UB Announces New M.A. Program In Applied Economics

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A new program offering a master's degree in economics, plus advanced certification in applied economics, will be offered at the University at Buffalo beginning next fall through a cooperative effort linking the Department of Economics and several UB professional schools and academic departments.

The program, open to full- and part-time students, will allow students to specialize in one of five areas: international economics; economics and finance; health economics; economics, law and regulation, and urban and regional development.

Students wishing to touch on each of these areas can opt for a program that will focus on general applied economics and permit them to tailor the program to their individual interests and needs.

Isaac Ehrlich, professor and chair of the UB Department of Economics, said graduates will be well-positioned for jobs in business and finance, government, consulting firms, not-for-profit organizations and agencies in the United States and abroad. Because it will have such a strong interdisciplinary orientation, the program is expected to draw students from the fields of business, management, law, medical and biomedical sciences, sociology, psychology and political science.

He said the new program is expected to be of particular interest to students from Asia, Latin America and eastern Europe because it will apply economic methodology to fields of importance to developing nations.

"This is not just an interdisciplinary program using the usual interdisciplinary structure," he said, "but quite an innovative one marked by a very high level of cooperation and interrelation between professional schools and academic departments.

"The growth of the global marketplace and the services sector of the economy have generated new demands on the international labor pool," he said. "Among them is the demand for specialists able to apply economic theory and methodology to the operation of a number of different endeavors."

Ehrlich said it's expected undergraduates will be able to enroll in a new, five-year program that will combine an undergraduate degree in economics with a master-of-arts degree and advanced certification in applied economics. That program is pending approval by the State University of New York.

The applied economics degree will be a terminal degree, Ehrlich said, but it also will enable interested students to pursue doctoral studies in economics and other departments.

Ehrlich called the initiative that led to the creation of the program a model for creative allocation of university resources to satisfy the demands of a changing education environment.

"Remember, that's what economists do," Ehrlich added. "We specialize in the application or, in this case, the reallocation, of limited resources. This program may very well enlarge the student base, but doesn't require additional faculty or courses."

He explained that the program "will use existing graduate courses in economics, some with appropriate modifications, and faculty and programs from other disciplines, as necessary for each specialty. The curriculum also will include senior undergraduate economics courses modified to justify a dual listing as both an undergraduate and graduate course."

Full-time students will be able to complete the program in four semesters, and part-time students can expect to complete it in three years. Ehrlich emphasized that some areas of specialization may not be available for part-time students and that program length may be shorter for students with substantial prior training in economics.

• International Economics. This will be a joint venture involving the Department of Economics, the Department of Geography and the School of Management. It will focus on forces that influence international trade and currency markets.

• Economics and Finance, "The Education of a Wall Street Economist." Taught by the economics department and the finance faculty of the School of Management, it will focus on the study of monetary and fiscal policies, international trade and exchange rates, and the forces driving economic growth and development in all countries. Ehrlich said this will be a good option for those interested in securities dealings and regional banking, and those who would like to serve as finance specialists or finance consultants to private institutions, corporations and government agencies.

• Health Economics. This specialty will be offered in collaboration with the medical school's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. It will focus on

understanding the influences on health-care expenditure, rationing and financing in the current health-care environment. Students will examine alternative methods of service delivery and study how health-care providers, including health insurance companies, adapt to market and regulatory constraints.

• Economics, Law and Regulation. Offered by the economics department and the School of Law, it is intended for those interested in the economic foundations of public-policy and legal issues. Ehrlich noted that courts have increasingly invoked economic reasoning in judicial decisions.

• Urban and Regional Development. A joint-venture of the faculty of the departments of sociology and political science and the law school, it also will draw on the faculty and curriculum of the Department of Urban Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning. The focus will be on developing an understanding of the economic processes that shape the development of urban areas and their surrounding regions. It also will focus on world urbanization, a major source of problems related to resource allocation. Ehrlich said the demand for urban and regional development generalists is strong not only in the U.S., but in the rest of the world, especially in Asia and in Eastern European countries.