Economics
401 Engineering 2
(831) 459-2743
https://economics.ucsc.edu/
Programs Offered
Economics B.A.
Business Management Economics B.A.
Global Economics B.A.
Economics/Mathematics Combined B.A.
Economics Minor
Applied Economics and Finance M.S.
Economics Ph.D.
Other Programs of Interest
Environmental Studies/Economics B.A.
An understanding of economics is a vital component of a liberal arts education and a necessity for anyone interested in how the economic system actually works. Subject areas include business, environmental policy, economic development, immigration, educational reform, international competitiveness and trade, economic inequality, and transformations in the global economy.
The programs offered by the UC Santa Cruz Economics Department are designed to acquaint students with a broad range of economic issues and with the tools economists use.
Undergraduate Program
The economics curriculum begins at the introductory level; no specific high school preparation is required. All economics majors study a substantial core of economic theory and mathematical and statistical methods, and then choose among a wide variety of upper-division electives.
Economics majors may combine their upper-division elective choices in a variety of ways to achieve specialization in a number of possible areas, including environmental economics, public policy, political economy, international economics, economic development, and quantitative methods.
Graduate Program
The Department of Economics offers programs leading to the Ph.D. degree in economics and M.S. degree in applied economics and finance.
The Ph.D. program in economics provides students with training in modern microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics, combined with specialized training in the fields of international finance and international trade and options to pursue specializations in economic development, monetary economics, applied microeconomics, experimental economics and other areas. The core emphasis of the program is on international trade and finance, and the program offers more intensive course work in these areas, as well as greater faculty depth in various aspects of international economics, than do traditional Ph.D. programs in economics that offer international economics as a single subfield. However, the department is also home to a large number of internationally recognized faculty whose work is outside of international and who regularly supervise Ph.D. students. Graduates of the program have conducted research on a wide variety of topics; examples include monetary economics, experimental economics, environmental economics, and economic growth and development as well as international economics.
Past graduates of the Ph.D. program have gone on to successful careers in the academic and research sectors with placements at a diverse range of companies and institutions, including Central Banks, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, UBER, Middlebury College, Occidental College, IMPAQ International, California State University, University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, Bank of International Settlements and many more.
The M.S. program in applied economics and finance is designed for students who wish to supplement their undergraduate work in economics with analytical graduate training that prepares them for careers in business, international and domestic banking, consulting firms, government, and nonprofit organizations. The program combines theory with meaningful applications that students are likely to face in their professional careers. The program is more practical than a typical M.A. program and provides more training in economics and statistics than most MBA programs.
Past graduates of this program have gone on to successful careers in the private and public sectors with placements at a diverse range of companies and institutions, including ADM Associates, Inc., Anderson Tax, SoFi, Cisco Systems, Seagate Technology, Google, Sony Computer Entertainment, Plantronics, Wells Fargo, Securities and Exchange Commission, all of the big four accounting firms, McKesson Corp., Pepsi Corp., Visa, Square Trade, the California Franchise Tax Board, Guardian News (UK), Blue Cross, the World Bank, Stanford University, and the Bank of Japan. Other graduates have gone on to earn Ph.D.s in economics.