I. In the Department of Economics, qualified students may work toward the MA degree with a major in Economics or the PhD degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Economics.

II. MA Degree Program

Program objectives are: (1) achievement of a solid foundation knowledge in economic theory and economic analysis; (2) acquisition of an advanced level of knowledge in either applied economics or academic economics; (3) acquisition of the quantitative skills to effectively address research problems and the ability to make significant professional contributions as a professional economist or within a functional area of business; and (4) ability to compete effectively for professional positions in the private or public sectors

A. Program Admission

1. Satisfactory performance on the Graduate Record Examination (Satisfactory performance on the Graduate Management Admission Test may be acceptable with approval of the coordinator of the master's program.)
2. Satisfactory undergraduate grade point average.

Students should have successfully completed or complete ECON 3310, Microeconomic Theory; ECON 3320, Macroeconomic Theory; ISDS 2710 and 3711, Business Statistics I and II (ISDS 7020 is an acceptable substitute for ISDS 2710 and 3711); ECON 6810 or equivalent.

C. Program Requirements

Each candidate has the choice of taking a written, comprehensive examination or writing a thesis at the end of course work. Regardless of which option is chosen, 15 hours of the student’s course work must be devoted to the following: ECON 7120, 7300, 7310, 7320, and 7810.

1. Examination Option: Each candidate must complete a minimum of 33 semester hours of graduate course work, exclusive of MA program prerequisite courses and MBA Essential Foundations courses. The 33 hours must include a minimum of 21 hours of approved course work in Economics. The remaining 12 hours, with approval of the department graduate advisor, may be taken in collateral courses. At least 24 hours must be in courses designated for graduate students (7000 level or above). Each candidate must pass a written examination in microeconomic theory and macroeconomic theory. A maximum of two attempts within a year of the first attempt is permitted.
2. Thesis Option: Each candidate must complete a minimum of 30 semester hours of graduate course work, exclusive of MA program prerequisite courses, MBA Essential Foundations courses, and Thesis Hours. The 30 hours must include a minimum of 18 hours of approved course work in Economics. The remaining 12 hours, with approval of the department graduate advisor, may be taken in collateral courses. At least 21 hours must be in courses designated for graduate students (7000 level or above). Each student will register for at least 3 hours (and not more than 6 hours), write and defend a thesis under the guidance of a faculty committee. A student who fails to complete the thesis after having registered for the maximum degree credit allowable must register for thesis credit each academic semester until the thesis is completed. NOTE: Students electing to write a thesis should familiarize themselves with the Thesis/Dissertation Preparation Guide before starting to write.

The objective of the PhD in Business Administration with a concentration in Economics is to prepare candidates for a successful academic or professional career in economics and business. Through an intensive, advanced level training in both economic theory and quantitative methods, students learn to conduct independent research and prepare for various responsibilities of a professional career. The Economics Department has an outstanding faculty with a strong orientation in applied as well as theoretical research. For admission, program content, and financial aid information, see the departmental website at: economics.memphis.edu/acad_index.html

6130. Government Regulation of Business. (3). The several approaches to legal and legislative control of business—especially tax laws, commission regulation, and anti-monopoly legislation—are considered in view of the impact of each on industrial operating policy and corporate social responsibility.

6410. Development of Economic Thought. (3). Integration of macro- and microeconomics; examines contribution of selected schools and writers to modern economic theory, including preclassical, classical, Marxian, neoclassical, and post-1914 contributions; focuses on theory of money, interest, and inflation.

6760–69. Special Topics in Economics. (1-3). Topics vary; may be repeated when topics change. PREREQUISITE: Permission of department chair.

6810. Quantitative Economic Analysis. (3). Introduction to the application of mathematical tools in business and economics; review of matrix algebra, differential and integral calculus; optimization with and without constraints; comparative statistics.

7010. Economic Theory. (3). Investigation of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory; topics include: supply and demand, production and cost, competition and monopoly, income determination, unemployment, inflation, and government budget. PREREQUISITE: Fewer than 6 hours of undergraduate economics or permission of instructor.

7100. Executive Economics. (3). (7020). Application of economic analysis to business problems, emphasizing economics of management in a global environment; topics include demand, production, and cost; the economics of market structure, strategy, and organization; principle-agent problems; corporate governance and government regulation of business. NOTE: Open only to degree-seeking MBA students. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7010 or equivalent or permission of instructor.

