Master of Science - Economics

Economics isn’t optional to study right now: it’s vital to future human well-being in a post COVID-19 world. The skills students learn at Essex will be in high demand from employers in the coming years. Essex has a unique strength in public policy measures to stimulate and manage the economy, including the behavioural techniques to get messages across. Students could combine study of health economics with public economics and development economics to get a broad view of how one can respond to a threat such as Covid-19, balancing home and global needs.

Economic recovery is probably one the most pressing and urgent challenges right now and studying an economics degree gives students the unique tools to take on this challenge, find a solution, and improve well-being.

At Essex, they push the frontiers of accepted wisdom, critically examining the decisions of individuals, the strategies of firms, and the policies of governments to understand and challenge the standard paradigms of economics. In this popular flagship masters course students will develop the expert research mind-set required for a high-profile job in finance or business.

Students gain a rigorous training in the key areas of economics through studying the following topics: strategic behaviour, public choice and general equilibrium; modern theory and methods with application to policy; optimization theory, formal economic arguments, and the role of equilibrium; econometric methods.

Essex is top 5 in the UK for research, with over 90% of their research rated as “world-leading” or “internationally excellent”. Much of this world-class research is related to policy, and they have particular strengths in the areas of: game theory and strategic interactions, theoretical and applied econometrics, and labour economics. The quality of Essex's work is reflected in their stream of publications in high-profile academic journals, including American Economic Review, Econometrica, and Review of Economic Studies.

After completing the masters, students may wish to extend their knowledge with a research degree –many Essex graduates decide to stay for further study. Alternatively, Essex's course also prepares students for employment; recent surveys have shown that higher degree graduates are more likely to obtain jobs at professional or managerial level.

Recent MSc Economics graduates have gone on to work for a range of high-profile organizations: the Ministry of Finance, HM Treasury, the Work Foundation, Fitch Ratings, and Schroders Investment Management. More generally, graduates find employment in roles such as business and financial analysts, management consultants, government officials, and economists for banks and other financial organizations.