Economics (Graduate Program)

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For information regarding the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, click here. 

Program Overview

The Department of Economics has 13 full-time faculty members actively engaged in research, nine of whom have been awarded named professorships in recognition of their excellence in research and teaching. In addition, the department houses the Journal of Macroeconomics and Journal of Labor Research, which are edited by two department members. The Department of Economics also houses the Division of Economic Development, which among other functions publishes the annual Louisiana Economic Outlook.

The graduate program in economics provides students with a strong foundation in microeconomic and macroeconomic theory. To complement the general theory sequence, the department offers areas for specialization that include econometrics, advanced macroeconomics, and applied microeconomics. The advanced macroeconomics fields are economic growth and international macroeconomics, and monetary economics. The applied microeconomics field consists of courses selected from health economics, labor economics, public economics, and game theory.

Administration

Admission

Applications and supporting materials for all graduate study must be submitted through the online application site for the LSU Graduate School: www.lsu.edu/gradapply. Official transcripts, official test scores, and other materials that come from third-party sources must be mailed to: Graduate Student Services, 114 West David Boyd Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. These paper documents are stored electronically and departments have access to all materials submitted by and/or on behalf of a student applying to graduate study.

Applicants for graduate study in economics must meet The Graduate School admission requirements and be accepted by the department. In general, the requirements for applying are as follows:

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 (“A” = 4.0) or a 3.0 GPA for the last 60 hours of study. A 3.0 GPA or better on any graduate work already completed. International applicants must have at least a 3.0 GPA, or equivalent, on all college-level work attempted.
• A score of at least 1000 on the aptitude portion (verbal plus quantitative) of the GRE or equivalent GMAT.
• Satisfactory academic standing at the last institution attended.
• International applicants must provide an official TOEFL score of 550 on the paper-based, 213 on the computerbased, or 79 on the internet-based exam to be considered for admission.

In addition to the above requirements, applicants should have completed undergraduate courses in calculus, statistics, and intermediate microeconomics and macroeconomics before entering the MS program. Students interested in pursuing the PhD degree should take at least two consecutive semesters of calculus, a linear algebra course, and probability and statistics, in addition to intermediate macro and microeconomics.

Financial Assistance

All graduate students, including entering students, are eligible for assistantship stipends. A full tuition waiver will be provided to all full-time graduate assistants, but students are required to pay university fees. For more information please visit www.bgtplan.lsu.edu/fees.htm. Students holding research assistantships are expected to assist faculty members in their research and teaching for a maximum of 20 hours per week. Teaching assistantships are available to those advanced graduate students who are making satisfactory progress towards their degree.

Graduate School Enrichment Funds are available to outstanding graduate students entering the PhD program. These awards are in addition to assistantship stipends, and are generally renewable for a maximum of four years. A minimum GPA of 3.0 is required to retain the award. Summer stipends for teaching have been available in the past, but the number of awards varies each year.

Graduate Faculty

(check current listings by department by clicking this link)

Thomas R. Beard (EM)
William F. Campbell (EM)
Areendam Chanda (M) • Macroeconomics
David E. Dismukes (3F) • Energy Economics
R. Kaj Gittings (6A) • Labor Economics, organizational and personnel economics, economics of crime
R. Carter Hill (M) • Econometrics
Munechika Katayama (6A) • Macroeconomics
Faik A. Koray (M) • Macroeconomics, international economics
W. Douglas McMillin (M) • Monetary economics, macroeconomics; Co-Editor, Journal of Macroeconomics
Naci Mocan (M) • Labor economics, health economics; Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research; Associate Editor, Journal of Labor Research
Robert J. Newman (M) • Labor economics; Editor, Journal of Labor Research
Ying Pan (6A) • Microeconomics
James A. Richardson (M) • State and local taxation, forecasting, energy economics
Sudipta Sarangi (M) • Industrial organization, game theory, development economics
Loren C. Scott (EM)
M. Dek Terrell (M) • Econometrics, Bayesian econometrics, applied time series
Bulent Unel (M) • International trade, economic growth and development, welfare economics

Selected Faculty Publications

Areendam Chanda, Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Growth? Exploring the role of Financial Markets on Linkages,” Journal of Development Economics, March 2010, with Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Selin Sayek.
R. Carter Hill, “Fragmented Duopoly: A Conceptual and Empirical Investigation,” Journal of Business, 2005, with T. R. Beard, R. P. Saba, and G. S. Ford.
Faik A. Koray, “Are Some Taxes Different Than Others? An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of Tax Policy in Canada,” Empirical Economics, 2006, with Peren Arin.
W. Douglas McMillin, “Inflation Forecast Targeting: An alternative Approach to Estimating the Inflation-Output Variability Tradeoff,” Southern Economic Journal, forthcoming with James S. Fackler.
Naci Mocan, “Guns and Juvenile Crime,” Journal of Law and Economics, 2006, with Erdal Tekin.
Robert J. Newman, “Academic Pay in the UK and US: the Differential Returns to Productivity and the Lifetime Earnings Gap,” Southern Economic Journal, 2007, with W. J. Moore and Dek Terrell.
James A. Richardson, Handbook on Taxation, co-editor, 1999.
Sudipta Sarangi, “Existence of Nash Networks in One-way Flow Models,” Economic Theory, 2008, with P. Billand and C. Bravard.
M. Dek Terrell, Advances in Econometrics, Volume 20: Econometric Analysis of Financial and Economic Time Series – Part A & Part B, 2006, edited with Thomas B. Fomby and R. Carter Hill.
Bulent Unel, “Voluntary Association in Public Goods Experiments: Reciprocity, Mimicry, and Efficiency,” The Economic Journal, October 2005, with T. Page and L. Putterman.

Degree Programs

Programs

• Economics, Ph.D.

• Economics, M.S.

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