Development Economics and International Development
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Overview
Development economics and international development is a program that focuses on the systematic study of the economic development process and its application to the problems of specific countries and regions. includes instruction in economic development theory, industrialization, land reform, infrastructural development, investment policy, the role of governments and business in development, international development organizations, and the study of social, health, and environmental influences on economic development.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($95K) with a Bachelor's Degree: Duke University
Career with the highest median salary ($111K) where most workers have a Bachelor's Degree: Computer and Information Systems Managers
Explore Pathways
Careers for program graduates
Development economics and international development majors work in these careers, which are sized by percentage of majors in the career (at least 1%) and colored by the predominant level of education.
Lawyers, and judges, magistrat...Specialized ManagersFinancial ManagersAccountants and AuditorsChief executives and legislato...Management AnalystsPersonal Financial AdvisorsFirst-Line Supervisors of Non-...Postsecondary TeachersFinancial and Investment Analy...Computer Systems AnalystsSecurities, Commodities, and F...Wholesale and Manufacturing Sa...First-Line Supervisors of Reta...Elementary and Middle School S...Customer Service Representativ...Real estate brokers and sales ...Sales Representatives of Servi...Software DevelopersGeneral and Operations Manager...Retail SalespersonsMarketing ManagersEconomistsComputer and Information Syste...Project Management SpecialistsSales ManagersPhysicians
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Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
0200400600800Bachelor's DegreePostbaccalaureate CertMaster's DegreeResearch Doctorate
SOURCES:
Completions over time
Have completions for economics changed over time? Increasing completions may mean you'll likely have an easier time finding a school that offers this degree, with the opposite being true as well.
Show percentages
Number of graduates
02004006008001,000200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Research Doctorate
Post-master's Cert
Master's Degree
Postbaccalaureate Cert
Bachelor's Degree
0-1 Year Certificate
Salary and Debt
How are students who recently completed a degree in development economics and international development doing?
Below is the distribution of starting salaries along with accumulated federal and private education loans across schools that offer a degree in the field economics, which includes development economics and international development.
Median starting salaries
$48K$65K$0$50K$100KMaster'sBachelor's
Median cumulative loan amount
$22K$41K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KMaster'sBachelor's
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Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for economics majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
$75K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Distribution: economics majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's ineconomics by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
$87K$67K$104K$95K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KBachelor'sMaster'sDoctorateProfessional
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Is a bachelor's degree all you need?
Education level of workers with a bachelor's in economics
Is a bachelor's degree going to be sufficient to make you competative in the job market? We can look at the education level of workers with a bachelors in this degree to see if there is a likely need for a graduate degree. You'll also want to check out the careers section on this page to where they are employed.
This chart shows the level of education of workers with a bachelor's degree in economics. The worker's graduate degree may have been completed in a different field.
Education level of workers
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Context: Graduate degrees in any field by undergraduate ACS degree
About 41% of economics majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of economics majors who also earned a graduate degree is higher than about 70% of other fields.
41%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Percentage salary boost obtained with a graduate degree
How important is a graduate degree for earning a higher salary? We can see the difference in salary of workers with a bachelors in this degree to workers with a bachelor’s AND a graduate degree.
30%56%41%0%20%40%60%80%Bachelor's to Master'sBachelor's to DoctorateBachelor's to Professional
Careers
Top careers for those with a degree in economics
Following are the most frequent jobs held by people who earned a bachelor's degree in Economics (which combines 6 programs), though may not be limited to just those with a bachelor’s.
  1. Lawyers, and judges, magistrates, and similar judicial professionals
  2. Specialized Managers
  3. Financial Managers
  4. Accountants and Auditors
  5. Chief executives and legislators
  6. Management Analysts
  7. Personal Financial Advisors
  8. First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers
  9. Postsecondary Teachers
  10. Financial and Investment Analysts
Fewer details
Careers for economics majors
Where do economics majors work, and how well do those jobs pay? A ** in the job title indicates that the Department of Education recommends this job for this program.
Not so much?
The top ten careers for workers with a bachelor's in economics
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by economics graduates through to their most hired majors. Learn where it may easiest to find work. Expand the careers to explore other majors that might lead to the job that excites you the most. *For many majors, the top ten jobs don't even include half of graduates!*
Expand careers
Lawyers, and judges,...Specialized ManagersFinancial ManagersAccountants and Audi...Chief executives and...Management AnalystsPersonal Financial A...First-Line Superviso...Postsecondary Teache...Financial and Invest...All othersThis degreeTop 10 Careers
What careers hire economics majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire economics majors as one of their top 10 majors, and on the right, see what proportion of openings for the jobs on the left are filled by economics majors.
EconomicsAll other degreesEconomistsSecurities, Commodities, ...Financial and Investment ...Personal Financial Adviso...Financial ExaminersCredit AnalystsSpecialized Financial Cle...Financial ManagersFinancial SpecialistsMathematical ScientistsLoan OfficersInsurance UnderwritersBudget AnalystsManagement AnalystsActuariesComputer Systems AnalystsChief executives and legi...Property, Real Estate, an...Insurance Sales AgentsTax Examiners/Collectors ...First-Line Supervisors of...Tax PreparersMarket Research Analysts ...Real estate brokers and s...Operations Research Analy...Appraisers and Assessors ...Sales ManagersPurchasing ManagersSales Representatives of ...Compliance OfficersSpecialized Sales and Rel...Procurement ClerksAgents and Business Manag...Urban and Regional Planne...Marketing ManagersCompensation, Benefits, a...Accountants and AuditorsMilitary officer special ...Compensation and Benefits...Business Operations Speci...Tour and travel guidesGeneral and Operations Ma...Wholesale and Manufacturi...Private Detectives and In...Database administrators a...Computer and Information ...Lodging ManagersSales EngineersComputer and Information ...All other careersDegreeDegree in top 10 employed
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer development economics and international development degrees and certificates
You can use this table to find schools that offer this program based on location and program level offered. Each entry goes to a school page similar to this one with all our information about that school.
Understanding the columns

