The Department of Economics was first established in 1934 as part of Raffles College, with one staff member and two students. In its early days, it was called the Department of Economics and Statistics reflecting course offerings in both economics and statistics. It split with statistics and become a Department of Economics by the 1999/2000 academic year. The phenomenal growth of the Department in the last 65 years is evident from the growth in staff and student numbers. From a single staff member in 1934, the staff has grown to 30 in the mid 1970s, to 72 by 1999. In the last year alone, 15 new academic staff members joined the Department. Student numbers had swelled from 2 in 1934 to a current annual enrolment of 4,000. The Department conducts bachelor’s courses in economics leading to the award of B.A., B.Sc. and B. Soc.Sci. degrees, as well as master’s course in economics leading to the award of the M. Soc. Sci. degree. Master’s and Ph.D. degrees are also awarded based on research.
In addition to its undergraduate and graduate programmes, the Department conducts regular courses, conferences and seminars for executives and practitioners of economics in both the public and private sectors through its Economics Executive Programme (EEP).
Its Centre for the Study of Transitional Economics (CSTE) set up in February 1993, provides policy advice, training programmes, research support and other assistance to facilitate the transformation of the (formerly) centrally planned socialist economies towards market economies.
The Department’s Econometric Studies Unit, established in 1982, is also very active in promoting study and research in both theoretical and applied Econometrics, such as the construction of a macro-economic model of Singapore, participation in conferences and symposia on econometrics, etc.
The Department is also deeply involved in the activities of the Economic Society of Singapore and the Singapore Economic Review (SER). The SER is now entering its 43rd year and has come to be regarded as a leading economics journal in this part of the world.