Program Overview
The graduate program in economics at Rice University is designed for students wishing to pursue the Ph.D. degree. (An M.A. degree is awarded only to students who complete all the requirements for the Ph.D. except the dissertation.) The course of study equips students with the theoretical and empirical skills necessary to enter research careers in academia, business and government.
Opportunities for Collaboration
Graduate students are welcomed as collaborators in the research agenda of the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Economics department faculty and graduate students are currently participating in research projects examining issues in energy and environmental economics and U.S. tax reform.
Rice University and the University of Houston jointly sponsor workshops in econometrics, macroeconomics, and microeconomics. (The University of Houston is located about three miles from Rice and its Economics Department has twenty-seven faculty members). Each workshop meets about ten times each semester and brings a large number of distinguished scholars to campus. Attendance at these workshops enables students to learn about the current state of the art in a wide variety of topics in economics and helps them in getting started on their own research careers.
Teaching Experience
The economics graduate program provides classroom experience for most of its students. All students who demonstrate proficiency in working with undergraduates teach a one-semester section of a course in microeconomic or macroeconomic principles in their fourth year of study, and are eligible to teach additional courses in later years. Students who do not meet the proficiency standard are given other assignments.
Facilities
The Department of Economics is housed in Baker Hall, the newly constructed home of the James A. Baker, III Institute for Public Policy. Graduate students are usually provided office space in the building upon completion of their first year of study.
Fondren Library houses a collection of 1.5 million volumes, 2.5 million microforms, 14,000 current periodicals and other serial titles, and many electronic resources. Planning for an expansion of Fondren Library facilities is underway, with occupation of a much enlarged library anticipated in five years.
Computer resources at Rice University are extensive. There are a number of computer labs across campus - including the Baker Hall Computing Lab, the Social Sciences Computing Lab in Sewall Hall, and the Statistical Computing Lab - that are available to students. These labs provide Wintel, Macintosh, and Sun platforms, complete with the latest software, including Microsoft Office, Scientific Workplace, Matlab, and SAS. Access is also available to a number of powerful mainframes both on and off-campus, including supercomputers at national supercomputer centers and the Houston Area Research Council (HARC).