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Business Economics

Business Economics

  • Program Requirements
From corporate finance, industrial organization, and international business, to markets, competition, and government regulation, HBS 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.
Jointly administered by HBS and the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the program combines theoretical analysis with in-depth, interdisciplinary research rooted in real-world applications.

Curriculum & Coursework

As a Business Economics PhD student, you will take courses alongside your peers in the Department of Economics, studying microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, probability and statistics, econometrics, and other specialized topics. In addition, your doctoral coursework and two MBA courses at HBS deepen your theoretical knowledge and harness it toward practical applications. Your coursework culminates in a written exam administered jointly by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and HBS at the end of your second year on two special fields of study. In addition to coursework and research, doctoral students are required to complete one academic term of teaching.

Research Dissertation

HBS doctoral students are insatiably curious, and they use the tools and knowledge developed in the classroom to ask—and answer—pressing questions about the field of economics. After passing your field exams, you will work closely with faculty mentors to identify a line of inquiry that will guide your original research. In the course of your research, you will present, analyze, and evaluate unique data and reach relevant, independent conclusions that advance your field.

Areas of Specialization

  • Behavioral Economics
  • Development
  • Econometrics
  • Economic Theory
  • Economics of Organization
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Finance
  • Industrial Organization
  • International Economics
  • Labor Economics
  • Macroeconomics
Program Requirements

Profiles

Ran Zhuo

Business Economics

Sagar Saxena

Business Economics
“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 Candidate, Business Economics
“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 Candidate, Business Economics

Current Harvard Economics Faculty

  • Isaiah Andrews
  • Pol Antràs
  • Robert Barro
  • Emily Breza
  • John Y. Campbell
  • Raj Chetty
  • Gabriel Chodorow-Reich
  • Richard Cooper
  • David M Cutler
  • Melissa Dell
  • Karen Dynan
  • Benjamin Enke
  • Richard B. Freeman
  • Benjamin M. Friedman
  • Roland G. Fryer, Jr.
  • Xavier Gabaix
  • Edward Glaeser
  • Claudia Goldin
  • Benjamin Golub
  • Gita Gopinath
  • Jerry Green
  • Oliver Hart
  • Elhanan Helpman
  • Nathaniel Hendren
  • Dale Jorgenson
  • Myrto Kalouptsidi
  • Maximilian Kasy
  • Lawrence Katz
  • Gabriel Kreindler
  • Michael Kremer
  • David Laibson
  • Robin S. Lee
  • Matteo Maggiori
  • N. Gregory Mankiw
  • Stephen Marglin
  • Eric S. Maskin
  • Marc Melitz
  • Jeffrey Miron
  • Nathan Nunn
  • Ariel Pakes
  • Amanda Pallais
  • Matthew Rabin
  • Gautam Rao
  • Kenneth Rogoff
  • Amartya Sen
  • Neil Shephard
  • Andrei Shleifer
  • Stefanie Stantcheva
  • Jeremy Stein
  • James Stock
  • Ludwig Straub
  • Tomasz Strzalecki
  • Lawrence H. Summers
  • Elie Tamer
  • Winnie Van Dijk
  • David Yang
Current Harvard Economics Faculty
  • Isaiah Andrews
  • Pol Antràs
  • Robert Barro
  • Emily Breza
  • John Y. Campbell
  • Raj Chetty
  • Gabriel Chodorow-Reich
  • Richard Cooper
  • David M Cutler
  • Melissa Dell
  • Karen Dynan
  • Benjamin Enke
  • Richard B. Freeman
  • Benjamin M. Friedman
  • Roland G. Fryer, Jr.
  • Xavier Gabaix
  • Edward Glaeser
  • Claudia Goldin
  • Benjamin Golub
  • Gita Gopinath
  • Jerry Green
  • Oliver Hart
  • Elhanan Helpman
  • Nathaniel Hendren
  • Dale Jorgenson
  • Myrto Kalouptsidi
  • Maximilian Kasy
  • Lawrence Katz
  • Gabriel Kreindler
  • Michael Kremer
  • David Laibson
  • Robin S. Lee
  • Matteo Maggiori
  • N. Gregory Mankiw
  • Stephen Marglin
  • Eric S. Maskin
  • Marc Melitz
  • Jeffrey Miron
  • Nathan Nunn
  • Ariel Pakes
  • Amanda Pallais
  • Matthew Rabin
  • Gautam Rao
  • Kenneth Rogoff
  • Amartya Sen
  • Neil Shephard
  • Andrei Shleifer
  • Stefanie Stantcheva
  • Jeremy Stein
  • James Stock
  • Ludwig Straub
  • Tomasz Strzalecki
  • Lawrence H. Summers
  • Elie Tamer
  • Winnie Van Dijk
  • David Yang
Close

