More about our PhD Program and our Research Associates Program
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General information
Welcome to the Berlin School of Economics
The Berlin School of Economics offers career development programs in economics, accounting, finance and management at the PhD and Postdoc levels in a single and unique structure. It combines two pre-existing, very successful career development programs: the Berlin Doctoral Program in Economics and Management Science (BDPEMS) and the Berlin Economics Research Associates (BERA) program. The following major institutions active in economics research in Berlin and beyond cooperate within the Berlin School of Economics:
Discover the Berlin School of Economics programs
The Berlin School of Economics PhD Program offers PhD tracks in Economics, Accounting, Finance and Management. All tracks are highly compatible with each other and allow for numerous specializations. The doctoral program provides outstanding doctoral students with a vibrant, intensively networked research community and a training structure that will develop their talents in a unique combination of high-level academic and applied research.
The Berlin School of Economics Research Associates Program recruits its members from the international job market for new PhD graduates. The program provides a mentoring program and multiple support structures for research activities, travel, and skills development for its members.
Berlin School of Economics Code of Conduct
Statement of our commitment to upholding the ethical and professional standards as the basis for our daily and long-term decisions and actions
Tuesday 19. November
Parental Leave from the Firm’s Perspective
Wednesday 20. November
Topic: Decolonizing Quinine: A Political History…
New INSIGHTS pieces
Tuition fees and educational attainment.
by Andreas Leibing (TU Dresden and DIW Berlin)
The Hidden Social Cost of Car Use: Prioritizing Physical Activity in Economic Transport Policy
by Inge van den Bijgaart (Utrecht University School of Economics.), David Klenert (European Commission), Linus Mattauch (TU Berlin), Simona Sulikova…
Housing-Consumption Channel of Mortgage Demand
by Gabriel Ahlfeldt (HU Berlin), Nikodem Szumilo (UCL), and Jagdish Tripathy (Bank of England)
New updated tool offers detailed insights into rental and purchase price trends on a local scale
The Berlin School of Economics is pleased to introduce the updated version of an interactive tool developed by researchers Gabriel Ahlfeldt, Stephan…
New DFG Research Group at Freie Universität Berlin Focuses on Workforce Shortages
Economics project receives funding; led by economist Prof. Dr. Peter Haan
Welcome Event 2024 of the Berlin School of Economics
The Berlin School of Economics celebrated its annual Welcome Event for its new cohorts of doctoral students and research associates as well as new…
Roland Strausz receives ERC Advanced Grant
Successful application for third-party funds of 1.8 million Euros
Joonas Tuhkuri was awarded the 2022 Upjohn Institute Dissertation Award
Joonas Tuhkuri, postdoctoral fellow in the BSE Research Associates Program and at the Rockwool Foundation Berlin Institute for the Economy and the…
- Degree Programs
Ph.D. and MSQ in Quantitative Economics
The Ph.D. Program is designed to ensure that students acquire a thorough knowledge of economic theory, the structure of modern economies, as well as econometric and computational methods before beginning their own research under faculty supervision.
In the first year students attend core courses in microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, and mathematical methods. At the end of that year they must pass qualifying examinations in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and econometrics. In the second year students complete field courses in two to three fields of their election and begin to work on their own research with the support of a faculty advisor, whose main role is to help them to make the transition from coursework to research and to identify suitable dissertation topics. By the end of their third year students must have completed their first research paper. The dissertation is completed in the fourth year of the program. It must be a major piece of research and its chapters must have the potential for publication in an international scientific journal.
First-year students in the MSQ Program in Quantitative Economics enroll in the same set of courses as their peers from the Ph.D. Program in Economics. Those who complete their first year of studies with strong success are eligible and strongly encouraged to join the Ph.D. Program in Economics from their second year of studies onwards. The MSQ Program in Quantitative Economics is completed with a Master thesis written in the final months of the second year of studies.Students who decide to take part in both programs may earn both an MSQ and a Ph.D. degree in a total of four years.
Ph.D. Structure
Pre-Semester: Mathematics, Statistics and Econometrics
First Semester: Advanced Econometrics 1 (8 CP), Advanced Macroeconomics 1 (8 CP), Advanced Microeconomics 1 (8 CP), Mathematical Methods (8 CP)
Second Semester: Advanced Econometrics 2 (8 CP), Advanced Macroeconomics 2 (8 CP), Advanced Microeconomics 2 (8 CP), Programming Languages (4 CP)
Qualifying Examinations
First Semester: Field Courses, Workshop Attendance
Second Semester: Field Courses, Seminar, Workshop Attendance
Fields Offered:
Development and International Economics (including Cross-Country Studies, Development Microeconomics, Economic Growth, International Trade)
Econometrics (including Bayesian Econometrics, Dynamic Panel Models, Econometrics of Duration and Transition Data, Long Memory in Time-Series, Non-Parametric Econometrics)
Finance (including Asset Pricing, Corporate Finance Theory, Empirical Banking, Household Finance, Option Pricing, Taxes and Finance)
Macroeconomics (including Consumption and Saving, Economic Growth, Family Macroeconomics, Household Finance, Monetary Theory and Policy, Monetary and Fiscal Policy, Numerical Methods in Macroeconomics)
Marketing (including Bayesian Modelling for Marketing, Customer Management and Social Media, Pricing and Online-Advertising, Structural Models and Competition)
Microeconomics and Management (including Behavioral Auction Theory, Behavioral Economics, Decision Making under Risk and Ambiguity, Economics of Taxation, Empirical Labor Economics, Empirics of Contracts, Experimental Economics, General Equilibrium Theory: History, Incentives in Organizations, Intergenerational Economics, Modeling Group Behavior Using Game Theory, Taxes and Finance)
Historical and Normative Foundations of Economics (including History of Economic Thought, Normative Foundations)
During either the third or fourth year in the program, students may spend one or two semesters abroad for a research stay at an internationally top ranked Ph.D. program. Such stays are facilitated by the faculty advisor.
First Year Courses
The following list summarizes typical first-year course contents but t he details of the offerings may differ from year to year, depending on the faculty member teaching the course in question. For more details on these courses in any given year as well as the field courses, please consult the course syllabi typically retrievable on individual faculty members’ websites.
Mathematics and Statistics: real analysis, multivariable calculus, linear algebra, linear difference equation systems, introduction to MATLAB, static optimization, statistics, introduction to STATA, linear regression with STATA.
Advanced Econometrics 1: fundamentals of linear regression (OLS, SUR, 2SLS, 3SLS, GMM, QML), cross-section regression models with limited dependent variables, static panel data models.
Advanced Macroeconomics 1: dynamic optimization in models with representative and with heterogeneous agents, consumption, investment, saving and financial markets.
Advanced Microeconomics 1: theory of the household, theory of the firm, decisions under uncertainty, market equilibrium, static and dynamic games under alternative information structures.
Mathematical Methods: probability theory, measure theory, stochastic processes, topology, difference and differential equations, dynamic optimization, numerical methods.
Advanced Econometrics 2: integration and cointegration, single and multiple equation time-series models (ARMA, ARDL, VAR, VECM), spectral analysis, conditional heteroskedasticity.
Advanced Macroeconomics 2: structure of DSGE models, monopolistic competition and pricing, strategic complementarities, optimal monetary and fiscal policy, learning.
Advanced Microeconomics: contract theory (moral hazard, adverse selection, mechanism design, incomplete contracts), general equilibrium theory, welfare economics, externalities.
Programming Languages: major methods of programming (such as Python, R, and C) applied to research, specifically data analysis, in economics and business.