The Department of Economics offers also a two-year Master of Arts in Economics (MAE) program preparing for both a professional career as an economist and for admission in a top PhD program.

Graduate education in Economics aims at the development of analytical, methodological, and applied skills that are essential for both a professional and an academic economist. Developing students’ understanding of both macro- and microeconomics, as well as in quantitative methods, will help them to work not only in the private sector, but also in industries with close contact with the government, governmental agencies, and regulatory bodies (i.e., energy, manufacturing, NGOs, and other firms). Training in data management, macroeconomic policies, optimization problems, and other subjects that are part of the Economics curriculum will help students succeed and advance in a variety of professional environments.
For students interested in pursuing a PhD in Economics, the MAE program provides the advanced research and academic skills that will allow graduates to obtain admission into some of the most exigent PhD programs in Economics, Business, and other social sciences. Even in its first two years, MAE graduates were admitted (with full funding) to the PhD programs of the University of Washington at Seattle, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Vienna, KULeuven (multiple students), George Washington University, Purdue University and the University of Wuppertal. Recent admissions to PhD programs include Johns Hopkins University and Goethe University in Frankfurt.

The MAE program is designed to be completed in two years.
Students complete a core curriculum of nine Economics courses —Microeconomics I, Macroeconomics I, Statistics, Mathematical Economics, Microeconomics II, Macroeconomics II, Econometrics, Applied Econometrics, and Research Methodology— three elective courses, and a master thesis.