M.A. Business & Economics Concentration

Extract the deeper meaning from balance sheets and quarterly reports.

Class at Columbia Journalism School

M.A. students in the Business and Economics concentration will develop a deep understanding of the forces driving the global marketplace and the interconnected decisions that determine how we live and whether we prosper.

Steep yourself in business and economics, all in the context of current events.


 

I think the pedigree of the program, particularly the business and economics reporting concentration, elevated my profile and made recruiters look at my applications more seriously than otherwise would be the case.

Omar Mohammed, '22 M.A. Business & Economics

What You'll Study

Through a firm understanding of basic economic theory and institutions, students will learn how to follow the money and prepare to cover beats as diverse as foreign economies, local governments, inequality, jobs and unemployment, financial markets, high-tech startups and Fortune 500 companies. 

Thesis Feature

Two men on a yellow couch. One is holding a phone as he interviews the other.

Mohammed conducts an interview with an executive about the state of the NBA in Africa.

Basketball court

The NBA Academy in Africa, where players are recruited. Some graduates have played basketball for U.S. colleges.

Omar in Africa

Mohammed in Senegal reporting on the business of basketball in the region.

For his thesis, Omar Mohammed, '22 M.A. Business & Economics, traveled to Dakar, Senegal to report on the NBA’s Africa League. The reporting from his thesis was the basis for his feature article in The Guardian: ‘The NBA has come to us’: inside basketball’s $1bn play for Africa.

Curriculum

Critical thinking and historical context will be emphasized, with assignments geared toward weaving analysis and key data points into writing of all forms, from news to features to investigative endeavors.

Timely case studies will be introduced on companies like Tesla (What is it really worth? Is it in financial trouble?) and Disney (Why did it merge repeatedly with other big companies? Why did it diversify into Broadway shows? Can this classic entertainment company survive the disruption of the Internet?).

Alumni in Focus

Nic Querolo
Nic Querolo

 '19 M.A. Business & Economics

Nic is a business reporter at Bloomberg, covering municipal bonds, and state and local governments.

Jeff Horwitz
Jeff Horwitz

'09 M.A. Business and Economics 

Jeff is a technology reporter at The Wall Street Journal. In 2021, he won The George Polk Award for Business Reporting for his work on the “Facebook Files” series.

Miriam
Miriam Gottfried

'09 M.A. Business & Economics

Miriam is a reporter covering private equity for The Wall Street Journal.

They will look for warning signs of trouble in a corporation: in accounting, in the way the company is run, in the way the board of directors is structured. Similarly, they will ferret out clues about whether politicians may be enriching themselves, their associates or their favorite industries. That will lead to foundational work on the financial enforcement of crimes like money laundering, securities fraud and insider trading.

Along the way, students will assess the true value of an enterprise and glean whether they — and investors of all stripes from hedge funds to college endowments — are making wise investment decisions for tomorrow.

M.A. Business & Economics Concentration Faculty

Winnie O'Kelley
Winnie O'Kelley

Professor of Professional Practice