduate Degrees

The Department of Economics offers the Master of Arts (M.A.), Master of Quantitative Economics (M.Q.E.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Economics.

Economics

Admissions Requirements

Master’s Degree

Advising

The Graduate Advisor will counsel students on visas, enrollment, graduation procedures, and other relevant issues. The Director of Academic Affairs, with the advice of Faculty Director, will handle counseling that pertains to the academic program.

Areas of Study

Data Analysis, Data Mining, Data Science, Econometrics, Economic Growth, Finance, Financial Economics, Income Distribution, International Finance, International Trade, Financial Accounting, Fintech, Labor Economics, Machine Learning, Macroeconomics, Market Analytics, Microeconomics, Monetary Policy, Portfolio Analytics, Presentation Techniques, Regulation & Industrial Organization, and Statistics.

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

The program requires 48 units of course work. Students must complete the following:

• The program requires 48 units of course work. Students must complete the following:
• Take Econ 430 and 442a during their first quarter in the program.
• Over the entire program take at least one 4-unit core course in each of three of the following four categories:
• Microeconomics (401, 421, 422, 424, 452)
• Macroeconomics (402, 405, 406, 409, 422, 424, 451)
• Finance (406, 409, 432, 433, 436, 451)
• Econometrics/Data Analytics (403, 412, 425, 434)
• All non-PhD courses must be taken for a letter grade.
• Choose one course from the Professional Development sequence (429a, 429b, 449)
• Enroll in Economists in Action (Econ 410) three quarters in which they are enrolled in the MQE program.
• Complete a capstone course (Econ 450)
• Over the duration of the program, choose from available Econ 400 series elective courses to fulfill the minimum 48 required units. Course offerings are subject to change; MQE courses are only offered once per academic year.
• With approval of the MQE faculty committee, students may be permitted to enroll in one PhD course in the Department of Economics per quarter, with a maximum of two PhD courses total to count towards the degree requirements. PhD courses may be taken for letter or S/U grading.
• With permission from the Graduate Advisor, students may take one additional Econ 596 course (4 units), which cannot apply toward the 48 units required for the degree.
• Students may elect to earn a concentration by completing at least 3 courses in any of the following designated areas of study.
• Concentration in Data Analytics: 412, 424, 425, 432, 434.. Students may substitute one empirical economics class which requires data analyses for one of these classes.
• Concentration in Finance: 406, 409, 414, 433, 436, 444, 451.
• Concentration in International & Monetary Economics: 402a, 405, 406, 409, 422, 424, 451.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Encouraged but not required.

Capstone Plan

The capstone for the Master of Quantitative Economics degree is a required course which entails the completion of either a final project or a final exam that is evaluated by three instructors. The capstone may consist of one of the following: 1) complete a final project under the supervision of an MQE instructor, and submit the results in the form of a research paper; 2) complete a comprehensive capstone exam which will be offered once a year during spring quarter; 3) complete an instructor-supervised applied project and produce a summary paper; or 4) complete an MQE-approved internship and produce a summary paper.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

Students may complete the program in 3 to 6 consecutive quarters. Students must submit an official advancement to candidacy form by Week 2 of the quarter in which they plan to complete their degree. For students who will be on filing fee during their final quarter, this form is due by Week 2 of the quarter prior to degree completion. Once submitted, changes will require special approval from the MQE Faculty Committee.

DEGREE	NORMATIVE TIME TO ATC (Quarters)	NORMATIVE TTD	MAXIMUM TTD
M.Q.E.	4	4	6

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

Recommendations for academic disqualification are made by the Master of Quantitative Economics Committee. Students should complete the capstone project in their final quarter of study. If a student does not complete the capstone project by the end of their final term, the student will be referred to the MQE Committee for review and possible academic disqualification.