1. Economic Policy
For students who would like to focus on the economic tools used in policy analysis. Students may choose electives from a variety of disciplines: Economics, Public Policy, Mathematics and Statistics, Geography and Information Systems, Education, and others. This is the broadest and most flexible concentration. At least two electives must be ECON classes.
Faculty who specialize in potential fields of interest to Economic Policy students:
- International Economic Policy Analysis – Faculty Advisors: Se Mi Park.
- Human Resources, Education and Training Policy – Faculty Advisors: Tim Gindling, Doug Lamdin, David Mitch, Oleg Firsin, Lisa Dickson PLUS Jane Lincove and Pamela Bennett in Public Policy
- Managerial Policy – Faculty Advisors: Doug Lamdin, Morgan Rose
- Environmental Policy – Faculty Advisors: Maria Bernedo
- Macroeconomic Policy – Faculty Advisors: Morgan Rose, Chunming Yuan, Salum Abo-Zaid, Nicolas Castro
- Financial Policy – Faculty Advisors: Doug Lamdin, Morgan Rose, Chunming Yuan, Salem Abo-Zaid
- Economic Development Policy – Faculty Advisors: Tim Gindling, David Mitch, Maria Bernedo, Oleg Firsin, Se Mi Park, Nicolas Castro, PLUS Zoe McLaren in Public Policy
- Urban and Regional Development – Faculty Advisors: Doug Lamdin, Christelle Viauroux PLUS John Rennie Short in Public Policy
- Health Policy – Faculty Advisors: Bing Ma, Christine Yee PLUS Nancy Miller and Zoe McLaren in Public Policy
- Public Sector Economics – Faculty Advisors: Dennis Coates
- Quantitative Methods for Policy Analysis – Faculty Advisors: Christelle Viauroux
STANDARD PROGRAM OF STUDY FOR THE 2-YEAR DEGREE
Students may begin the ECPA M.A. Program in either the fall or the spring semester. Fall entry is preferable because it allows completion of the graduate econometrics sequence during the first year and completion of the program with ECON 699 in a student’s final spring semester. However, many students have also successfully completed the program after starting in a spring semester.
The sequence of courses for a student entering in the fall semester would normally be:
SECOND YEARFALL SEMESTER Elective or Public Policy core course SPRING SEMESTER Elective or Public Policy core course |
FIRST YEARFALL SEMESTER ECON 601 Microeconomic Analysis SPRING SEMESTER ECON 602 Macroeconomic Analysis |
2. Public Policy
For students who would like a comprehensive study of the public policy process, including the techniques of evaluation of public policies and the political and sociological aspects of the public policy process. This concentration is strongly recommended for students who plan to continue on to the Public Policy Ph.D. at UMBC. All of the classes taken in the ECPA M.A. will count towards the course requirements for the Ph.D. in Public Policy. Students with an ECPA M.A. are able to complete the Ph.D. course requirements in as little as one additional year after graduating with the ECPA M.A. Approximately 20% of ECPA M.A. graduates have continued on for the Ph.D. in Public Policy.
Required Public Policy concentration courses: At least two PUBL classes in addition to the two required ECPA Public Policy core classes. Of the four or more PUBL classes in total, at least two must be from the following list of public Policy core classes: PUBL 601, PUBL 603, PUBL 613, PUBL 623 or PUBL 608/SOCY 606. Students interested in continuing on to the Ph.D. in Public Policy at UMBC are encouraged to take additional Public Policy core classes. At least two electives must be ECON classes.
PUBLIC POLICY CONCENTRATION: EXAMPLE PROGRAM OF STUDY FOR THE 2-YEAR DEGREE
SECOND YEARFALL SEMESTER Public Policy core course SPRING SEMESTER Public Policy core course |
FIRST YEARFALL SEMESTER ECON 601 Microeconomic Analysis SPRING SEMESTER ECON 602 Macroeconomic Analysis |
3. Economic Policy and Data Sciences
For students who are interested in learning more about computer programming languages and statistics programs that are relevant to Economic Policy Analysis. Many entry-level jobs for Economic M.A. graduates require these skills. This concentration is offered in collaboration with the Master’s in Professional Sciences in Data Sciences at UMBC. At least three electives must be Data Science graduate classes.
Required Data Science concentration courses: three of the following:
- DATA 690-02 or DATA 690-03: Statistical Analysis and Visualization with Python
(Students with previous experience with programming and statistics do not need to take this class and can substitute one of the classes below or another DATA class). - DATA 601: Introduction to Data Science [Prerequisite: DATA 690-02, DATA 690-03 or equivalent]
- DATA 602: Introduction to Data Analysis and Machine Learning [Prerequisite: DATA 601]
- DATA 604: Data Management [Prerequisite: DATA 601]
PLUS two additional elective courses
For students with an undergraduate Economics major: With the permission of the Graduate Program Director, students with an undergraduate economics major, or strong academic background in economics, may take up to two additional elective classes in Data Science, as well as programming classes in other departments such as:
- SOCY 618: SAS for Social Sciences
- STAT 432: Statistical Computer Packages and Their Applications: SAS and R
- MATH 426: Introduction to Math Software packages: MATLAB
For students with all other undergraduate majors: Students with a background in Data Sciences or other undergraduate majors must take two ECON elective classes.
ECONOMIC POLICY AND DATA SCIENCES CONCENTRATION: EXAMPLE PROGRAM OF STUDY FOR THE 2-YEAR DEGREE
SECOND YEARFALL SEMESTER Public Policy core course SPRING SEMESTER Public Policy core course |
FIRST YEARFALL SEMESTER ECON 601 Microeconomic Analysis ECON 611 Adv Econometric Analysis SPRING SEMESTER ECON 602 Macroeconomic Analysis |