Master of Arts - Economics

How should trade be managed to promote both social welfare and the interests of workers and firms? How should merger policy be managed to balance the interests of merging firms and others that share the industry? How should financial markets and financial instruments be designed to promote economic stability and growth? The MA Economics is for students whose first degree isn’t in economics, or their economics training doesn’t provide sufficient experience for the MSc courses.

At the University of Essex. 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 are pushed. On this course, students build a thorough understanding of the key areas of economics through studying these topics:

• Strategic behaviour, public choice, fiscal and monetary policy, theories of growth • Modern theory and methods with application to policy • Formal economic arguments, and the role of equilibrium • Econometric methods

Students are taught the essentials of micro- and macroeconomics and econometric methods. Students also have the option to explore a set of selected topics in economics to hone their skills, such as Management Economics and Market Analysis, International Trade and Financial Economics.

For the dissertation, students will apply these skills to create an original piece of research. If students need it, the University of Essex supports them in maths through pre-sessional and co-curricular support. If students would like to develop their knowledge further at the University of Essex, there is a range of other advanced courses inside and outside economics that complement this course.