Program

A Ph.D. in Applied Economics at the University of Saskatchean will give you the skills to conduct research for businesses, governments, think tanks, and other research organizations, as well as to train the next generation of applied economics professionals as an academic.

Why Choose USask for Applied Economics?

  • Benefit from a collaborative program offered by the Departments of Economics, Agricultural and Resource Economics, Edwards School of Business, and Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan. 
  • Gain a strong foundation in microeconomic theory and quantitative methods, complemented by advanced coursework in macroeconomics and specialized fields tailored to your interests.
  • Equips you with advanced analytical and research skills to address complex economic issues.

Quick facts

  • Expected Length Thesis-based Course-based
    Ph.D. 4 years
  • Degree requirements
  • Class delivery: In-person
  • Supervisor approval not required to apply
  • Deadlines and admission details below

Leaders in economic research and policy

Shape the future of economic decision-making. You’ll collaborate across disciplines to tackle global challenges, influence policy, and drive sustainable solutions that make a real-world impact.

Applied Economics Ph.D. research areas

A modern classroom or trading‑lab setting where several people sit at curved desks working on multiple computer monitors, while an instructor stands at the front near large wall‑mounted screens displaying financial charts and data.

You will have a wide variety of focus research areas to choose from, each with a multidisciplinary component that spans across academic units.

  • Applied econometrics: novel empirical methods applied to labour markets, education, health care, international trade, agriculture, and finance.
  • Behavioural and experimental economics: decision-making by individuals, firms, and organizations; topics include risk tolerance, health behaviours, food choices, technology adoption, and responses to policy nudges. Access to the Experimental Decision Laboratory.
  • Environmental and resource economics: economic analysis of environmental and resource management, climate adaptation, biofuels, pollution, and Indigenous land use.
  • Finance and financial economics: corporate finance, asset pricing, banking, risk management, agricultural finance, and public finance.
  • Health and labour economics: labour markets, health care costs, income inequality, and nutrition economics.
  • Industrial organization and firm behaviour: firm strategy, industry structure, game theory, supply chains, and competitiveness.
  • International economics: trade theory and policy, international finance, exchange rates, and agricultural trade.
  • Policy and governance: economic outcomes of policy decisions in innovation, trade, agriculture, food, environment, health, and resource management.
  • Regional and development economics: regional and rural development, international development, and Indigenous communities.

Research supervisors

It is not necessary to find a potential supervisor before you begin an application. However, the list below may be helpful to learn about the research interests of our faculty.

This potential supervisor is currently not accepting supervision requests.

