Course description
“It is a surprise and a delight to win the Nobel Prize in Economics"
"Getting my master’s degree at Manchester helped launch my professional career – and I will always be grateful to my teachers and fellow students in those years. Their guidance and inspiration (and many late-night conversations) helped push me down the road towards careful empirical work, bringing history to bear, and understanding the importance of building institutions that support inclusive prosperity.”
Simon Johnson / Nobel Prize Winner, (MA Economics)
Our MA Economics is designed to meet the growing demand for students who seek a course which combines solid training in microeconomic and macroeconomic principles, with quantitative methods and research-informed applied economics units.
You will benefit from core training in these areas but will also be free to develop your expertise in specialist areas of your choosing through our broad range of optional course units, such as:
- Development economics;
- Healthcare economics;
- Economics of environmental policy;
- Global economic history.
See a full list of mandatory and optional course units below.
Our MA Economics stands apart from our MSc Economics programme through its emphasis on rigorous, applied, career-focused units designed with the job market in mind. The MA Economics emphasises relatively more on practice-oriented units, equipping you with the skills employers value. It is ideally suited for those seeking to work as economists or in related roles after graduation. If your ambition is to pursue postgraduate research, our MSc Economics course may be a better fit.
Aims
This course will:
- Provide instruction and rigorous training in economics and the relevant methods of mathematics for economic and econometrics research in this area.
- Develop your powers of inquiry, critical analysis, logical thinking, and your ability to apply theoretical knowledge to current issues of policy and practice in economics.
- Encourage initiative, independent learning, awareness of analytical and theoretical approaches in the field of economics, exposure to recent research and state-of-the-art tools in applied work in economics.
- Train you in research methods and core skills in microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, mathematics for economists, problem-solving, written and oral expression, communication and presentation skills.
- Equip you with the intellectual and practical skills necessary for an economist working in private or public organisations.
- Enable you to apply advanced research skills to a relevant research area in economics, via course units and a dissertation.
Special features
A prestigious department
The University of Manchester is a leading centre for economics and research-led teaching. Many famous names from the world of economics have worked and studied here at Manchester, including four Nobel Prize winners. Graduate students from across the globe come here to study economics, attracted by our first-class postgraduate training and supervision in the core and specialist areas of the subject.
Real-world impact
We put theory into practice. Our academics and students are dedicated to shaping economic research, policymaking and practice nationally and internationally. We work closely with government, organisations, and businesses to advise and effect meaningful change.
Teaching and learning
The MA Economics is taught by an expert team using a variety of delivery methods:
- lectures;
- workshops;
- student-led discussions
- group work;
- individual research.
Part-time students
Part-time students complete the full-time course over two years. There are no evening or weekend course units available on the part-time course.
Coursework and assessment
Course units are assessed in a variety of ways, including:
- exams;
- presentations;
- essays;
- group work;
- paper summaries.
Course unit details
Preparatory course
All of our economics master’s courses require you to complete an essential course, Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Economics, before starting your studies.
Details of this essential course, as well as the differences between our four master’s courses, can be found on our webpage, ‘How to prepare for master’s study in economics at Manchester’.
Course units, credits, and semesters
A master’s degree is formed of 180 credits.
120 of these credits are made up by a mix of mandatory and optional course units, worth 15 credits each. You will need to select eight of these course units, with 60 credits taken each semester.
In semester 1, you will study four mandatory course units:
- Microeconomics;
- Macroeconomics;
- Introduction to Econometrics;
- Mathematics for Economists.
In semester 2, you will study the remaining mandatory course unit (Further Econometrics) and three optional units.
The availability of individual optional course units may be subject to change. Information that is sent to you in August about registration onto the course will clearly state the course units that are available in the academic year ahead.
The remaining 60 credits are awarded through a compulsory research component in the form of a 12,000-to-15,000-word dissertation. Your dissertation must be within the area of one of the course units you have chosen.
Part-time students
Part-time students take four out of the five compulsory course units in the first year, and then take the other one in year two. The remaining 60 credits of optional course units are selected and taken accordingly over the two years.
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
| Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microeconomics | ECON60391 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Macroeconomics | ECON60411 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Introduction to Econometrics | ECON60611 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Further Econometrics | ECON60622 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Mathematics for Economists | ECON60811 | 15 | Mandatory |
| Introduction to Quantitative Methods in Economics | ECON60901 | 0 | Mandatory |
| MA Dissertation | ECON73000 | 60 | Mandatory |
| Development Microeconomics | ECON60022 | 15 | Optional |
| Macroeconomic Theory and Policy | ECON60122 | 15 | Optional |
| Poverty, Inequality and Government Policy in Less Developed Countries | ECON60212 | 15 | Optional |
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