Top Universities for Economics in 2019

Discover the top economics and econometrics schools based on the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2020.

This year, the newly-released QS World University Rankings by Subject includes 500 of the world’s best universities for economics, each ranked based on a methodology which assesses four significant indicators: academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per paper, and H-index (which measures both the impact and productivity of publications by scientists and scholars).

Read on for a regional overview of the top economic schools in 2019, or click here for the full table.

Claiming just over 100 top economic schools in the ranking this year, the US continues to dominate, while Canada is home to a total of 18 institutions.

As well as having seven entrants in the top 10, the US has a further seven in the global top 20 for economics: Columbia University (ranked 11^th); Northwestern University (12^th); University of Pennsylvania (13^th); University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (14^th); New York University (NYU) (15^th); University of Michigan (19^th); University of California, San Diego (UCSD) (20^th) – and a further 21 feature in the top 100 worldwide.

Meanwhile, Canada claims two universities in the top 30 for this subject: University of Toronto (21^st) and University of British Columbia (29^th), and two in the top 100: McGill University and Western University.       

Over in Europe, almost 200 of the best universities for economics are ranked, 48 of which are in the UK – with three institutions placing the global top 10, and a further three in the top 50: UCL (University College London) (17^th); the University of Warwick, up two spots to rank 28^th this year; and the London Business School (36^th).

With the second-most entrants in the economics university ranking this year is Germany, which has 24 representatives in the economics university ranking this year. Its highest-ranked, Universität Mannheim, climbed up from 51-100 to place 44^th this year – while its second-highest ranked, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, retains a spot in the global top 100.

Italy claims 22 top economics schools in total, with Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, maintaining its position of 16^th, while Università di Bologna ranks in the world’s top 100.

Next up in the economics ranking this year are France and Spain, both claiming 15 institutions each, with Spain’s Universidad Carlos III de Madrid being the only institution to secure a spot in the global top 50, at joint 50^th. In the global top 100, both France and Spain claim three spots each – with Spain’s Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and France’s Université PSL (Paris Sciences & Lettres) both being new entrants this year.

The Netherlands follows with 10 representatives in total, with Tilburg University shooting up an impressive seven places in the economics ranking this year to place joint 41^st. Two more universities – Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Amsterdam – rank in the top 100 worldwide.

Switzerland and Sweden are both home to eight of the best economics universities each, with Switzerland claiming two spots in the global top 50, having seen the University of Zurich climb a remarkable 10 places this year to rank 33^rd, while ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) places 35^th worldwide. Meanwhile, Sweden’s only institution in the top 50 is the Stockholm School of Economics, which climbed three spots to rank in joint 37^th place this year.

Russia claims seven entrants in the economic ranking, led by the National Research University – Higher School of Economics (HSE), which climbed from 101-150 to 51-100 this year. It’s followed by Belgium, home to six institutions in the economics ranking, with three of its highest-ranked in the global 51-100 range, including Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Denmark, Greece and Portugal all currently host a total of five schools each in the economics ranking, with Denmark claiming two in the top 100 (Aarhus University and the University of Copenhagen); while Greece’s Athens University of Economics and Business sits in the global top 200.

Elsewhere, Norway is home to four of the world’s top universities for economics, including the University of Oslo in the top 150. And Ireland and Finland have three representatives each: Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and University College Dublin (UCD) rank at 101-150, while Finland’s Aalto University places 151-200.

Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland each have just two schools in the economics ranking this year, with the Central European University in Hungary ranking in the top 200 worldwide.  

And finally, with just one representative each are Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia, Romania, Cyprus and Luxembourg – the latter five all presenting new entrants to the economics ranking this year.