ECON Département des sciences économiques

Coordinateur :Michel De Vroey

This is a one year programme which offers an innovative curriculum with teaching at a high level. Its aim is to prepare students for entering a PhD programme. Its main characteristics are:

- strong background in microeconomics and macroeconomics,

- courses with a critical perspective,

- seminar activities associated to most courses.

All courses require from the students an important share of personal work based on readings. Seminars are the occasion for the students to prepare and present papers. The programme is completed by an original MA thesis which might lead into a PhD thesis. Three research centres are associated to this programme:

- Centre for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE),

- Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES),

- Chaire d'Ethique Economique et Sociale (ETES).

They offer a high quality research environment, with the regular presence of visiting professors and contacts with other Belgian and foreign research centres. Altogether there are about 50 active doctoral students in economics some of whom are associated to the MA.

The MA is open to students with an undergraduate degree in economics or the equivalent.

Two compulsory courses (75 hours each):

Advanced Microeconomics : Theory and Applications[75h]

Claude D'Aspremont-Lynden, Enrico Minelli, Jacques-François Thisse

Advanced Macroeconomics : Theory and Applications[75h]

Raouf Boucekkine, David De la Croix, Pierre Malgrange

One course (30 hours) with a critical content to choose among three courses:

History of Economic Thought[30h]

Michel De Vroey

Ethics and Social Choice[30h]

Claude D'Aspremont-Lynden, Philippe Van Parijs

Critical Analysis of Market Economies[30h]

Christian Arnsperger, Philippe De Villé

Four optional courses to choose among the following ten courses:

History of Economic Thought[30h]

Michel De Vroey

Dynamical Methods in Economics[45h]

Raouf Boucekkine, Pierre Dehez

International Economics[45h]

Ai-Ting Goh

ECON3370

Théorie de la finance d'entreprise[30h]

Ronald Anderson, Robert Cobbaut

ECON3390

Techniques d'analyse financière[30h]

Eric de Bodt

Théories du développement[45h]

Marthe Nyssens, Jean-Philippe Peemans

Industrial Organization[45h]

Rabah Amir, Jean Jaskold Gabszewicz

ECON3440

Labour Economics[45h]

Bart Cockx, Bruno Van der Linden

Advanced Econometrics[45h]

Luc Bauwens

ECON3504

Applied Econometrics[30h+15h]

Daniel Weiserbs

Public Economics[45h]

Maurice Marchand, Henry Tulkens

Capital Markets Theory[45h]

Olivier Scaillet

ECON3540

Microeconometrics[30h]

Michel Mouchart

Critical Analysis of Market Economies[30h]

Christian Arnsperger, Philippe De Villé

Monetary Theory[45h]

Jean-François Fagnart (supplée Henri Sneessens), Henri Sneessens

Ethics and Social Choice[30h]

Claude D'Aspremont-Lynden, Philippe Van Parijs

Econometrics Workshop[30h]

Andreas Heinen

Thesis

The thesis is a research paper written under the supervision of one of the Professors teaching in the MA. It must be written in English.

The students are guided in their choices by a tutor. With the approval of the tutor and of the Programme Committee, one of the four optional courses may be chosen among the courses of the undergraduate programme. A refresher course in mathematics (about 10 hours) will be offered at the beginning of the academic year, covering the bases of topology, calculus and linear algebra. It is recommended that students take a french language course during the first quadrimester, as an additional course.

Most of the courses are evaluated on the basis of an oral exam. The final grade takes into account the performance of the student in the seminars associated with the courses. The thesis is defended really in front of a jury.

This programme prepares student for the PhD in economics.