Current HBS Faculty

  • Laura Alfaro
  • Samuel B. Antill
  • Malcolm P. Baker
  • John Beshears
  • Katherine B. Coffman
  • Lauren H. Cohen
  • Shawn A. Cole
  • Joshua D. Coval
  • Mihir A. Desai
  • Marco Di Maggio
  • Mark L. Egan
  • Benjamin C. Esty
  • C. Fritz Foley
  • Stuart C. Gilson
  • Paul A. Gompers
  • Daniel W. Green
  • Jerry R. Green
  • Shane M. Greenstein
  • Robin Greenwood
  • Brian J. Hall
  • Samuel G. Hanson
  • Victoria Ivashina
  • Robert S. Kaplan
  • William R. Kerr
  • Scott Duke Kominers
  • Jacqueline Ng Lane
  • Josh Lerner
  • Michael Luca
  • Alexander J. MacKay
  • Edward McFowland III
  • David A. Moss
  • Ramana Nanda
  • Matthew Rabin
  • Forest L. Reinhardt
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • William A. Sahlman
  • David S. Scharfstein
  • Joshua R. Schwartzstein
  • Arthur I Segel
  • Ishita Sen
  • Emil N. Siriwardane
  • Ariel D. Stern
  • Adi Sunderam
  • Jo Tango
  • Boris Vallee
  • Luis M. Viceira
  • Matthew C. Weinzierl
  • Dennis A. Yao
Current HBS Faculty
  • Laura Alfaro
  • Samuel B. Antill
  • Malcolm P. Baker
  • John Beshears
  • Katherine B. Coffman
  • Lauren H. Cohen
  • Shawn A. Cole
  • Joshua D. Coval
  • Mihir A. Desai
  • Marco Di Maggio
  • Mark L. Egan
  • Benjamin C. Esty
  • C. Fritz Foley
  • Stuart C. Gilson
  • Paul A. Gompers
  • Daniel W. Green
  • Jerry R. Green
  • Shane M. Greenstein
  • Robin Greenwood
  • Brian J. Hall
  • Samuel G. Hanson
  • Victoria Ivashina
  • Robert S. Kaplan
  • William R. Kerr
  • Scott Duke Kominers
  • Jacqueline Ng Lane
  • Josh Lerner
  • Michael Luca
  • Alexander J. MacKay
  • Edward McFowland III
  • David A. Moss
  • Ramana Nanda
  • Matthew Rabin
  • Forest L. Reinhardt
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • William A. Sahlman
  • David S. Scharfstein
  • Joshua R. Schwartzstein
  • Arthur I Segel
  • Ishita Sen
  • Emil N. Siriwardane
  • Ariel D. Stern
  • Adi Sunderam
  • Jo Tango
  • Boris Vallee
  • Luis M. Viceira
  • Matthew C. Weinzierl
  • Dennis A. Yao
Close

