“New start at the new site!”
Greetings from the Department Chair 
The Department of Economics was established in 1946 at the College of Commerce with the new kick-off of the Seoul National University. In 1959, the Department of International Trade was set up as a separate department at the Commerce College. In 1975, the Department of Economics and the Department of International Trade found their new home at the College of Social Sciences whereas the Department of Business Administration branched out as a separate College of Business Administration. In 1985, the Department of International Trade changed its name to the Department of International Economics. In 1995, the Department of Economics and the Department of International Economics merged into the current Economics Department.
For more than half a century, our Department is well-known for excellence of its teaching and faculty research (38th in the world-wide QS ranking in 2016), with a strong reputation for producing the best talent in the real economy and academia. Our graduates have been hired at many leading financial institutions, corporate firms, legal sectors, universities, research institutions all over the world. Our Department has played a major role throughout Korea’s miraculous economic growth.
As of July 2022, the Department of Economics has 940 undergraduate enrollments, 130 graduate enrollments. Our Department has 38 faculty members who teach and conduct research in the various areas such as economic theory, theoretical and applied econometrics, behavioral and experimental economics, industrial organizations, development, economic history, finance, international finance, public choice, international economics and trade, labor, macroeconomics, monetary economics, game theory, information economics, transition economics, theory of economic thoughts, health and population and offers B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics. The Institute of Economic Research, sister institute of the Department, is home to the Seoul Journal of Economics (in English), and to the Economic Journal (in Korean).
The Department of Economics and the Institute of Economic Research are scheduled to move to a new building as early as Fall 2024 to which all of our economics faculty, staffs, students, and alumni are much looking forward. “New start at the new site!” Thank you for your interest in and support for the Department of Economics and the Institute of Economic Research.
SUNG-JIN CHO
Chair, Department of Economics