Business Economics

PhD Application

The doctoral program in Business Economics, which includes Finance and Applied Economics tracks, provides scholars with rigorous training in economic theory and a particular focus on economic analysis as it applies to the business world.

Students in the Business Economics program are both Economics and Business school students, receiving all of the benefits of an Economics PhD program with the additional benefits of access to Harvard Business School faculty and resources.

From corporate finance, industrial organization, and international business, to markets, competition, and government regulation, doctoral students in Business Economics delve into some of the most pressing and relevant topics in the field of economics through the practical lens of business.

Doctoral students in the Business Economics program.

Prospective students will apply to the PhD in Business Economics. The Business Economics program is jointly administered by Harvard Business School and the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Students work closely with faculty in the Harvard Economics Department and Harvard Business School.

Curriculum & Coursework

Our programs are full-time degree programs which officially begin in August. Students are expected to complete their program in five years. Typically, the first two years are spent on coursework, and then another three years on dissertation and research writing.

Program Requirements

Special Fields

During the second year, students designate two fields of interest and complete at least two approved courses in each of the two fields. Fields include: Behavioral Economics, Contracts and Organizations, Development, Econometrics, History, Financial Economics, Industrial Organization, International Economics, Labor Economics, Macroeconomics, Political Economy, Public Economics, and Theory.

Research & Dissertation

Students in Business Economics begin research in the summer preceding their first year by working with a faculty member. Over the first two years in the program, students are encouraged to explore their research interests as they complete relevant coursework. By third year, students are working on dissertation research, and by fourth year, students are launched into a solid research and publication stream, typically developing three publishable papers by the end of the program.

Recent questions students have explored include:

  • financial and labor markets;

  • pricing determinants and macroeconomic implications;

  • state interventions and market outcomes in developing economies; and

  • economics of innovation, technology, policy.

Faculty Advising

Students in the Business Economics program are advised and mentored by faculty in the Harvard Economics Department and Harvard Business School. Business Economics students collaborate with tenure-track faculty in many different academic units at Harvard Business School. Business Economics students commonly work with HBS faculty in units such as including Business, Government & the International Economy;Finance; Entrepreneurial Management; Negotiations, Organizations and Markets; and Strategy as well as with scholars across Harvard University. Reviewing recent dissertation committees can offer insight into how students assemble interdisciplinary advising teams.

HBS is the ideal environment because I get to think about the world like an economist, but I have the freedom and resources to draw on methods from other disciplines as I study market design and industrial organization.

Erica Moszkowski

PhD, Business Economics, 2023

Erica Moszkowski, PhD, Business Economics, 2023

Student Profiles

More Profiles

Current PhD Students

Recent Placement

Harvard Business School PhD graduates are in demand for a range of roles in academia, industry, and government. The majority of our graduates enter academia. Others work in industry in economic consulting firms, tech companies, think tanks, or in governmental roles.The majority of our graduates enter academia. Others work in industry in economic consulting firms, tech companies, think tanks, or in governmental roles.

Maxim Alekseev, 2025

Initial Placement: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Finance Department
Dissertation: Essays in International Trade, Financial Intermediation, and Networks
Advisors: Pol AntrĂ s (Chair), Elhanan Helpman, and Marc Melitz


Marcela Carvalho Ferreira de Mello, 2025

Initial Placement: London Business School, Accounting Department
Dissertation: Essays on the Economics of Information: Gender and Innovation
Advisors: John Campbell (Chair), Robin Greenwood, Katherine Coffman, Samuel Hanson, and Tarek Hassan


Jeff Gortmaker, 2025

Initial Placement: New York University Stern School of Business, Economics Department
Dissertation: Open Source Software Production
Advisors: Robin Lee (Chair), Ariel Pakes, Myrto Kalouptsidi, and Frank Nagle


Wilbur Townsend, 2025

Initial Placement: University of California, Berkeley, Economics Department
Dissertation: Essays on the Labor Market
Advisors: Jesse Shapiro (Chair), Raj Chetty, Lawrence Katz, and Zoe Cullen


