Why Northwestern?

Northwestern's Ph.D. program in Economics owes its international reputation to an outstanding faculty, a well-organized program of study, extensive student-faculty interaction, and an excellent record of recruiting, training, and placing talented graduate students.

The Department of Economics at Northwestern University is among the best in the world. A recent article in the Journal of the European Economic Association ranked Northwestern fourth in the world, based on faculty publications in thirty leading journals.

Seventeen Northwestern economists are elected fellows of the Econometric Society. Twenty-eight are faculty research fellows or research associates of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Among department faculty are several former editors of Econometrica. Our faculty have served as presidents of professional societies, and have taken leaves for public service in Washington, D.C. Longtime faculty member Dale Mortensen was the winner of the 2010 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Economics Ph.D. students are able to study not only with the department's 45 professors but also with the economists at Northwestern's J.L. Kellogg School of Management, which has been ranked number one among business schools by Business Week and the Economist. Students interested in applied economics may take advantage of research assistantships and dissertation year fellowships in such areas of Northwestern as the Transportation Center, the Institute for Policy Research, and the School of Education and Social Policy. Research opportunities are also available though the affiliation of faculty members with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Within the Department, there are several research centers that support seminar series, organize conferences, and provide students with support in the form of research assistantships. These centers are:

Center for Econometrics
Center for Economic Theory
Center for International Macroeconomics

Center for the Study of Development Economics
Center for the Study of Industrial Organization

The department is also the host of the biennial Nemmers Prize in economics, which is awarded to a world-ranked economist who has not yet received the Nobel Prize. The winner spends a quarter at Northwestern in advanced seminars, workshops, and other contact with graduate students and faculty.

Northwestern is a large private research university located on lakefront campus in Evanston, Illinois, just 12 miles north of downtown Chicago. The location combines many of the best features of small-town and large-city living. There is easy access by public transportation to the cultural, sporting and recreational opportunities in one of the world's greatest cities.

The department actively supports the placement of our Ph.D. graduates. Our students have been able to obtain positions at highly-ranked research universities. Students with exceptional teaching abilities have been placed at the leading liberal arts colleges. A number of graduates also obtain excellent positions at government agencies, including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the anti-trust division of the Department of Justice, as well as with private corporations.

Faculty

A listing of the Department's regular faculty and their research interests, along with links to their individual profile pages and personal web pages can be found at:

www.econ.northwestern.edu/people/index.html

Northwestern's economics community extends far beyond the department's 45 professors. Economists are also faculty members in the J.L. Kellogg School of Management, which is located in the same building as the department, and in other schools. You can find a listing at:

www.econ.northwestern.edu/people/community.html

April 4, 2012