Name Research areas
Ecosystem goods and services; Natural resource and environmental policy; Land conservation; Wildlife and biodiversity conservation
International trade; environment; pollution; resource; water
Commodity prices; econometrics; exchange rates; international finance
Applied econometrics; Earnings inequality; Economics of Education; Labour Economics; Socioeconomic status and education
Genomics and agricultural innovation; Agricultural and environmental policy; Grain marketing and transportation
Entrepreneurship, Community-based Entrepreneurship, Minority Entrepreneurs, Poverty Alleviation, Institutions, Africa, Canada, Strategic Management & Innovation
Environmental Economics, Forestry economics, Resource economics
Supply chains, Consumer behaviour, Food policy
Aboriginal; Arctic; Indigenous; Saskatchewan; forecasting; indigenous; microeconomics
19th Century; 20th Century; Institutional and social economics; economics of development; economics of transition; history of economic thought
Environmental and resource economics, Non-market valuation, Water resources, Consumer behaviour, Ecosystem services
Monetary policy and banking, bank risk management, financial economics, M&A
Dividend signaling, asymmetric information, corporate governance, market timing, credit ratings
Data science and analytics, applied microeconomics, agricultural finance, agricultural profitability in a changing climate, rural and regional economics
Farm and agribusiness management, Agribusiness marketing, Entrepreneurship, Agricultural finance
Corporate Finance, International corporate finance, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Cost of Capital, CEO and Board Attributes
Applied Economics; Economic Development; Economic Growth; Energy Economics; Technological Changes
Childcare-related public policy
Climate Policy; International Trade; Environmental Economics; and Economic History
Economic anthropology, Water, energy and food (WEF) security, Arctic sustainable development, Indigenous natural resource management
Marketing & Advertising, Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business Analytics, Sustainability.
Transportation economics and policy, Regulatory economics, Computational economics, Experimental economics
Accounting & Taxation, Forecasting, Investment, Valuation, Efficiency, Productivity, Business Strategy
Behavioral and experimental economics, agricultural policy, international agriculture
Study of co-operatives, behavioural economics/psychology, income distribution, money and banking, and fiscal and monetary policy
Employment insurance; growth; macroeconomics; quantitative methods; unemployement
Asset pricing, risk measurement, corporate social responsibility, financial literacy, behavioral finance, financial econometrics
Healthcare optimization, supply chain management, scheduling optimization
Anti-smoking policies; cost benefit analysis; cost effectiveness; econometrics; economic evaluation; health; health economics; quality of healthcare; quantitative methods; sports & exercise
Macroeconomics; Monetary Economics
Agri-environmental policy, applied microeconomics, farm-level decision making, agricultural finance
Adoption of novel foods, Social economics
GM crops, regulation, sustainability
Entrepreneurship, social enterprise, angel financing, venture capital
Derivatives trading, option writing risks & rewards, derivative securities & bank risk management, corporate ownership structure & capital investment
Economics of genetic resources and biodiversity, Agricultural innovation, Environmental and development economics, Experimental economics
E-commerce and social commerce, Social media and social network analysis, Big data analytics, Digital innovation and transformation, Online learning
Data analytics, Operations research modeling in transportation and health care, Lean process improvement
Corporate finance, corporate governance
Corporate finance, financial markets
Food policy, experimental economics, consumer behaviour, farmer decision-making, and science communication
China; games; microeconomic; organization; taxes

Tuition and funding

Funding

Highly qualified students who are engaged in the program on a full-time basis will be eligible for financial support in the form of scholarships, teaching and research assistantships allocated on a competitive basis. All complete applications received by January 15 will be automatically considered for funding.

Graduate students at USask can receive funding from a variety of sources to support their graduate education.

Tuition

Doctoral program

Doctoral students pay tuition three times a year for as long as they are enrolled in their program. Both international and domestic Ph.D. students pay the same rate.

Term
September 1 - December 31, 2025 $1,812.00 CAD
January 1 - April 30, 2026 $1,812.00 CAD
May 1 - August 31, 2026 $1,812.00 CAD
Total per academic year $5,436.00 CAD

Student fees

In addition to tuition above, students also pay fees for programs like health and dental insurance, a bus pass, and other campus services. The amount you need to pay depends on if you are taking classes full time or part time, and if you are on campus or not. The table below assumes you are on campus full-time.

Fall 2025 Winter 2026 Spring 2026 Summer 2026
Student fees $578.45 CAD $804.73 CAD $36.75 CAD $36.75 CAD

Tuition information is accurate for the current academic year and does not include student fees. For detailed tuition and fees information, visit the official tuition website.

Financial planning estimator

Admission requirements

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

  • Language Proficiency Requirements: Proof of English proficiency may be required for international applicants and for applicants whose first language is not English
  • Master's degree, or equivalent, from a recognized university in a relevant academic discipline
  • A completed on-line application, the application fee, and all supporting application documents
  • A cumulative weighted average of at least a 70% (USask grade system equivalent) in the last two years of full-time study (e.g. 60 credit units)
  • Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT): Submission of the GRE and/or the GMAT is recommended for all applicants. Applicants who have not earned a degree from Canada or the United States are required to submit an up-to-date GRE and/or a GMAT score.

Application process and deadlines

Deadlines and important dates

We start accepting applications on September 15 for the following September term.

