Behavioral Economics

This program builds on the world-renowned Behavioral Economics faculty from the Department of Social and Decision Sciences and the outstanding Economics faculty from the Tepper School of Business. Students in this joint program will have access to world-renowned experts in decision science, organizational behavior, statistics, marketing and many other areas. Research facilities like the Center for Behavioral and Decision Research and the BEDR Policy Lab will also be key resources for students. 

As a joint program, oversight will be handled by the Joint Program Oversight Committee (JPOC). This committee is comprised of the Director of Graduate Studies at SDS, the head of the Tepper School Ph.D. Committee, and one faculty liaison between these areas. Most decisions regarding Ph.D. students in this program will be handled by the JPOC. However, it is important to note that students are considered members of both the Tepper School and SDS. This means that decisions regarding Ph.D. education made by those schools separately also apply to students in this joint program. That is, the Graduate Education Committee (GEC) at SDS and the Ph.D. committee at the Tepper School may make changes to the general requirements for all graduate students in their respective areas. These changes also apply to joint program students. 

Please visit our Ph.D. Student Profiles page to view the profiles of our current doctoral candidates. 

Requirements

This program is rather flexible, allowing students to redefine their educational goals as their interests grow and change. The design of this Ph.D. program is based on a full-time commitment, including summers, and on the completion of the activities listed below.

The key requirements for completing the degree are: 

• Course work
• First-Year and Second-Year Summer Research Paper
• Qualifying Examination
• Dissertation Proposal & Defense

Details on each of these, as well as additional information on degree policies, are below. 

Course Work 

Twelve semester-length Ph.D. courses, with at least four of these courses being methodology courses. Students may use at most one independent study towards completion of the non-methodology coursework. Courses must be completed by the end of the 5th semester and only grades of B or better will be counted toward this requirement. Students must also attend the SDS Ph.D. seminar during their first year of residence in the program. 

Pre-Candidacy Research Papers

During their first two years of study, students are required to write summer papers on an original research topic that interests them. The papers will normally be completed during the summer of their first and second years of the program. Each paper needs to be approved by a three-person committee. The second paper needs to be successfully defended to a quorum of faculty (a quorum consist of more non-committee members than committee members in attendance). The papers must have co-chairs from Tepper and SDS (tenure-track or research-track). 

Qualifying Exams

On the SDS side, students must pass the SDS "Psychology of Decision Making" (Judgment) and "Behavioral Economics " (Choice) qualifiers.  They are expected to do so at the end of their first summer, but they will have the option to retake a failed exam by the end of January in their second year.  This would replace the Advanced Economic Analysis exam normally required of Tepper students.

On the Tepper side, students will be required to pass the Microeconomics (Micro 1, 2, and 3) qualifiers and 2 out of the 3 Macroeconomics Qualifiers questions.  They are also expected to pass the Tepper qualifying exam in econometrics, or they may take the Heinz quantitative requirements course sequence and take a qualifying examination based on that course sequence.  Tepper qualifying exams are given in the second full week of January and should be taken no later than the student’s second year of study.

All qualifying exam procedures are subject to administrative adjustment according to standard University and College procedures.

Because the “Behavioral Economics” exam (also known as the “Choice” exam) and the “Psychology of Decision Making” exam (also called the “Judgment” exam) taken by students in the Behavioral Economics joint program are given outside of the standard early-January timeframe for all Tepper qualifying exams, the following policy is in effect for students in this area of study:

• Students will be given a one-month extension of the due dates associated with the Tepper 1stand 2nd year papers for either of the above-referenced SDS exams taken during a summer in which one of these papers is due, when the exam is given in June.  This extension would thus make their paper draft due on August 31 and the final version due on September 30.
• Students will be given a two-month extension of the due dates associated with the Tepper 1stand 2nd year papers for either of the above-referenced SDS exams taken during a summer in which one of these papers is due, when the exam is given in July/ August.  This extension would thus make their paper draft due on September 30 and the final version due on October 31.
• Students taking both exams in the same summer will be given a three-month extension of the above-mentioned deadlines, i.e., paper draft due October 31 and final version due November 30.

This extension structure would also apply in cases where qualifying exams need to be retaken.

TA Requirements

TA requirements depend on which program a student is admitted to.  Students admitted (and funded) through SDS must TA a semester-length course for SDS in each semester they are enrolled.  Students admitted and funded through Tepper must complete 14 units of TAing/Teaching for Tepper prior to graduation.  TAing is permitted only with special approval prior to the 4th semester.  Students admitted through Tepper must also teach one Tepper course, typically during their 4th summer. The course counts for 4 units towards the aforementioned Tepper TAing/Teaching requirement.

Dissertation

Students must successfully propose their dissertation by the end of the 7th semester.  The proposal must meet the applicable rules of the admitting unit (Tepper or SDS).  The dissertation committee must have co-chairs from Tepper and SDS (tenure-track or research-track.)  With approval of the student’s dissertation co-chairs, a student may petition the chair of the PhD committee at Tepper and/or the Graduate Education Committee at SDS for a one-semester extension to this deadline.  Students must defend their dissertation by the end of the 7th year.

Review of Students

Every spring semester, both SDS and Tepper will separately evaluate the students to determine their standing. Each unit can separately decide to keep or dismiss a student.  Both Tepper and SDS must approve to retain a student to remain in the joint program.  One department may decide to dismiss a student from the joint program.  In this case, the other unit can agree to retain the student but the student will no longer be in the joint program.  Both units may wish to dismiss the student, and in this case the student will be dismissed from CMU.