Colorado State University’s doctoral program in economics has a national and international reputation of excellence in the fields of environmental economics, political economy, and regional economics. Our faculty and students are pluralists who specialize in a wide range of economic thought, including neoclassical, Keynesian, institutional, Marxian, and feminist economics.
Our Ph.D. program prepares students for academic careers in the U.S. and around the world, as well as advanced assignments in government agencies and the private sector.
Development Economics
Nearly half of CSU faculty have active research agendas that contribute to development economics. Our inquiries draw on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth, and structural change, as well as improving health, education, and workplace conditions.
Environmental Economics
Environmental Economics is a vibrant strength of the department, benefitting from world-renowned faculty and a collaboration with the Department of Resource and Agricultural Economics.
International Economics
Our program in international economics gives students a foundation in both neoclassical and heterodox theories, empirical analyses and debates in international trade and finance, with particular focus on the policy or applied aspects of the field. In addition, international field course content and related faculty research are fundamentally centered on development policy issues, including topics such as the sustainability of global imbalances, foreign direct investment and development, and trade, growth and inequality based on class or gender.
Political Economy
CSU is one of few U.S. universities with a robust research program in political economy drawing on feminist, Marxist, and broader heterodox traditions. Our research spans the investigation of the interaction between economic growth and income distribution, the development of gendered theoretical frameworks and empirical analyses of the causes and consequences of economic growth and development, and the political economy of money and international finance.
Public Economics
CSU scholars in public economics are engaged in dynamic research related to health, immigration, education, tax policy, and the welfare state. We often provide advice to policymakers at various levels of government. Courses and research often share commonalities and complementarities with other applied fields such as regional economics, environmental economics, and economic development.
Regional Economics
CSU has nationally recognized strengths in regional economics, an applied field analyzing why economic activity takes place where it does. Our scholars in this field benefit from collaborations in the Regional Economic Development Institute (REDI@CSU), which is an engaged research enterprise that aims to understand, analyze, and inform economic development strategies in struggling rural and urban areas, particularly in Colorado.
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August 2025
Fort Collins
711 Oval Drive, Fort Collins,
Fort Collins,
Colorado,
80521, West, United States
Admission to the Ph.D. program in economics requires undergraduate training that includes satisfactory course work in intermediate microeconomics, intermediate macroeconomics, econometrics, and calculus.
As a general policy, the CSU Graduate School requires a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0. The department of economics seeks applicants with a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.3.
GRE scores are required for consideration for admission. Successful applicants will have a combined Verbal + Quantitative score of at least 305, with no lower than 155 on the quantitative score (1150 and 700, respectively, in the old scoring system).
Conditional Admission
In exceedingly rare circumstances, we may offer conditional admission to exceptional applicants who are missing prerequisite undergraduate coursework, have a GPA below a 3.3, or have not quite met the threshold for English proficiency. We do not make exceptions or grant conditional admission for GRE requirements.
English language proficiency:
TOEFL minimum score - 550 (paper based), 80 (Internet based)
IELTS minimum score - 6.5
Duolingo minimum score - 120
PTE minimum score - 58
*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.
With research projects in over 85 countries and +2,500 international students, CSU has the atmosphere and influence of a globalized institution.