Current Business Economics Students

  • Maxim Alekseev
  • Martin Aragoneses
  • Sage Belz
  • Michael Blank
  • Fiona Chen
  • Jorge Colmenares
  • John Conlon
  • Songyuan "Diane" Ding
  • Jo Ellery
  • Simon Essig Aberg
  • Toren Fronsdal
  • Jacob Furst
  • Jeffrey Gortmaker
  • Shlok Goyal
  • Helene Hall
  • Ruru (Juan Ru) Hoong
  • Justin Katz
  • Yong Wook (Spencer) Kwon
  • Shira Li
  • Angela Ma
  • Alex Magnuson
  • Fanele Mashwama
  • Marcela Mello
  • Robert Minton
  • Erica Moszkowski
  • Laura Nicolae
  • Daniel Ramos
  • Lauren Rice
  • Maya Roy
  • Dominic Russel
  • Kunal Sangani
  • Sagar Saxena
  • Claire Shi
  • Roman Sigalov
  • Yin Wei Soon
  • Wilbur Townsend
  • Jennifer Walsh
  • Andi Wang
  • Alex Wu
  • Hanbin Yang
  • Jeffrey Yang
  • Ran Zhuo
  • Jennifer Zou
Current Business Economics Students
  • Maxim Alekseev
  • Martin Aragoneses
  • Sage Belz
  • Michael Blank
  • Fiona Chen
  • Jorge Colmenares
  • John Conlon
  • Songyuan "Diane" Ding
  • Jo Ellery
  • Simon Essig Aberg
  • Toren Fronsdal
  • Jacob Furst
  • Jeffrey Gortmaker
  • Shlok Goyal
  • Helene Hall
  • Ruru (Juan Ru) Hoong
  • Justin Katz
  • Yong Wook (Spencer) Kwon
  • Shira Li
  • Angela Ma
  • Alex Magnuson
  • Fanele Mashwama
  • Marcela Mello
  • Robert Minton
  • Erica Moszkowski
  • Laura Nicolae
  • Daniel Ramos
  • Lauren Rice
  • Maya Roy
  • Dominic Russel
  • Kunal Sangani
  • Sagar Saxena
  • Claire Shi
  • Roman Sigalov
  • Yin Wei Soon
  • Wilbur Townsend
  • Jennifer Walsh
  • Andi Wang
  • Alex Wu
  • Hanbin Yang
  • Jeffrey Yang
  • Ran Zhuo
  • Jennifer Zou
Close

Current HBS Faculty & Students by Interest

Asset pricing
  • Lauren H. Cohen
  • Daniel W. Green
  • Robin Greenwood
  • Samuel G. Hanson
  • Ishita Sen
  • Adi Sunderam
Economics
  • Laura Alfaro
  • John Beshears
  • Jerry R. Green
  • Alexander J. MacKay
  • Forest L. Reinhardt
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • Ariel D. Stern
  • Matthew C. Weinzierl
  • Dennis A. Yao
Entrepreneurial finance
  • Paul A. Gompers
  • Ramana Nanda
  • William A. Sahlman
Game theory
  • Jerry R. Green
Investment management
  • Malcolm P. Baker
  • Joshua D. Coval
  • Luis M. Viceira
Market design
  • Scott Duke Kominers
Networks
  • Shane M. Greenstein
  • Jacqueline Ng Lane
  • Edward McFowland III
Private equity
  • Paul A. Gompers
  • Victoria Ivashina
  • Josh Lerner
  • Emil N. Siriwardane
  • Jo Tango
Risk management
  • Robert S. Kaplan
  • David A. Moss
  • Arthur I Segel
  • Ishita Sen
Current HBS Faculty & Students by Interest
Asset pricing
  • Lauren H. Cohen
  • Daniel W. Green
  • Robin Greenwood
  • Samuel G. Hanson
  • Ishita Sen
  • Adi Sunderam
Economics
  • Laura Alfaro
  • John Beshears
  • Jerry R. Green
  • Alexander J. MacKay
  • Forest L. Reinhardt
  • Raffaella Sadun
  • Ariel D. Stern
  • Matthew C. Weinzierl
  • Dennis A. Yao
Entrepreneurial finance
  • Paul A. Gompers
  • Ramana Nanda
  • William A. Sahlman
Game theory
  • Jerry R. Green
Investment management
  • Malcolm P. Baker
  • Joshua D. Coval
  • Luis M. Viceira
Market design
  • Scott Duke Kominers
Networks
  • Shane M. Greenstein
  • Jacqueline Ng Lane
  • Edward McFowland III
Private equity
  • Paul A. Gompers
  • Victoria Ivashina
  • Josh Lerner
  • Emil N. Siriwardane
  • Jo Tango
Risk management
  • Robert S. Kaplan
  • David A. Moss
  • Arthur I Segel
  • Ishita Sen
Close

Recent Placement

Francesca Bastianello, 2022

The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

Frank Pinter, 2022

Economist
Federal Trade Commission

Andreas Schaab, 2021

Post-doctoral fellow (2021-2022)
Columbia University Business School, Post-doctoral fellow (2021-2022); Toulouse School of Economics, Assistant Professor (2022)

Edoardo Maria Acabbi, 2020

University Carlos III of Madrid

Michael Thaler, 2020

Postdoctoral Fellow
Princeton University, Economics Department, Post-doctoral fellow (2020-2022); University College London, Assistant Professor (2022)