Jeffrey Yang, 2025

Initial Placement: University of California, Santa Barbara, Economics Department
Dissertation: Essays in Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Advisors: Benjamin Enke (Chair), Matthew Rabin, Joshua Schwartzstein, and Tomasz Strzalecki


Martin Aragoneses, 2024

Initial Placement: INSEAD, Department of Finance
Dissertation: The Firm Life Cycle and Macroeconomic Dynamics
Advisors: Ludwig Straub, Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, Xavier Gabaix, and Josh Lerner


Michael Blank, 2024

Initial Placement: Stanford University, Graduate School of Business, Finance Academic Area
Dissertation: Essays in Financial and Labor Markets
Advisors: Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, Jeremy Stein, Samuel G. Hanson, and Adi Sunderam


Jiafeng (Kevin) Chen, 2024

Initial Placement: Stanford University, Economics Department
Dissertation: Essays in Econometrics
Advisors: Isaiah Andrews (Chair), Elie Tamer, Jesse M. Shapiro, and Edward Glaeser


Angela Ma, 2024

Initial Placement: Boston College, Carroll School of Management, Finance Department
Dissertation: Empirical Analyses on Non-Bank Financial Intermediaries
Advisors: Jeremy Stein (Chair), Adi Sunderam, Robin Greenwood, Emily Williams, and Edward Glaeser


Kunal Sangani, 2024

Initial Placement: Northwestern University, Economics Department
Dissertation: Prices: Determinants and Macroeconomic Implications
Advisors: Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, Andrei Shleifer, Ludwig Straub, and David Baqaee


Hanbin Yang, 2024

Initial Placement: London Business School, Finance Department
Dissertation: Essays in Finance and Industrial Organization
Advisors: John Campbell, Ariel Pakes, Robin Lee, Mark L. Egan, and Adi Sunderam


John Conlon, 2023

Initial Placement: Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Dissertation: Essays in Behavioral Economics
Advisors: Andrei Shleifer, Lawrence Katz, Gautam Rao, and Katherine B. Coffman


Spencer Yongwook Kwon, 2023

Initial Placement: Brown University, Department of Economics
Dissertation: Essays in Expectations and Asset Prices
Advisors: Andrei Shleifer, Samuel G. Hanson, Adi Sunderam, and Joshua R. Schwartzstein


Robert Minton, 2023

Initial Placement: Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Economist
Dissertation: How the Price System Works: Evidence from Supply Chains and Price Controls
Advisors: Xavier Gabaix, Edward Glaeser, Andrei Shleifer, and Ludwig Straub


Erica Moszkowski, 2023

Initial Placement: Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Economist
Update: University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business, Assistant Professor
Dissertation: Essays in Urban Economics and Industrial Organization
Advisors: Edward Glaeser, Ariel Pakes, Robin Lee, Myrto Kalouptsidi, and Michael Luca


Daniel Ramos, 2023

Placement: John Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies
Dissertation: Essays in Spatial Economics and Development
Advisors: Pol AntrĂ s, Edward Glaeser, and Gabriel Kriendler


Sagar Saxena, 2023

Initial Placement: University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Business Economics and Public Policy
Dissertation: Essays on State Interventions and Market Outcomes in Developing Economies
Advisors: Ariel Pakes (Chair), Emily Breza, Edward Glaeser, Myrto Kalouptsidi, and Gautam Rao


Ran Zhuo, 2023

Initial Placement: University of Michigan, Ross School of Business, Assistant Professor
Dissertation: Three Essays on Economics of Innovation, Technology, and Policy
Advisors: Shane M. Greenstein, Myrto Kalouptsidi, Robin Lee, Ariel Pakes, and Elie Tamer


Francesca Bastianello, 2022

Initial Placement: The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
Dissertation: Expectations in Finance and Macroeconomics: micro-foundations and macro implications
Advisors: John Campbell, Andrei Shleifer, Jeremy Stein, and Samuel G. Hanson


Talia B. Gillis, 2022

Initial Placement: Columbia Law School, Associate Professor of Law
Dissertation: Essays in Household Finance and Consumer Protection
Advisors: John Beshears (Chair), David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, and Gautam Rao


