Today, the international development community is more focused on evidence-based policy and results-driven development than ever before. Increasingly, understanding and producing rigorous empirical work using microdata plays a central role in many development professionals’ careers — and employers in governments, NGOs, foundations, international agencies, and others are actively looking for people with stronger technical skills than were required in the past.
If you want to acquire a powerful set of tools and skills to understand and tackle the problems facing the world’s poor, the Data, Economics, and Development Policy MicroMasters Program is for you. No matter where you are in the world, you can now join courses taught by faculty based at MIT’s world-famous economics department and J-PAL, a world leader in policy-relevant research, on your own schedule and at a fraction of the cost of traditional Master's programs in the field. Earning a certificate signals to employers and graduate selection committees your command of the principles of economics, the design of randomized evaluations, and the applications of data analysis.
MicroMasters credential holders are also eligible to apply to the MIT Department of Economics' first-ever Blended Master's program: the Master's program in Data, Economics and Development Policy. In fact, only DEDP credential holders are eligible to apply to the Master’s program—and performance in the online courses and proctored exams is a key factor guiding our admissions process! A unique feature of this Master's program is that accepted students earn MIT credit for the courses they completed online: If admitted, you will arrive on MIT's campus in Cambridge with one semester of coursework under your belt, fast-track your Master's program, and earn an MIT graduate degree after just 2 semesters: one spring semester of courses at the MIT campus in Cambridge, MA and one summer semester completing your Capstone Experience.