MSc in Macroeconomics

Course Overview

The MSc in Macroeconomics at the London School of International Business and Management (LSIBM) is a one-year UK Master's for candidates targeting macro-strategy desks at City banks, sovereign-analyst roles at asset managers, policy economist tracks at UK government and think-tank research posts. Sitting in the Accounting, Finance & Economics faculty, the programme covers advanced monetary and fiscal theory, DSGE and time-series methods, sovereign-risk analysis and a research thesis defended before a working City strategist or NIESR-standard research economist.

The MSc is shaped around the Royal Economic Society research standard, the Society of Business Economists applied-macro pathway and the NIESR forecasting practice. Study runs one year full-time (two years part-time on the online or distance routes) and is available on-campus in central London within a short walk of the Bank of England, fully online with UK / APAC cohort calls, or by distance learning. Each student is allocated a dissertation supervisor drawn from a pool of working policy or market economists at cohort start.

Key Features

• Curriculum designed around the Royal Economic Society research standard, the Society of Business Economists applied-macro pathway and the NIESR forecasting practice.
• Three study modes — central London campus, fully online with UK / APAC cohort calls, or distance learning.
• Research thesis defended before a working City strategist or research economist.
• Fortnightly senior-practitioner clinic with a Bank of England alumnus, a City chief economist and a Treasury policy adviser.
• Applied forecasting lab using EViews, R and Stata against ONS and Bank of England data releases.
• Executive-application coaching for macro-strategy desks, sovereign teams and Whitehall policy tracks in the final term.

What You Will Learn

The MSc organises macroeconomics around the working questions a City macro desk or a Whitehall policy analyst actually owns: what is the Monetary Policy Committee about to do, where does the fiscal trajectory break, which sovereign is mispriced, and how do we defend a call in front of a chief economist.

• Advanced monetary theory — inflation targeting, unconventional policy, the Bank of England reaction function.
• Fiscal analysis — debt dynamics, OBR-standard forecasting, sustainability tests.
• Open-economy macroeconomics — exchange-rate models, capital flows, balance-of-payments analysis.
• DSGE and dynamic modelling — New Keynesian frameworks, calibration, Bayesian estimation.
• Time-series econometrics — VAR, cointegration, state-space and now-casting methods.
• Sovereign and country risk — CDS analysis, EMBI spreads, IMF Article IV interpretation.
• Growth economics — endogenous growth, productivity puzzles, UK productivity gap.
• Financial macroeconomics — credit cycles, macroprudential policy, Basel III/IV.
• Global macro — US Fed, ECB, PBoC and cross-border spillovers.
• Research thesis on an original macro question, supervised end-to-end.

Who This Course Is For

• Economics graduates targeting City macro-strategy desks or buy-side sovereign teams.
• Junior policy economists at UK government departments preparing for senior-analyst grade.
• Central-bank and finance-ministry candidates from emerging markets formalising a UK Master's.
• Think-tank researchers moving to a research economist grade.
• Business economists at UK plcs stepping into head-of-research roles.

Career Pathways

Graduates typically progress into macro-strategist, sovereign-analyst and policy-economist roles across City banks, asset managers, UK government departments, think tanks and international bodies. The MSc supports applications but does not by itself guarantee visa outcomes or a UK Civil Service Fast Stream place.

• Macro Economist
• Central Bank Analyst
• Sovereign Analyst (buy-side)
• Policy Economist (Whitehall)
• Economic Research Analyst
• Business Economist (UK plc)

The MSc is a strong signal for the Government Economic Service application and provides a foundation for a taught PhD in Economics.

Entry Requirements

• A UK 2:2 honours degree in economics, mathematics, finance or a quantitative discipline, or an equivalent international qualification. A short quantitative diagnostic is set at application; applicants with three years of substantive policy or research-economist experience may apply on a portfolio route.
• GCSE English Language at grade 5/C (or equivalent) is required for domestic applicants; international applicants meet the language rule below.
• IELTS 6.5 overall (no band below 6.0) for non-native English speakers.
• A short statement of intent (600 words) explaining research or applied interests, plus two references (one academic, one workplace or professional-body).

Why Study at LSIBM

The London School of International Business and Management (LSIBM) is a specialist business-education provider based in central London and part of Harold International College. Postgraduate cohorts run in small tutor-visible groups, are shaped by working senior practitioners (partner-level at a Big Four firm, Fellow-level at CIM or CIPD, CFA charter-holders in investment routes) and close with a substantial dissertation, sponsor consulting project or applied capstone defended in front of a working panel.

London puts the City, Canary Wharf, Whitehall, Companies House, the FCA, the Bank of England, the West End and the major consulting, banking and multinational headquarters within a short tube ride of every classroom. LSIBM postgraduates attend a fortnightly senior-practitioner clinic and a structured executive-application coaching programme in the final term.

Apply for the MSc in Macroeconomics

Step into the senior track with the MSc in Macroeconomics. Click Enrol Now and admissions will reply within one working day with intake dates, dissertation supervisor allocation guidance and the current fee schedule. LSIBM postgraduates are supported by dedicated executive-application coaching in the final term.