Degree Requirements To receive an IB-BE Ph.D., students must successfully complete: a) the coursework; b) a qualifying examination; c) a summer and a third year research paper; d) the dissertation proposal and e) the dissertation defense. The program typically takes 4 to 5 years to complete. Course work Required course work: About 16-18 semester long courses. Students can complete the minimum requirements in four semesters (two years). Many students will need a fifth semester of course work in order to develop their cognate and related research interests. a. Discipline courses: In their first year, students are required to take the microeconomic theory sequence (ECON601-604) that is part of economics Ph.D. program. Students enroll in two additional economics courses in the field of their choice, for example international trade, labor economics, or industrial organization. Finally, students are required to take the Applied Industrial Economics course (BA875) offered in the Business School as part of their discipline requirements. b. Methods: ECON600 (Math for economists) is required in the first semester (Note: this course begins in August.) In addition, students enroll in about four statistics and quantitative methods courses. In particular, ECON673 and ECON674 are required. This can be followed by one or two of the following: ECON675, POLSCI698, POLSCI699, or the BA850/BA860 research design and applied methods sequence in the Business School. c. International Business and Business Economics Topics Courses: Students enroll in six IB-BE topics courses during their first two years. This sequence covers topics related to Foreign Direct Investment, International Cartels, Productivity and Growth, International Corporate Finance, and Entrepreneurship, Labor Markets, and Regulation in the Global Economy. Students are also required to attend the IB-BE seminars during their second and third years in the program. They are strongly advised to continue attending seminars throughout the rest of the program. Cognate requirement: IB-BE PhD students satisfy their cognate by taking one Ph.D. course in a field such as Finance, Accounting or Marketing. Additional course work: a. MBA courses: Students who do not have an MBA are required to take additional courses to acquire the background needed to understand and teach business practice. b. Language courses: We encourage students to undertake language education if this will help them attain the verbal facility required for successful teaching and research presentation. The University of Michigan offers extensive language education opportunities. Qualifying Examinations Students complete a written qualifying examination in International Business and Business Economics at the end of their second year. The exam tests a studentŐs synthesis of course material and assesses readiness to undertake independent research. Business Economics faculty members determine the content of, and evaluate student performance on, the qualifying exam. Each student discusses the potential content of each exam with the relevant faculty members. The faculty members set questions that reflect relevant core material. Successful completion of the required coursework and written qualifying examination results in admission to candidacy. Summer and Third-Year Research Papers We require students to complete an empirical paper under the guidance of a BE faculty member in the summer of their first year and to present their findings to the IB-BE faculty and Ph.D. students in the fall of their second year. This is a requirement for Ph.D. candidacy. Students are expected to complete a second paper by the fall of their third year. This paper will also be presented to the IB-BE faculty and Ph.D. students. The paper demonstrates the studentŐs ability to define a research question, outline previous research concerning the question, develop testable hypotheses, and carry out initial testing. Students will be responsible for obtaining required data, which may be new data or data that faculty members have already collected. Business Economics faculty members review and grade the paper. The paper must show that the student is able to engage in original and scientifically rigorous research. This paper is expected to serve as the first paper in the dissertation. Dissertation Proposal Students should have their dissertation committee formed by the end of their third year and be ready to defend their proposal no later than the fall of their fourth year. The dissertation committee must include at least four faculty members: a chair or co-chair from the Business Economics department, one member from another business school department, and at least one member from another unit at the University of Michigan. Business School faculty from Finance and Corporate Strategy departments frequently work with IB-BE dissertations. University of Michigan faculty members from Economics, Political Science, the Law School, and other units often provide advice on IB_BE dissertations. Working closely with the intended chair and at least two other members of the dissertation committee, students develop their proposal for doctoral dissertation research, which describes key elements of the dissertation: o The researchable question of the dissertation; o The body of literature from which the student will examine the question; o The data and methods that the dissertation will use to test the predictions. Many students begin to gather data during or before the proposal stage and present preliminary summary statistics and results of initial analyses during the proposal defense. The dissertation committee evaluates the written proposal and the oral defense of the proposal. The primary goal of the proposal defense is for the student and committee to agree on what the student must complete in order to have a successful dissertation. Dissertation Defense A student making good progress should be ready to defend the dissertation by the end of the fourth year, but no later than the fall of their fifth year. Research Assistantship Opportunities We assign students to RAship positions during the first four years of the program. Most students work with about four faculty members during this period. We give increasing weight to student requests to work with particular faculty members as the students proceed through the program. At the minimum, RAships must help a student learn how to identify researchable questions, develop testable hypotheses from a body of relevant literature, and use appropriate methods to test the hypotheses. We encourage students and faculty members to use the RAships to develop co-authored publications. Teaching The Business School offers a Teacher Development Program, which consists of an extensive set of workshops concerning teaching skills. The workshops include those developed by the Business School and those that we offer in association with the UniversityŐs Center for Research in Learning and Teaching (CRLT). Students participate in many of these workshops in order to help develop their teaching skills. In addition, most students teach one section of CSIB 310 (World Economy), which is a BBA elective, during the Fall or Winter semester of their third year, as part of their RAship requirements. Previous students have also on occasion taught IB/Fin 319 (International Finance). Financial Support The Business School provides four years and one semester of financial support for students making good progress. The support includes RAship, tuition, and healthcare. In the fifth year and beyond, responsibility for obtaining financial support falls on the student, the department, and the dissertation chair.