Global Economic Affairs

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Global Economic Affairs is not your grandparents’ economic program. We’ve eliminated the dazzling but ultimately useless economic proofs you find in the textbooks and focus instead on the way economies actually work. Global Economic Affairs focuses on political economy—the fascinating and complex interactions between economics, politics, and policy. GEA prepares our students to make sense of today's most pressing and complex economic challenges. GEA students examine international trade and monetary issues; the interactions between global economic developments and domestic politics; the drivers of economic development, inequality, and sustainability; the place of business in global affairs and the prospects for corporate social responsibility; and a range of other centrally important economic issues. The degree links theory to policy and institutions while placing equal emphasis on qualitative and quantitative skills.

In Global Economic Affairs you’ll collaborate with faculty to explore topics like...

The most important contemporary trends in the global economy
The diverse effect of globalization on state capacity and policy autonomy, and on national political and economic affairs
The key drivers and consequences of economic development
The complex relationships between economic, political, ecological, and social outcomes
The salience of corporate governance in global affairs
The spillover effects of national and global economic policies
The role of institutions of global, regional, and transregional economic governance on economic inclusion, equity, and opportunity

"There is just a different perspective that a lot of the professors bring at Korbel as compared to some traditional schools especially in the economics program."
Meredith Moon
Global Economic Affairs, 2017

Available Specializations

Geographic Areas

Develop expertise in a particular region.
Finance and Trade

Take a deep dive into international finance, trade, and investment, and the policy regimes that govern these vital activities.
International Business and Corporate Social Responsibility

Delve into the operations of multinational corporations and the potential role of corporate social responsibility in promoting social betterment and ecological sustainability.
Development Economics and Policy

Examine the complex challenges and opportunities facing low-income and emerging economies in the context of severe global unevenness, and the potential for policies of domestic and multilateral agencies to contribute to human development.
Environmental Sustainability

Explore the causes and proposed solutions to key global and local environmental crises, such as climate change.
Political Economy

Discover the factors that shape international relationships between politics and economic outcomes.
Quantitative Methods

Develop your empirical and analytical skills to assess the factors that shape national and international outcomes, and to assess policy.
Policy Analysis

Pursue a deep understanding of the fundamentals of policy formation while engaging short- and long-term policy effects.

Skill-Based Courses

Preparing You With Career-Ready Knowledge

All GEA students develop competence in statistical methods using the software they’ll be apt to encounter in their careers (e.g., STATA, Python, R). But GEA also offers a range of other skills training, both quantitative and qualitative, including project management and assessment, political risk analysis, microfinance, social entrepreneurship, forecasting, data visualization, and international business transactions, while many GEA students choose to take advantage of a wide range of skills courses available at DU’s Daniels College of Business. We update skills training regularly to ensure our students compete successfully for the positions they aspire to upon graduation.

The global economic affairs degree prepares those with an interest in political economy to take up careers in a wide range of fields. These include:

International policy analysis for public sector agencies, such as the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Administration, and the FBI.
Analyst positions in multilateral institutions and organizations, such as the World Bank, the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development;
Research and analyst positions within non-governmental organizations, such as Oxfam and Action Aid
Leadership roles in the private sector as economic policy consultants, risk and international project analysts, international project managers, and supply chain managers.