Vitaly Bord, 2019

Harvard Business School, Postdoctoral fellow (2018-2019), Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Economist (2019)

Weiling Liu, 2019

Northeastern University, Finance Department

Anastassia Fedyk, 2018

University of Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Finance Department

Diana Moreira, 2017

University of California, Davis, Department of Economics

Talia B. Gillis, 2022

Columbia Law School, Associate Professor of Law

Ron Yang, 2022

Stanford University, Graduate School of Business, Postdoctoral Scholar

Gregor Schubert, 2021

University of California-Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management

Xiang Ding, 2020

Georgetown University, Walsh School of Foreign Service

Michael Thaler, 2020

Princeton University, Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2022); University College London, Assistant Professor (2022)

Oren Danieli, 2019

Tel-Aviv University, School of Economics

Janelle Schlossberger, 2019

Michael Hammer Postdoctoral Fellow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Data, Systems and Society

Yueran Ma, 2018

University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, Finance Department

Mingzhu Tai, 2017

University of Hong Kong, School of Business

Matthew Lilley, 2022

Australian National University

David Zhang, 2022

Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business

Karen Shen, 2021

Research Improving People’s Lives (RIPL), Economist (2021-2022); Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Assistant Professor (2022)

Ravi Jagadeesan, 2020

Stanford University, Department of Economics, Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2022); Assistant Professor (2022-)

Christopher Anderson, 2019

Economist
Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Yizhou Jin, 2019

Postdoctoral Fellow
UC Berkeley, Economics Department & Haas School of Business, Post-doctoral Fellow (2019-2022); University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management and Economics Department (2022)

William Diamond, 2018

University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Finance Department

Neil Thakral, 2018

Brown University, Economics Department

Francesca Bastianello, 2022

The University of Chicago, Booth School of Business

Talia B. Gillis, 2022

Columbia Law School, Associate Professor of Law

Matthew Lilley, 2022

Australian National University

Frank Pinter, 2022

Economist
Federal Trade Commission

Ron Yang, 2022

Stanford University, Graduate School of Business, Postdoctoral Scholar

David Zhang, 2022

Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business

Andreas Schaab, 2021

Post-doctoral fellow (2021-2022)
Columbia University Business School, Post-doctoral fellow (2021-2022); Toulouse School of Economics, Assistant Professor (2022)

Gregor Schubert, 2021

University of California-Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management

Karen Shen, 2021

Research Improving People’s Lives (RIPL), Economist (2021-2022); Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Assistant Professor (2022)

Edoardo Maria Acabbi, 2020

University Carlos III of Madrid

Xiang Ding, 2020

Georgetown University, Walsh School of Foreign Service

Ravi Jagadeesan, 2020

Stanford University, Department of Economics, Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2022); Assistant Professor (2022-)

Michael Thaler, 2020

Postdoctoral Fellow
Princeton University, Economics Department, Post-doctoral fellow (2020-2022); University College London, Assistant Professor (2022)

Michael Thaler, 2020

Princeton University, Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2022); University College London, Assistant Professor (2022)

Christopher Anderson, 2019

Economist
Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Vitaly Bord, 2019

Harvard Business School, Postdoctoral fellow (2018-2019), Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Economist (2019)

Oren Danieli, 2019

Tel-Aviv University, School of Economics

Yizhou Jin, 2019

Postdoctoral Fellow
UC Berkeley, Economics Department & Haas School of Business, Post-doctoral Fellow (2019-2022); University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management and Economics Department (2022)

Weiling Liu, 2019

Northeastern University, Finance Department

Janelle Schlossberger, 2019

Michael Hammer Postdoctoral Fellow
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institute for Data, Systems and Society

William Diamond, 2018

University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School, Finance Department

Anastassia Fedyk, 2018

University of Berkeley, Haas School of Business, Finance Department

Yueran Ma, 2018

University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, Finance Department

Neil Thakral, 2018

Brown University, Economics Department

Diana Moreira, 2017

University of California, Davis, Department of Economics

Mingzhu Tai, 2017

University of Hong Kong, School of Business
See All Placement
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Boston, MA 02163
Phone: 1.617.495.6101
Email: doctoralprograms+hbs.edu
Registrar: docreg+hbs.edu
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