Economists are among the most influential thought leaders in 21st century life. They play a key role in helping us to understand the world around us and to make it function better. Many of our most challenging problems – global warming, poverty, rising inequality, public debt, the impact of the financial crisis – are economic in nature. The MSc at Queen’s provides the advanced knowledge and skills to understand these and other issues and to prepare students for careers as economists or for further study towards a PhD.

The programme brings together a set of modules that aim to provide the student with a clear modern and post-crisis perspective on the 21st century global economy. This includes a sequence of modules in microeconomics founded on decision and game theoretic principles; developing a network perspective on socio-economic interaction in the 21st century global economy; a sequence of modules in institutional economic history that provide a historically informed perspective on the main macroeconomic policy instruments that are used in our global economy; and a sequence of modules that provide practical skills of data analysis and econometric techniques.

If you are interested in advanced study that is ‘post-crisis’ in structure and content, delivered at one of the UK’s leading research universities, then this degree is for you. The programme builds on our established strengths in economic history, economic network theory and the quantitative analysis of economic and social policy, allowing students to combine a deep and wide-ranging understanding of the discipline with the opportunity to specialise in one of these three particular fields.

Seminars and masterclasses from expert guest speakers are an integral part of the programme. Under supervision, you will complete a dissertation involving a detailed quantitative analysis of a challenging theoretical or applied issue in economics.