The SSE PhD program in Economics is a North American-style program with around 35 students.
In their first two years students take courses taught by both SSE and Stockholm University faculty as part of a joint undertaking: the Stockholm Doctoral Course Program in Economics, Econometrics and Finance (SDPE).
In their first year students take mandatory courses in mathematics, microeconomics, macroeconomics, mathematical statistics and econometrics. In the second year students can choose between a large number of topic courses.
In the final two to three years of graduate study, each student does dissertation research under the supervision of an SSE faculty member. Frequently research from PhD theses at SSE are published in leading journals, with Journal of Finance and Quarterly Journal of Economics as recent examples. Job placements of recent graduates include Cambridge University, the International Monetary Fund, Paris School of Economics and University College London.
We like to think that the SSE combines the advantages of a small department, with close and informal connections to faculty, with the breadth of courses and seminars associated with a larger department. Conditional on satisfactory performance, all students are financed throughout the program. More than half of the PhD students come from outside Sweden.
Many PhD students spend one or two semesters visiting other leading universities in the US and Europe. SSE is also a member of the European Network for Training in Economic Research (ENTER) together with other prominent economics departments in Europe.