Start term Application Deadline International Deadline
Fall Term
September 		 January 15

 January 15

Submit an online application

International Students - Master’s and doctoral students applying for a study permit do not need a Provincial Attestation Letter (PAL). Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma students, as well as Visiting Research students studying over six months, still need a PAL. Review federal international study permit policies before you apply. 

Before beginning your online application, be sure that you have carefully reviewed all program information and admission requirements on this page.

During the application, you'll be asked for:

  • Personal information such as your name, address, etc.
  • Contact information of your three referees
    • For your letters of recommendation, two of your referees must be academic contacts, and the third may be academic or professional
  • Your complete academic history from all previous post-secondary institutions

The application takes about 30 minutes to complete. You may save your application and return to it later.

At the end of the application, you will need to pay a non-refundable application fee: $125 for domestic students and $145 for international students. Your application will not be processed until payment is received.

Submit required documents

Once you've submitted your online application, you will have access to upload your required documents, and provide the contact information for your references. To do this, go to the "Supplemental Items & Documents" tab in your application.

Preliminary Statement of Marks

  • Once you have submitted your application for admission and paid the application fee, you will be required to upload unofficial PDF copies of your academic transcript(s) from each post-secondary institution attended. This requirement will appear as Preliminary Statement of Marks or Additional Prelim. Statement under admission requirements on your Application Summary when you check your application status.
  • The uploaded transcript can be an unofficial copy of the transcript issued by the university or college and must include a grading key/legend.
  • All pages of a transcript must be uploaded as a single PDF document.
  • Uploaded transcripts will be considered unofficial or preliminary. Official copies of your transcripts will be required only for applicants offered admission. This requirement will appear as Post-secondary Transcript under admission requirements on your Application Summary when you check your application status.
  • Transcripts in languages other than English must be accompanied by a certified translation.

For students who are required to provide proof of English proficiency:

  • Completing a relevant test with the appropriate score is required before the application deadline.
  • Tests are valid for 24 months after the testing date and must be valid at the beginning of the student's first term of registration in the graduate program.
  • Applicants will be required to upload a PDF copy of any required language test score. Uploaded test scores will be considered unofficial or preliminary.


  • A curriculum vitae or resume

  • A statement/letter of intent outlining your research interests
    Your statement/letter of intent offers you the opportunity to describe to the graduate program admissions committee your research interests and your fit with the applied economics Ph.D. program. It also provides you the opportunity to clearly detail your background and preparation, and to indicate the particular area (or areas) of applied economics that interest you.  In your statement, please clearly address the following:
    1. Why do you want to pursue a Ph.D. in Applied Economics?
    2. Describe your research background and preparation for the program
    3. Outline one or more areas of applied economics in which you would like to do research.

Your statement should be around 1000 words in total length. You do NOT need to have a well-developed research proposal. The letter is an opportunity to show your personality, critical thinking ability, and interest in applied economics research. Consider saying something distinctive that sets you apart from other applicants. The letter will also help the admissions committee determine if there is a good match among the faculty in the participating units within the program to supervise you in one of your proposed areas of research.

  • Graduate Record Examination (GRE): Submission of the GRE is recommended for all applicants. Applicants who have not earned a degree from Canada or the USA are required to submit a GRE.

Explore related programs

Contact

Four people stand together in an indoor building atrium, engaged in conversation near a staircase. They appear to be in a professional or academic setting, with two holding notebooks and all dressed in business or business‑casual clothing.

Applied Economics Ph.D. Program
Rm 2D14 - 51 Campus Drive
University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A8

Graduate Administrator
Melissa Zink
Email: applied.economics@usask.ca

Graduate Chair
Alaz Munzur
Email: alaz.munzur@usask.ca

Graduate committee

Dr. Alaz Munzur (Chair), Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
Dr. Andreas Pollock, Department of Economics
Dr. Mohammadreza Nematollahi, Department of Finance and Management
Dr. Peter Slade, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics

The Ph.D. in Applied Economics is a collaborative program offered by the following departments:

All inquiries to: Graduate Administrator