The compulsory core course phase of the program conveys state of the art methods in micro, macro, and econometrics to enable students to understand and participate in frontier research in any area of economics.

The elective component of the curriculum requires students to select and pass at least two field courses before graduation, typically in the 2nd year. The broad range of field courses offered by RGS Econ draws on the expertise of the RGS Faculty (RGS Electives), guest researchers (RGS Mini-Lectures), and can be augmented by externally provided courses.

RGS Econ’s combination of a prominent research institute’s with three universities’ research environments offers our PhD students in Economics numerous research opportunities, ranging from theoretical to applied, policy-oriented research - conducted in large or small teams of researchers.

Students are generally financed via research and teaching assistant positions at their primary supervisor’s chair at on the RGS Econ’s cooperating universities or their primary supervisor’s unit at the RWI.