The school list includes a few facts about each school that give you an idea of the educational quality each school might offer:

  • Student-Faculty Ratio: A small number of students per full-time instructor suggests individual attention for each student and an up-to-date curriculum.

  • Satisfaction Rate: A high percentage of returning first-year students should correlate with satisfaction (schools call this their retention rate).

  • Repayment Rate: A high repayment rate means most alumni earn enough to make progress repaying loans within 7 years of leaving.

We also show the total enrollment for the school as measured by full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled annually.

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Related Programs
Top 10 similar programs
Following are related programs, ordered by those with the highest number of completions. You can explore a full list by pressing the more details button.
  1. Economics
  2. Econometrics and Quantitative Economics
  3. Applied Economics
  4. Specialized Study in Economics
  5. International Economics
Fewer details
Careers for economics majors
economics is part of a larger collection of programs: Economics. Is there a different program that's close to economics that might be a better match for your interests? You can use this table to see a little about the programs that fall under this umbrella. If you click on any of the table headers, that will sort the table by that column, or click on a row and see Ididio's profile for that program.
Gender
Gender of recent graduates
Of all people with any degree in development economics and international development earned in the last academic year, 71% were women.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by gender changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
02004006008001KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
29%71%0%20%40%60%80%100%WomenMen
Context: Percentage women
This major has a higher percentage of women than 71% other programs.
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary with this degree? The closer the bar are, the less discrepancy there is.
$79K$69K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KWomenMen
Context: Salary inequity
For economics graduates, men have a 15% higher median salary than women, This is better than many: 66% of programs have graduates with higher salary inequities.
15%15%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all development economics and international development graduates from this last academic year. We found a higher percentage of international graduates in this program than in 86% of other programs.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Asian
American Indian
Multiracial
Not Reported
International
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by race/origin changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
02004006008001KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
International
Not Reported
Multiracial
American Indian
Asian
Hispanic
Pacific Islander
Black
White
Context: Percentage of Minority Graduates
Minority students comprise a higher percentage of graduates than in 66% of other programs.