Program Details

The goal of the ZurichGSE is to offer advanced and highly specialized courses in economics. We provide both the theoretical and practical training required to address frontier research questions in economics.

In addition to the curriculum taught by the Zurich Department of Economics faculty we offer seminars and workshops with renowned international experts.

All courses are held in English.

Core courses in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Econometrics

The core courses in Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Econometrics follow the challenging economics “canon” taught at top economics departments worldwide. A summary of the topics covered in each course in each semester is provided in the table below. 

Introductory Maths Course

The Introductory Maths Course serves as preparation for the 1^st year of PhD courses. The 4-week  compulsory course takes place during the summer before the term starts and covers three areas: Mathematical Preliminaries for Microeconomics, Basics of Probability Theory, and Introduction to Dynamic Programming and Optimal Control.  After the course, students take an exam covering all three areas.

Term courses:

Microeconomics for Research Students Part I and Part II

This first-year course covers the principles of microeconomics widely used in research in economics at an advanced level. Topics in the first part include choice and demand theory,  stochastic choice,  choice under uncertainty, and general equilibrium theory. The course covers both advanced textbook material and recent research contributions.
During the second part, additional topics are covered, including game theory, information economics, mechanism design, contract theory, and an introduction to industrial organization and public economics.

Macroeconomics for Research Students Part I and Part II

This first-year course is an introduction to macroeconomic theory at the PhD level. Part I starts with tools that are used in many different areas in macroeconomics and indeed in other areas of economics as well, notably recursive methods and discrete- and continuous-time dynamic optimization. The course then applies these tools to some of the most important topics of macroeconomics, including general equilibrium with complete and incomplete markets, consumption-savings problems, investment, dynamic contracts, fiscal policy, economic growth, and climate macroeconomics.
The second term of the macro sequence covers business cycle theory including real business cycles and New Keynesian models, monetary policy, asset pricing, macroeconomic models with financial frictions, and search with applications to labor markets.

Econometrics for Research Students Part I and Part II

This first-year course introduces the statistical foundations of modern econometric analysis. The first term covers foundations of basic asymptotic econometric theory. This is then applied to regression models, instrumental variables models, generalized method of moments, penalized and nonparametric regression models. Emphasis is placed on understanding sampling distributions and how asymptotic theory translates into practical understanding of common estimation and inferential techniques. The topics are illustrated using theoretical, simulation, and empirical examples.
Topics covered in Part II include estimation and inference in mis-specified regression models, linear and non-linear panel data models, as well as methods for program and policy evaluation, with a focus on causal inference and estimation of treatment effects.

During their 2^nd year of doctoral studies, students take courses in a wide variety of sub-fields in economics. The exact lineup of courses changes across years, but generally covers the five broad sub-fields for which the Department is known: Microeconomic Theory, Macroeconomics, Econometrics, Behavioral and Experimental Economics, and Applied Microeconomics. At the end of the year, students select a supervisor and submit a research proposal.

Current Core Elective Courses

An overview of courses held in the recent past include:

• Behavioral Economics (Roberto Weber)
• Behavioral Welfare Economics (Nick Netzer)
• Cultural Economics (Joachim Voth)
• Economic and Financial Crises (Joachim Voth)
• Economics of Child Well-Being and Development (Guilherme Lichand)
• Empirical Industrial Organization (Gregory S. Crawford)
• Globalization, Technology, and Inequality (David Dorn and Josef Zweimüller)
• Graduate Development Economics (Lorenzo Casaburi)
• Graduate Labor Economics (David Dorn and Josef Zweimüller)
• Growth, Technical Change and Inequalities (David Hémous)
• International Finance (Mathias Hoffmann)
• Labor Economics (David Dorn)
• Monetary Theory (Mathias Hoffmann and Dr. Aleksander Berentsen)
• Research Methods with applications in Economic History (Joachim Voth)
• Structural Estimation in Applied Microeconomics (Gregory S. Crawford)
• The Biological Standard of Living (Ulrich Woitek)
• The Political Economy of Good Governance: What Does the Evidence Say? (David Yanazigawa-Drott)
• Theory of Contests (Christian Ewerhart)
• Theory of Repeated Games (Armin Schmutzler)
• Topics in Experimental and Behavioral Economics (Ernst Fehr)
• Topics in Microeconomics (Nick Netzer and Armin Schmutzler)

Seminars and Presentations

Starting in their third year, students regularly attend and participate in department research seminars.  They are also required to hold a presentation in every semester until their fifth year.

Students also select their secondary advisor in their third  year.  

Third-Year Dissertation Proposal

By the end of the 3rd year, students must submit a Third-Year Dissertation Proposal. The Dissertation Proposal includes a detailed description of the content of the student’s PhD dissertation. This typically consists of a progress report on the research embodied in the second-year research proposal as well as a plan for the other papers in the dissertation.

Fourth-Year Progress Report

Fifth Year