This challenging, practice-oriented specialisation consists of core courses, electives, seminars and a master’s thesis distributed over 5 blocks of 8 weeks each. Core courses and electives help students to get acquainted with a wide range of topics that are essential to international economics and business studies, and provide a solid background for attending the seminars.
You will explore and analyse the progressive integration of goods, labour and capital markets and the decline of national barriers. You will also achieve a deep understanding of the economic forces underlying the increased interdependence of nations as you can choose electives covering topics like:
- Empirical international trade
- The so–called new trade theories
- The instruments of trade policies
- International financial markets.
Make the most of the large variety of courses on offer and learn how best to allocate resources, organise businesses, and make recommendations based on first-rate analyses.
Seminars are an important component of the programme. For these intensive courses, active participation and commitment are a must. You will be expected to present excerpts of literature or case studies, ask questions, express doubts and share your ideas in class discussions.
The last block of the specialisation is devoted to the master’s thesis, which is written individually under close supervision by one of our faculty members.
Curriculum
The curriculum, consist of:
- 33% theory and empirics of International Economics
- 33% electives
- 33% seminars
In class
A large part of the curriculum is devoted to the new and the ‘new new’ trade theories. You will learn to understand the different channels for the gains from globalisation and quantify these gains. Compared to the neoclassical trade theory, the focus of the new and the ‘new new’ trade theory is on individual firms and you will study how firm’s adjust due to the increasing opportunities and competition due to globalisation.
Study schedule
The Take-Off is the introduction programme for all new students at Erasmus School of Economics. During the Take-Off you will meet your fellow students, get acquainted with our study associations and learn all the ins and outs of your new study programme, supporting information systems and life on campus and in the city.
- The course focuses on the world economy as such and the relationships between countries and trading blocks regarding international goods trade, capital flows and worker migration.
- The analysis of trade patterns and of trade policy measures heavily draws on IO-theories to explain the behavior of households and firms.
- Sampling
- Regression and Prediction (OLS, Lasso, etc.)
- Causal Inference (Differences-in-Differences, Instrumental Variables, Regression Discontinuity)
- Panel Data (Random Effects, Fixed Effects, Dynamic Panels)
- Limited Dependent Variables (Probit, Logit, Poisson, etc.)
- Advanced Money, Credit and Banking
- Economics of Organisations
- Industrial Organisation
- Advanced Political Economics
- Taxation of Multinationals
- Inequalities and Discrimination in Labour Markets
- Economics and Business master's course
- Consumption and Saving
- Business Cycles
Understand current issues in development economics with a focus on how access to credit, health care and education can be improved in developing countries (microfinance and human capital).
- Seminar Firms in International Trade
- Seminar Quantitative Macroeconomics
- Seminar International Financial Markets
- Seminar Economics of Migration
The thesis is an individual assignment about a subject from a student's Master specialisation.
More information about thesis subjects, thesis supervisors and the writing process can be found on the Master thesis website.
Disclaimer
The overview above provides an impression of the curriculum for this programme for the academic year 2025-2026. It is not an up-to-date study schedule for current students. They can find their full study schedules on MyEUR. Please note that minor changes to this schedule are possible in future academic years.