PhD in Economics - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics in Madison United States | University of Wisconsin-Madison

The macroeconomics and monetary economics program at Wisconsin focuses on studying dynamic stochastic environments, as these are crucial for analyzing private sector behavior, policy impacts on growth, business cycles, income distribution, and other key economic phenomena. The graduate curriculum prepares students for cutting-edge research in this evolving field through diverse advanced courses. While offerings vary annually, the program consistently includes courses in macroeconomic theory and empirical methods. Recent course topics have covered: (1) theory and econometrics of multi-agent systems, particularly inequality dynamics, (2) monetary and financial theory, exploring financial market equilibria and macroprudential/monetary policy effects, (3) approaches to uncertainty, imperfect information, and private information, with applications to policy design, (4) computational and econometric techniques widely used in macroeconomics, and (5) specialized macroeconomic subjects like consumption patterns, time allocation, and micro-level shock propagation.

Participation in the weekly macro workshop is mandatory, with students encouraged to present their research. Depending on interest, the program may also organize brown bag seminars for early-stage research presentations, while faculty often lead focused reading groups to explore current research trends and help students develop dissertation concepts.