Economics, PhD
Doctorate in Economics
Curriculum
- A total of 64 graduate credit hours are required for a doctoral degree in economics at OSU.
- The program offers specialization in:
- Regional and Urban Economics
- International Economics
- Development Economics
- Dynamic Macro and Macroeconometrics
Top 20
institution in the world based on publications in top regional academic journals.
Research and Faculty
OSU economic faculty are intellectual leaders who regularly publish in top journals in their fields (Faculty Research), and the program is consistently ranked in the top 10 percent of all economic institutions in the world by Research Papers in Economics (RePEc).
OSU’s Department of Economics is home to the Center for Applied Economic Research and the Oklahoma Economic Forecast.
Meet our Departmental Faculty & Graduate Students
Application material and admissions
The Department of Economics has its own set of requirements for admittance, along with requirements for the OSU Graduate College. Please see the department based requirements below:
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Official Transcripts for all undergraduate and graduate degrees: Required
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Official GRE scores (Institute code 6546) with a suggested minimum score of 158 for math and 150 for verbal (Note: These scores do not guarantee admission).
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International students must also submit proof of English proficiency (Institute code 6546). More information on TOEFL/IELTS exam requirements can be found here. (Regarding the application materials, students can upload their pdf transcripts to the application. GRE and TOEFL must be self-reported to the application section called “Test Scores”. This step suffices for the initial application released and reviewed by the program, but we need to have official results sent electronically to the Graduate College to complete the final admission.)
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Recommendation letters: 3 preferred (Minimum 2 required)
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Resume/CV: Required
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Statement of Purpose: Required
The doctoral program in economics will be admitting students in Fall 2026. The application deadline is Feb 1. Complete the online application. (Our program, unfortunately, does not have provisions for application fee waivers).
The decision regarding which students are offered admission and financial support
are made by a committee of several faculty members, each of whom might have different
perspectives on how each of the listed criteria play in their recommendation. Hence,
a single faculty is unable to assess the chances of any specific applicant.
Cost & Assistance
All applicants are automatically considered for financial support, and a limited number of graduate assistantship (GA) positions are offered to some students. Along with graduate student tuition waiver benefits, GA positions provide an annual stipend of $25,000, payable over the nine month of the school year. Contingent on funds being available, an additional two months of summer support may be available on a year-by-year basis. The GA positions require students to work an average of 20 hours per week in either research assistant or teaching duties, maintain full-time student status and show satisfactory progress toward degree completion and assigned duties.