Director's Message

Welcome to the Department of Economics at York University, which houses two graduate programs: a one-year MA program and a PhD program. Both programs usually admit students once per year for the Fall semester.

We offer a limited number of funded slots in our MA program, through a combination of scholarships and employment as Teaching Assistants. We are also happy to consider unfunded applicants. All admissions into our PhD program are fully funded at this time.

The MA program is one year long and consists of courses only. The PhD program involves courses and comprehensive exams in the first year. The second year consists of directed reading courses and the completion of a research paper. From the third year onwards, PhD students develop their dissertation research under the supervision of one or more faculty members.

The department overall has a very active research faculty, as measured by publications in competitive international Economics journals. As of August 2024, and based on their whole careers, 14 of our faculty ranked among the top 25% among research economists in Canada, according to the IDEAS website. The corresponding ranking based on research published over the last 10 years lists 11 faculty members in the department among the top 25%.

Also based on publications over the last 10 years, we find 3 faculty members from the Department of Economics at York in the top quartile globally. In other words, our best research faculty, who teach in our MA and/or PhD programs, compete with some of the most successful and well-cited academic economists around the world.

Our alumni are successful too. After graduating, our best MA students tend to go into competitive PhD programs or rewarding non-academic careers. Some of our best PhD graduates end up in academia, or in attractive positions in the private and public sectors, such as financial institutions or government agencies.

We invite you to reach out to us for more information about our graduate programs through our Contact Us page.

Best,

Matias Cortes,
Graduate Program Director, Economics

_{A photo of PhD student presenting in ECON7000}