7101. Essentials of Economics for International Business. (3). Essential economic theory and applications to international business; application of economic concepts such as the market model, consumption and production theory, income and employment determination in an international environment; elementary international economics for business management. PREREQUISITES: Admission to IMBA concentration or permission of instructor.

7110. Managerial Economics. (3). Economic rationale underlying key management decisions; managerial problems identified and examined in light of relevant economic concepts; remedial action plotted on basis of economic logic. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7100 or 7300 or equivalent or permission of instructor.

7120-8120. Advanced Quantitative Economic Analysis. (3). Advanced mathematical methods used in economics, finance, accounting, and management science with specific applications to micro- and macroeconomics; topics include constrained, unconstrained, and dynamic optimization, comparative statistics, and optimal control. PREREQUISITES: ECON 6810 or permission of instructor.

7125-8125. Business and Economic Research. (3). Fundamental application of statistical inference, research software, data sets, and econometrics. PREREQUISITES: ISDS 7020 and MATH 1312.

7126-8126. Economic Forecasting. (3). Statistical models for forecasting and measuring risk, growth, cyclical and seasonal patterns in business, and economic time series. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7100 or permission of instructor.

7130-8130. Industrial Organization. (3). How different types of markets work; nature of the firm; monopoly; monopolistic competition and product differentiation; oligopoly; repeated games and tacit collusion; entry, accommodation, and exit. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7310-8310 or permission of instructor.

7170. International Trade and Investments. (3). Introductory survey of trade theory and international macroeconomics; traditional issues of international trade theory, including why countries trade, distributional effects, policies; basic concepts and issues in international macroeconomics, including balance of payments and international capital flows, exchange rates; effects of macroeconomic policies under alternative exchange rate regimes. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7010 or permission of instructor.

7172. International Competitiveness in the World Economy. (3). Meaning and measurement of international competitiveness; microeconomic and macroeconomic aspects; government policy implications; strategic intervention. PREREQUISITE: ECON 4350 or 7170 or permission of instructor.

7175-8175. International Trade Theory and Policy. (3). Advanced treatment of the theory of international trade; the theory of comparative advantage, the Hecksher-Ohlin model, specific factors, returns to scale and product life-cycle hypotheses; applications of tariffs and commercial policies, international factor movements, and selected topics in international economic development. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7310-8310 or permission of instructor.

7176-8176. International Monetary Theory and Policy. (3). Advanced treatment of open economy macroeconomics: determination of internal and external balance; balance of payments accounting; models of balance of payments adjustment, foreign exchange rate determination, and international capital flows; stabilization mechanisms and policies. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7320-8320 or permission of instructor.

7210-8210. Labor Economics. (3). Use of theory and statistical techniques to analyze determination of wage rates and employment and working conditions in labor markets under conditions of competition and collective bargaining. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7100 or 7300 or permission of instructor.

7235. The Memphis Economy. (3). (Same as PADM 7235). Analytic and descriptive review of the Memphis regional economy; includes labor markets, industrial and corporate organizations, logistical systems, urban sprawl, and demographics of race and gender. PREREQUISITE: A course in principles of economics.

7300. Economic Theory and Decisions. (3). Basic exposition of decision-making theories of consumers and firms under different market structures and informational settings. PREREQUISITES: ECON 6810 and 7010 or equivalents of both.

7310-8310. Advanced Microeconomics I. (3). Economic models of consumers, firms, and markets; basic theories of the firm and consumer; choice under uncertainty; market structure and traditional models of imperfect competition. PREREQUISITE: ECON 3310 and 3320, or ECON 7300, or permission of instructor.

7312-8312. Economic Behavior and Organizations. (3). Models of real-world economic behavior and institutions; analysis of nature of modern corporation as an economic organization; focus on roles played by incomplete information, transactions costs, legal structure and evolution of differences in capabilities in shaping hierarchies, contractual arrangements, and other aspects of organizational relationships. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7300.

7313-8313. Economics of Risk and Uncertainty. (3). Economics of risk and information: individual choice under uncertainty; mean-variance models and their relation to expected utility; stochastic dominance; applications to insurance, asset demands, capital budgeting, etc.; market equilibrium and information; adverse selection and signaling; moral hazard and incentives. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7310-8310 or permission of instructor.

