
Economics and Public Policy

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Description
Governments shape daily life and well-being. They provide essential services, such as health care and education. They also seek to regulate human behaviour, for example, to promote competition among firms. As well, they collect taxes, to pay for their operations.
This program draws on economic analysis and various disciplines to give you a better understanding of the challenges involved in developing good public policy and why governments sometimes fail to make the right choices. In fourth year, you can carry out an off-campus research project in the public or non-profit sector. What you learn can be applied to labour markets, health care, education, trade, environmental policy and taxation, and other fields.
General admission requirements
Province | Prerequisites | Admission averages |
---|---|---|
ONTARIO |
English or Français 4U Advanced Functions 4U Calculus and Vectors 4U (strongly recommended) |
± 75 % |
QUÉBEC / CÉGEP |
English (603) or Français (601) Mathematics (201) Calculus I |
± 65 % |
QUÉBEC / SECONDARY V |
English or Français Technical and Scientific option or Natural Sciences option (Secondary V) |
84 % |
Program highlights
- Our Department is extremely diverse, with professors, researchers, and students from around the world. Their interests lie in areas such as development economics, environmental economics, labour economics, public economics, health economics, macroeconomics, and microeconomics.
- Our programs prepare students to work in diverse sectors including environmental or public policy, national and international trade, banking, consulting firms, the public sector and international organizations.
- Our speciality is to educate our students to be able to move beyond ready-made ideas. We help them build academic and professional credibility through the acquisition of solid statistical and analytical skills.
Career opportunities
- Economist
- Policy analyst
- Program officer
- Market analyst
- Industrial or economic development officer
Course examples
- ECO 2147 Analysis of Economic and Social Data
- ECO 3139 Industrial Organization I
- ECO 4121 Public Economics
International opportunities
This program provides students with international opportunities as of their third year of study.
Testimonial

"The University of Ottawa has the reputation of welcoming lots of international students and, as a Francophone, I found it offered the right framework to help me practice English and to perfect it as my second language."
"The Faculty offers so many opportunities to its students. In Economics, it’s always a good idea to acquire practical experience. That’s why I decided to sign up for a COOP placement. This will allow me to put into practise what I have studied in my classes and therefore, once I finish my studies, I will be all the more capable of adapting to the job market.”
Gloria Mukonkole, student