Our doctoral programme familiarises students with state-of-the art scientific methods through a combination of coursework and individual research, supervised by professors of the Economics Department (DEEP).

The programme consists of two broad stages, and typically takes between 4 and 5 years to complete. In accordance with the programme regulations, 5 years is the maximum contractual length.

Stage One (1-2 years)

• The student enrols in the Swiss Programme for Beginning Doctoral Students in Economics at the Study Centre Gerzensee, which culminates in written examinations. Leading academics teach the course in English, and cover the following areas:
• Microeconomics (topics include: consumer choice, demand models, markets, asset pricing, externalities, public goods, principal-agent theory, redistribution, incentives and social choice, different levels of game theory, etc.)

• Macroeconomics (topics include: business cycles, consumption, investment, neoclassical growth, monopolistic competition, overlapping generations models, fiscal policy under commitment, optimal unemployment insurance, economic adjustment, inflation dynamics, monetary policy choice and design, etc.)

• Econometrics (topics include: probability, methods of hypothesis testing, uses of classical regression, linear difference equations, vector auto regressions, qualitative choice models, estimation techniques, etc.)
• PhD students in Health Economics take the additional International Doctoral Course in Health Economics and Policy. This offers a highly specialised study of health economics and policy within the respected framework of the Swiss School of Public Health + (SSPH+).

A more detailed overview of the above courses can be accessed via their respective links above. It should be noted that these subjects make use of intensive mathematical and statistical techniques. For this reason the Study Centre also offers a two-day review course on mathematical methods, starting on introduction day.

Stage Two (3-4 years)

• Following the successful completion of stage one, the candidate embarks upon individual research for their thesis, under the supervision of one or more DEEP professors. In general, a completed thesis usually...
• consists of three articles and a summary report, written in English
• is the product of collaborative research between the author and professors and/or fellow PhD candidates (and consisting of at least one single-authored paper) or
• is entirely single-authored by the candidate (if not collaborative)
• It is also compulsory for students in the second stage to attend the weekly DEEP Seminars and participate actively in our macro and micro workshops. Details of these are available via the corresponding links.

Further details of the programme's procedural rules, including the assessment process, can be found here (French PDF).