A curriculum that combines spatial economics with Real-World application
The Urban, Port and Transport Economics specialisation within the MSc Economics and Business prepares you to analyse and improve the systems that keep modern economies moving. From urban development and logistics to port operations and infrastructure planning, this programme equips you with the tools to address complex spatial and transport-related challenges.
Programme structure
- Core courses in the first block introduce you to the economic foundations of cities, ports, and industries.
- Electives in the second block allow you to tailor your profile, with options such as the economics of aviation or real estate valuation.
- Analytical and statistical courses provide you with the quantitative skills needed to evaluate data and inform decision-making—skills that are highly valued in the labour market.
- Seminars offer in-depth exploration of applied topics and prepare you for your thesis.
- Master thesis is written individually in the final block, based on your own research and under close supervision.
Curriculum overview
- 40% Analytical and Quantitative Skills
- 20% Foundations of Urban, Port and Transport Economics
- 40% Electives and Application
The exact mix depends on your course selection.
In class
You will work on real-world cases that reflect the complexity of modern supply chains and spatial decision-making. For example:
How should a company design its global production and transport network?
You will analyse the supply chain of a product—such as refrigerators—by evaluating labour costs, transport routes, carbon footprint, and land acquisition. You will then develop an optimal production and logistics strategy, supported by economic reasoning and data analysis.
Study schedule
The Take-Off is the introduction event for all new students of Erasmus School of Economics. During this interesting introduction event, you will be provided with useful practical information and receive an introduction to your studies, meet your fellow students and our School.
In this course we provide students with knowledge of econometric methods which are relevant for applied economics. In particular, this course first refreshes the essentials of the standard regression model, and subsequently it covers methods that can be useful when the dependent variable of interest is endogenous. The last part of the course introduces models that are useful when the dependent variable is binary.
Students follow a hands-on approach to understanding empirical econometric methods, in this way getting the opportunity to develop experience with the application of these methods in their own field of specialisation.
The course consists of lectures, exercise lectures and group practical work. The lectures present and discuss each method and relevant applications. In the exercise lectures, students are taught how to implement the methods themselves. The main student activity consists of practical empirical applications, where the methods are applied to real-world datasets in applied economics.
The aim of this course is to discuss the role of behavioural economics in transport policy. More specifically we will review the most important findings about some of the contextual factors influencing transport behaviour. The MINDSPACE framework will be used as backbone structure of the course. MINDSPACE is a mnemonic for: messenger, incentives, norms, defaults, salience, priming, affect, commitment and ego. The focus will be in understanding the influences on transport behaviour.
Additionally, students will learn to apply the major techniques of behavioural influence to transport related problems. How do you convince people to travel by public transport rather than by car? How can you stimulate cycling to work or school? Do car drivers react to traffic information? How should passengers be informed about travel delays? These and other transport-related problems will be used as an example to discuss major behavioural principles.
The course will make use as much as possible of evidence from field experiments. Additionally, students will be asked to conduct their own field experiments (in group). Some of these experiments can be carried out with companies active in the mobility sector (e.g., BMW, Shell, ParkNow, Q-park, etc…).
- Port Economics
- Economics of Strategy
- Urban Economics
- Real Estate Economics
- Air Transport Economics
- Behavioural Transport Economics
- TUD-Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics master's course
- other Economics and Business master's course
- Seminar Regional and Transport Economics
- Seminar Ports and Global Logistics: Disruptive Scenarios
- Seminar Global Firm Strategy
- Seminar Supply Chain Management and Optimisation
Students choose two seminars from the listed seminars.
The master thesis is the keystone to the master. The student carries out supervised research and reports on it. Topics typically relate to the material studied in the UPT courses. The Master thesis website and the introductory lectures discuss how to find a topic, how to match with a supervisor, and more information on the writing process.
Disclaimer
This overview provides a general impression of the 2026-2027 curriculum. It is not the current study schedule. Enrolled students can find the most up-to-date version on MyEUR. Please note that minor changes may occur in future academic years.