If your first degree isn’t in economics, or your economics training doesn’t provide sufficient experience for our MSc courses, MA Economics may be for you.
At Essex we push the frontiers of accepted wisdom, critically examining the decisions of individuals, the strategies of firms, and the policies of governments to understand and challenge the standard paradigms of economics. On this course, you build a thorough understanding of the key areas of economics through studying these topics:

Strategic behaviour, public choice, fiscal and monetary policy, theories of growth
Modern theory and methods with application to policy
Formal economic arguments, and the role of equilibrium
Econometric methods

We teach you the essentials of micro- and macroeconomics and econometric methods. You also have the option to explore a set of selected topics in economics to hone your skills, such as Management Economics and Market Analysis, International Trade and Financial Economics.
For your dissertation, you apply these skills to create an original piece of research. If you need it, we support you in maths through pre-sessional and co-curricular support. If you’d like to develop your knowledge further at Essex, we offer a range of other advanced courses inside and outside economics that complement this course.
We are top 5 in the UK for research, with over 90% of our research rated as “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” (REF 2014). Much of this world-class research is related to policy, and we have research strengths in a number of areas.
The quality of our work is reflected in our stream of publications in high-profile academic journals, including American Economic Review, Econometrica, and Review of Economic Studies.
Your future
After completing your masters, you may wish to extend your knowledge with a research degree –many Essex graduates decide to stay here for further study.
Alternatively, our course also helps prepare you for employment; recent surveys have shown that higher degree graduates are more likely to obtain jobs at professional or managerial level.
Our recent master’s level Economics graduates have gone on to work for a range of high-profile organisations:

The Ministry of Finance
HM Treasury
The Work Foundation
Fitch Ratings
Schroders Investment Management

More generally, our graduates have found employment in roles such as business and financial analysts, management consultants, government officials, and economists for banks and other financial organisations.