7320-8320. Advanced Macroeconomics I. (3). Microeconomic foundations of macroeconomic models; comparison and contrast of macroeconomic models, neoclassical and Keynesian, new neoclassical and neo-Keynesian. PREREQUISITE: ECON 3310 and 3320, or ECON 7300, or permission of instructor.

7322-8322. Monetary Theory and Policy. (3). Role of money in the macroeconomy: includes theory of financial structure, money creation and monetary control, theory of money demand; general equilibrium financial models: static analysis, short-run dynamics, monetary growth; rules versus discretion debate: optimal monetary policy, historical conduct of monetary policy. PREREQUISITE: ECON 3320, 7300, or 7320-8320, or permission of instructor.

7700-8700. Economics of Electronic Commerce. (3). Market characteristics of electronic commerce, economic impact of electronic commerce on terrestrial commerce; broader issues of property rights, government regulation, information infrastructure maintenance, and business cycles. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7010 or equivalent.

7710. Health Care Economics. (3). Applies basic economic concepts to analyze health care market and evaluate health policies; including distinctive economic characteristics of health, health care industry, and health care professionals; American system of health care; current health care policy issues such as health care reform, managed care, and manpower planning. PREREQUISITES: ECON 7010 or equivalent, or permission of instructor.

7711-8711. Applications of Health Care Economics. (3). Analysis of health care expenditures, employee health plans, and third party reimbursement mechanisms; economics of insurance design in presence of moral hazard and adverse selection; business and union strategies for health care; local, state, and national health care reform. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7710 or permission of instructor.

7712-8712. Pharmaceutical Economics. (3). Methodology and case studies of pharmaceutical economics and quality of life aspects of medicinal intervention; emphasis on comparative pharmaceutical care systems and payment mechanisms of developed and developing countries. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7710 or permission of instructor.

7720-8720. Economics of the Public Sector. (3). Emphasis on the production of public goods, financing of public goods, problems created by a federal fiscal system; current problems and policy decisions; public finance theory and policy will be analyzed.

7810-8810. Econometrics I. (3). Classical multivariate regression analysis and statistical inference under ideal and non-ideal conditions; theoretical foundations with emphasis on empirical implementation; estimation of models with categorical data, non-linearity, simple dynamics, or panel data. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7125-8125 or permission of instructor.

7811-8811. Econometrics II. (3). Continuation of ECON 7810-8810. Estimation and statistical inference in simultaneous equations models and models with discrete or limited dependent variables; seemingly unrelated regressions, unobservable variables, identification and estimation in a simultaneous system, binomial and multinomial choice, truncated or censored data, and sample selectivity. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7810-8810 or permission of instructor.

†7900-8900. Research Practicum in Economics for Graduate Students. (1-6). Practical demonstrations of and experience in the design, practice, and methodology of research in the field of economics. Required of all PhD students and recommended for all graduate assistants. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

†7901-8901. Teaching Practicum in Economics for Graduate Students. (1-6). Practical demonstrations of and experience in the art of teaching economics topics. Required of all PhD students and recommended for all graduate assistants. May be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours.

‡7910-8910. Problems in Economics. (1-6). Directed independent reading and research in an area selected by the student with the approval of the supervising faculty member and Faculty Director. Proposed plan of study must be approved prior to enrollment.

7940-49–8940-49. Special Topics in Economics. (1-3). Special areas of economics not otherwise included in the curriculum. Consult the online class listings.

†7996. Thesis. (3-6). Independent research for the master’s degree.

8311. Advanced Microeconomics II. (3). Continuation of ECON 7310-8310. Advanced development of theories of the consumer and firm; general equilibrium analysis and welfare economics; game theory, with applications to imperfect competition. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7310-8310 or permission of instructor.

8321. Advanced Macroeconomics II. (3). Seminar focusing on recent advances in macroeconomic theory; topics may include rational expectations and the policy effectiveness debate; economic dynamics and growth theory; asset-pricing models; neo-Keynesian models with imperfect competition and coordination failure. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7320-8320 or permission of instructor.

8812. Econometrics III. (3). Modern analysis and modeling of economic and financial time series and applications, including stationary ARMA processes, spectral analysis, basic asymptotic theory for serially dependent processes, vector autoregressions, unit-root nonstationary processes, cointegrated systems, structural changes, and ARCH processes. PREREQUISITE: ECON 7810.

†Grades of S, U, or IP will be given.
‡Grades of A-F, or IP will be given.