overview

Over the last fifteen years, through the acquisition of a number of distinguished senior and junior faculty, the Department of Economics at Boston University has grown into one of the leading economics departments in the world. A recent publications-based ranking of U.S. economics departments placed it seventh among U.S. departments, tying Yale and leading Stanford and Berkeley. Strengths in the department include development economics, game theory, health economics, industrial organization, international trade and finance, labor economics, macroeconomics, microeconomic theory, public enterprise, regulation, and public finance. While the faculty work in a diverse set of fields, a common characteristic of their research is the application of frontier theoretical and quantitative tools to the analysis of important practical issues. Research at BU has looked at, among other things, auctions for rights to the airwaves, the effect of having a single parent on school and workforce performance, pension reform, monetary union, European integration, privatization, and post-apartheid labor markets in South Africa. A distinguishing feature of the Boston University Department of Economics is its international character. Two-thirds of our graduate students and one-third of the faculty come from outside the United States, and about half the faculty have worked on African, Asian, and Latin American economic issues. Within the Department of Economics, the Institute for Economic Development (IED) conducts theoretical, empirical, and applied policy research on the problems of less-developed countries. The department maintains a library of economics journals and working papers that are available to faculty and students. It runs active research seminars in development (under the auspices of the IED), microeconomics, applied microeconomics, econometrics, and macroeconomics, and it cosponsors (with Harvard and MIT) a research seminar on health economics. Recently, members of our faculty have won a number of prestigious awards, including two Sloan Faculty Research Fellowships (Kevin Lang, Maristella Botticini) and the Olin Fellowship (Maristella Botticini). Two of our faculty are Fellows of the Econometric Society (Christophe Chamley, Laurence Kotlikoff), and many are affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research. Members of the department have received considerable funding for research projects in a wide variety of fields. The diversity in the department generates an intellectual life that is lively and exciting. For example, a student interested in third-world debt will find that he or she can work with specialists in game theory, time-series econometrics, international finance, and development. Students interested in labor economics will find various faculty who apply both theoretical methods and empirical techniques to problems in different regions of the world. Students interested in industrial organization will be able to learn modern applied microeconomic theory and empirical techniques, and work with faculty with interests in both developed and less-developed countries.

Aug 24 2007