Economic Policy (M.Sc.)

Overview

Course Overview

Our MSc Programme is a two-year part-time postgraduate programme designed to equip graduates, who do not necessarily have a background in Economics, with the skills to engage with evidenced based policy making. This is a jointly delivered programme between the Department of Economics at Trinity College Dublin and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

Is This Course For Me?

This course is designed to equip graduates, who do not necessarily have a background in Economics, with the skills to engage with evidenced based policy making. 
The combination of expertise from Trinity’s Department of Economics and the policy focused research at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) provides a unique programme which combines technical and evaluation expertise applied to Irish policy challenges.
In this programme, we pride ourselves on delivering high-quality instruction by a team of engaged lecturers who operate at the forefront of their fields. Furthermore, our students are guided in their learning through tutorials and research seminars. Lecturers will also provide supervision of an independent research project on a key issue of economic policy.

Career Opportunities

Many of those who have graduated from the course have gone on to senior positions in the civil and wider public service. Student testimonials are available at https://www.tcd.ie/Economics/postgraduate/msc-econ-policy/ 

Course Structure

The MSc in Economic Policy (EP) consists of three taught twelve-week terms and a dissertation. The first of the teaching terms takes place from September to December and the second from January to May of Year 1. Lectures/classes take place on Friday mornings and afternoons during that period. From the 2025/26 academic year, postgraduate taught students must be in attendance physically within two weeks of teaching commencing. Any delay beyond this period will result in deferral of the student place to the next intake to the programme. The School retains its right to consider exceptional cases to this policy. Students are formally examined in these subjects at the end of each term. The subjects covered in these two teaching terms build logically on each other and provide the necessary background for the work undertaken in Year 2. The third teaching term takes place from September to December in Year 2 and covers elective specialist policy options including the economics of housing, climate change and taxation. From January of Year 2, students work solely on their dissertations until the submission deadline in July of Year 2. The length of the dissertation should be 10,000 to 15,000 words. Students are assigned a dissertation supervisor to guide them in their research.

Course Content

There will be seven modules in Year One of which students complete six. These are as follows, with ECTS credits and lecture/class hours in brackets after each one.  
M1. Micro Economic Policy (5/14)
M2. Macro Economic Policy (5/14)  
M3. Quantitative Methods for Economics I (10/25)  
M4. Applied policy evaluation (5/14)  
M5. Quantitative Methods for Economics II (10/25)  
M6. Regulation and Banking (5/14)  
M7. Behavioural Economics (5/14)  

Modules M1, M2, M3, M4 and M5 are core, compulsory modules. Students can choose between M6 and M7. M1, M2 and M3 are taught in the first term, while M4 – M7 are taught in the second term. There are five taught modules in the third teaching term, held in Year 2 and students are expected to complete three of these. They are as follows:  

M8. Research Methods for Economics (10/24)  
M9. Urban and Housing Economics (5/14)  
M10. Health Economics (5/14)  
M11. Energy, Environment and Climate Change (5/14)  
M12. Taxation and welfare (5/14)  
M13. Political Economy (5/14) 

Module M8 is a core, compulsory modules. Students also choose two modules from M9 to – M13. 

The dissertation carries a weighting of 30 ECTSs, or one-third of the total (90) for the programme.  

From time to time, there may also be guest lectures to bring additional insights to bear on aspects of a module but for every module the ‘lead’ lecturer is responsible for all aspects of the module. Furthermore, a number of dissertation seminars and workshops will be organised throughout Year 2 to give students guidance on key aspects of writing a dissertation, such as: how to choose a dissertation topic; the student-supervisor relationship; and how to write a dissertation. All students are expected to make presentations to the overall MSc class and supervisors on their chosen dissertation topic.