Joint MBA/Master of Economics program

T

Trogdor

New member
Joined
Jun 18, 2026
Messages
0
Reaction score
0
Can someone recommend either a good Master of Economics or a joint MBA/Master of Economics program in US or Europe? Did anyone here pursue such program?
I have fairly quantitative background, both undergrad and grad degrees in computational finance related field, and find it more and more that solid exposure to Economics would be beneficial.
On the separate note, I was surprised to see that some of the top institutions only offer Ph.D in Econ.
Thanks in advance.
 
I went the MA Economics route and I do find it helpful in my work – real estate acquisitions underwriting. Mainly because it helps me understand the limitations/risks of my underwriting assumptions and forecasts. And also helps put a potential deal in a macro context and identify macro conditions that would affect investment outcome.
I think this combined with the CFA program is very good training.
My program offered a joint MA/MBA. The people from that program that were in my classes seemed to think it was a beneficial program.
True about top Phd programs. The MA in Econ is kind of a redheaded stepchild – no offense to redheaded stepchildren. For most of these programs, if you don’t get through the qualifying exams they’ll give you an MA as a parting gift, I believe.
 
Sorry for the triple post.
The only one I recall offering that is Delaware. Could you provide more background on why you want to do this kind of program? You could always try to take MA or PhD econ courses as your electives in an MBA program.
The biggest benefit to the MA courses (relative to MBA) are the stat classes, so it might be better to take the Econometrics courses. You could probably read your way through the rest of the MA material. Just buy Varian for Micro and go to MIT’s Open course site and look through some of the first year Phd Macro class notes. They should be similar to any MA Micro and Macro classes.
I took a few MBA courses when I got my MA in Econ, I found them a little too easy and just decided to get a CFA instead of pursuing an MBA further. But depending on your background in business, an MBA with additional courses in Econ might make the most sense for you.
 
I think it’s fascinating how macro events influence international trade and finance. Thus, interest to study it further.
 
FrankArabia has MA in Econ, i do not think he would recommend that route
 
There are some decent programs in the Boston area. Boston University has the joint MA/MBA program and either Bentley or Brandeis (i forget) has an international econ program that i hear is pretty good. might be interesting given your interests. Of course there’s MIT and Harvard, but I don’t think you can go for just the MA there. Tufts is one of the few with a stand alone MA program, no Phd offered if I recall correctly.
 
jbaldyga,
Now that you mention it, I know several people who did Masters of International Finance at Brandeis.
I found couple of places with separate MA program: NYU and Duke. Anyone has experience with them?
Harvard and MIT do have interesting MBA programs, so MBA + Econ electives might do the trick too.
 
Most MBA programs aren’t going to offer this type of program - there isn’t much demand for the degree from either employers or students. Even Econ PhD progams would prefer quant backgrounds to Econ MA’s. Have you considered an Econ PhD? They are incredibly competitive, but your quant background gives you a leg up.
 
storko Wrote:
——————————————————-
> FrankArabia has MA in Econ, i do not think he
> would recommend that route
I tend to agree if you have time to go for the PhD. The MA in Econ has no credibility in the market, nor should it on a stand alone basis.
I personally think I can eat an MBA’s lunch all day long with Econ MA and progress in the CFA program (LII at least), but that’s not necessarily market perception. I was fortunate to find an open-minded employer and I beat out MBAs for my job.
 
I have NYU MA in Econ. I would recommend MBA with Econ electives or Econ PhD depending on how passionate you are about “how macro events influence international trade and finance.”
I don’t think MBA or MA Econ classes on international finance are very good. You’ll cover balance of payments and currency crises and stuff like that, but ultimately the research on exchange rates says that it’s pretty hard to forecast them. Buy the books that they use for International Trade or International Finance classes for like 100 bucks and read them yourself to see what would be covered.
Beyond that, look up the syllabai for some PhD Int. Trade and Int. Finance classes and check out the papers that are assigned. If you still find yourself passionate about it after reading a few, then maybe a PhD would be better.
If you just want to go into business, better off with an MBA I think.
 
“Even Econ PhD progams would prefer quant backgrounds to Econ MA’s”
thats not totally true, I applied for PhD Econ in all top schools. My Bachelors and Masters was in maths with A’s througout, but I did not have any prior econ background. Did not get into any..
I think its more of a closed loop, top schools only prefer students from other top schools.
 
Definitely going to pass on Econ PhD due to both time involved and lost potential earnings. I just can’t see myself spending 5 years in academia and dealing with bureaucratic machine.
I don’t particularly care how M.A in Econ is perceived as it would be more for personal benefit rather than resume building (already have 2 Ivys there + hopefully CFA in couple of years).
I used to read the book/Wikipedia during my undergrad/grad classes I didn’t enjoy. Generally found that I learn better in classroom rather than by reading a book. The structure and interaction with other students definitely help the process.
Another alternative would be to sit in on random courses. Jhm530, do you know if someone can randomly sit in on NYU classes? It looks like you were not particularly impressed by their program, but there must be some individual classes worth exploring.
 
I’m the opposite of you, I learn better by reading than books. Except in statistics and some more advanced math stuff. Pure economics is pretty easy for me to pick up just by reading.
I would send an email to David Harper, david.harper AT nyu.edu, or Marjorie Lester, marjorie.lesser AT nyu.edu, about an opportunity to sit in a class in the fall.
I think it depends on what you want to do. If you want to go into business, you’ll probably have better earnings potential and better recruiting by getting the MBA. I still think the classes in an MA Econ program are better than an MBA program, I’m just talking about career prospects. That being said, I wouldn’t have my job without it.
 
There used to be and may still exist a small joint program between University of Chicago and LSE that permitted achieving an MBA/MSc in about two years. Needless to say, very hard to get into and unless you are prepared for that level of work it’s a waste of your time as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top