Applicable only to students admitted during the 2021-2022 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 Student Affairs Officer 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 are required to take Econ 430 and 431 during their first quarter in the program, and over the duration of the program choose from the following 400 series courses (ECON 401a, 402a, 405, 406, 409, 412, 414, 421, 422, 424, 425, 429, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 439, 440, 441, 442. Course list subject to change). In addition, all students are required to complete three quarters of the Economics in Action (410) course which consists of one week mini courses and distinguished guest speaker seminars. This course will take place during fall, winter, and spring quarters. In addition, the Economics PhD courses ECON 202A, 211C, 214A, 231A, 231B, 271A, 271B, 281B may be offered for credit towards completion of the degree as mixed enrollment courses. Enrollment to these PhD courses is conditional on appropriate prerequisites and subject to authorization of the Academic Advising Office. Students may choose to take a reduced course load during the first fall quarter consisting of Econ 430 and 431 and taking the remainder of required units during the following quarters. All courses must be taken for a letter grade.

With permission from the Academic Adviser, students may take one additional Econ 596 course (4 units), which cannot apply toward the 48 units required for the degree.

Students may select one of the following concentrations, provided they complete 3 courses listed below.
Concentration in Data Analytics: 412, 424, 425, 432, 434, 435. Students may substitute one empirical economics class which requires data analyses for one of these classes.

Concentration in Finance: 405, 406, 409, 414, 433, 436.

Concentration in International & Monetary Economics: 402a, 405, 406, 409, 422, 424.

Teaching Experience

Not required.

Field Experience

Encouraged but not required.

Capstone Plan

The capstone for the Master of Quantitative Economics degree is either a final project or a final exam that is evaluated by three faculty members. The topic of the capstone project will be determined by the student in conjunction with their Faculty Adviser.  Each student will choose to either 1) prepare a final project based on the content of one of these elective courses, and submit the results of that project in the form of a research paper; or 2) with the permission of three instructors, take a final exam based on a set of these elective courses.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-to-Degree

Students may complete the program in either 3 to 6 consecutive quarters.

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 within three quarters, or by the end of the following fall quarter. If a student does not complete the capstone project by the end of the subsequent fall quarter, the student will be referred to the MQE Committee for review and possible academic disqualification.