Graduate instruction in business at Vanderbilt is offered at the Owen Graduate School of Management , and a significant teaching and research program in economics also takes place there. Peabody College offers a program of study in Human and Organizational Development with an economics component and the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies supports research initiatives in the environment, education, health, and other topics with an economic dimension. Economics majors complete 33 credit hours of study in the Department. A majority of the economics BAs pursue graduate study in business or law. The Department has awarded 255 PhDs in economics from 1948 through May, 1998.
Students enter the Ph.D. program from around the country and abroad.
After completing the program, they find careers in academia, government, and the private sector. The PhD program is generally ranked in the second quartile of graduate programs in economics in the United States. The Graduate Program in Economic Development began in 1954. About thirty new students each year come from developing countries to spend 18 to 24 months at Vanderbilt earning a master's degree. Many have established careers in national banks or in planning ministries before they arrive, and are supported by their governments while at Vanderbilt.