经济学总体上来说分为六大方向，包括宏观经济学，微观经济学，计量经济学，发展经济学，劳动经济学，国际经济学。各个分支又包含了很多的小方向。伊利诺伊香槟分校的经济学项目包括的分支比较全面，有想要申请经济学的学生可以参考一下。

uiuC  Masters of Science in Policy Economics (MSPE)项目介绍

²  Promising young administrators in government and private institutions gain additional training in the areas of economic analysis and quantitative techniques.

²  Interested students acquire the necessary background to pursue a doctorate in economics.

²  The program offers 40 courses and 12 fields of specialization

²  Students may complete the program in one or two years depending on their educational backgrounds and proficiency in English

²  Students who wish to pursue additional fields of study may remain in the program for up to two years

²  Currently the program has 150 students from 17 countries enrolled

²  Core Courses

²  General Microeconomics Theory (ECON 500)

²  Economic Statistics (ECON 506)  

²  Applied Econometrics (ECON 508) 

²  General Macroeconomics Theory (ECON 509)

12大分支方向

²  Development Economics

³  Development Economics (ECON 450, Akresh)

³  The Latin American Economies (ECON 452)

³  Busin & econ envi in ME & NA (ECON 490)

³  Economics of Development and Growth (ECON 550)

²  Economic Policy

³  Economics of Taxation (ECON 512) Or
Public Goods Theory (ECON 511)

³  Computable GE modeling (ECON 552)

²  Environment and Natural Resources

³  Environment and Development (ACE 411)

³  Advanced Natural Resource Economics (ECON 515/ACE 510)

³  Environmental Economics (ECON 516/ACE 516)

²  Health Economics

³  Industrial Competition and Monopoly (ECON 480)

³  Health Economics (ECON482)

³  Economics of Education, Health and Human Capital (ECON 545)

²  Industrial Organization 

³  Mathematical Economics I (Game Theory) (ECON 565)

³  Industrial Competition and Monopoly (ECON 480)

³  Government Regulation of Economic Activity (ECON 481)

³  Econ of innovation and Tech (ECON 483)

³  Law and Economics (LAW 689, or ECON 484)

²  International Economics

³  International Economics (ECON 420/523)

³  International Trade Theory (ECON 520)

³  International Financial Economics (ECON 522)
* For a field in International economics ECON 520 & ECON 522 are mandatory.

³  Labor Economics

³  Economics of Labor Markets (ECON 440)

³  Labor Economics I (ECON 540)

³  Collective Bargaining (ECON 542)

²  Monetary Economics

³  Monetary Theory (ECON 563)

³  The Theory of Monetary Policy (ECON 564)

²  Public Economics

³  Public Goods Theory (ECON 511)

³  Economics of Taxation (ECON 512)

²  Urban and Regional Economics

³  Urban Economics (ECON 414)

³  Regional Developpment Theory (UP 552)

³  Seminar in Regional Science (UP 557)

²  Law and Economics

³  Law and Economics (ECON 484 / LAW 689)

³  Intro to United States Law (LAW 501)

³  International Trade Policy (LAW 654)

³  Quantitative Methods (LAW 641)

²  Advanced Econometrics* Econometrics Analysis (ECON 507)

²  Applied Time Series Analysis (ECON 576)

²  Time Series Analysis (STAT 429)
* Only open to students who take the PhD section of ECON 506 & are not on PhD track..

uiuC的该项目要求选择一个track。学生一般选择的track包括：货币理论，国际经济学，公共经济学。偶尔有人选城市区域经济学，或者环境经济学。