Matthew Lilley, 2022

Initial Placement: Australian National University
Dissertation: Essays in Applied Microeconomics
Advisors: David Laibson (Chair), Andrei Shleifer, Edward Glaeser, and Gabriel Kreindler


Frank Pinter, 2022

Initial Placement: Federal Trade Commission, Economist
Dissertation: Essays in Industrial Organization and Environmental Policy
Advisors: Ariel Pakes, Robin Lee, and Dennis A. Yao


Ron Yang, 2022

Initial Placement: University of British Columbia, Sauder School of Business, Assistant Professor
Dissertation: Essays in Industrial Organization
Advisors: Mark L. Egan, Edward Glaeser, Myrto Kalouptsidi, Robin Lee, and Ariel Pakes


David Zhang, 2022

Initial Placement: Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business
Dissertation: Essays on the US Mortgage Market
Advisors: John Campbell (Chair), Adi Sunderam, Edward Glaeser, Robin Lee, and Ariel Pakes


Andreas Schaab, 2021

Initial Placement: Toulouse School of Economics
Update: University of California Berkeley, Department of Economics
Dissertation: Essays in Macroeconomics
Advisors: Xavier Gabaix, Matteo Maggiori, and Ludwig Straub


Gregor Schubert, 2021

Initial Placement: University of California-Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management
Dissertation: Essays in Housing and Regional Economics
Advisors: Jeremy Stein, Lawrence Katz, Edward Glaeser, and Adi Sunderam


Karen Shen, 2021

Initial Placement: Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dissertation: Essays in Public and Health Economics
Advisors: Leemore S. Dafny, David Cutler, and Edward Glaese


Edoardo Maria Acabbi, 2020

Initial Placement: University Carlos III of Madrid
Dissertation: Essays in macroeconomics, corporate finance and labor economics
Advisors: Gabriel Chodorow-Reich, Jeremy Stein, Emmanuel Farhi, and Samuel G. Hanson


Xiang Ding, 2020

Initial Placement: Georgetown University, Walsh School of Foreign Service
Dissertation: Essays on Firms, Production, and Trade
Advisors: Pol AntrĂ s, Elhanan Helpman, Marc Melitz, and Emmanuel Farhi


Ravi Jagadeesan, 2020

Initial Placement: Stanford University, Department of Economics, Assistant Professor
Dissertation: Market Design for Matching and Auctions
Advisors: Scott Duke Kominers, Emmanuel Farhi, Jerry R. Green, Stefanie Stantcheva, and Alexander Teytelboym


Michael Thaler, 2020

Initial Placement: University College London, Assistant Professor
Dissertation: Essays on Belief Formation and Political Polarization
Advisors: Matthew Rabin, Alberto Alesina, David Laibson, Christine L. Exley, and Roland Benabou


Christopher Anderson, 2019

Initial Placement: Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Economist
Dissertation: Essays in Financial Economics
Advisors: John Campbell, Matteo Maggiori, and Malcolm P. Baker


Vitaly Bord, 2019

Initial Placement: Harvard Business School, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Update: Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Economist
Dissertation: Essays in Financial Intermediation
Advisors: David S. Scharfstein, Victoria Ivashina, and Adi Sunderam


Oren Danieli, 2019

Initial Placement: Tel-Aviv University, School of Economic
Dissertation: Essays on Income Inequality
Advisors: Lawrence Katz, Roland Fryer, and Chiara Farronato


Yizhou Jin, 2019

Initial Placement: University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management and Economics Department
Dissertation: Essays on Industrial Organization and the Digital Economy
Advisors: Ariel Pakes, Leemore S. Dafny, Nathan Hendren, Robin Lee, and Dennis A. Yao


Weiling Liu, 2019

Initial Placement: Northeastern University, Finance Department
Dissertation: Essays on Financial Intermediaries and Market Frictions
Advisors: John Campbell (Co-chair), Robin Greenwood (Co-Chair), Lauren H. Cohen, and Adi Sunderam


Janelle Schlossberger, 2019

Initial Placement: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Data, Systems and Society, Post-Doctoral fellow
Dissertation: Mapping Networks to Probability Distributions in the Economy
Advisors: Emmanuel Farhi, Xavier Gabaix, David Laibson, and Tomasz Strzalecki

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