The institutions that hire economists also fund them
No other field on this site has that. The World Bank runs two active programmes, and one of them exists to connect young researchers to its own research. That changes what your application is really for, and it is worth knowing before you write a word of it.
11 routes · checked 18 October 2026
The eleven routes
Each row links to the guide that covers that route in full. Where a route sets no single date, this page says what decides yours.
| Guide | Route and condition | Country | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commonwealth Scholarship | Economics at UK universities | United Kingdom | 20 Oct 2026 |
| Chevening Scholarship | One-year master’s in economics | United Kingdom | Opens in August, closes in early October. |
| Joint Japan / World Bank | Development-related master’s. Work experience is the real gate | Worldwide | Two windows a year. The 2027 dates are announced on the Bank’s site. |
| Robert S. McNamara Fellowships | Young researchers, linked to World Bank research | Worldwide | The Bank publishes no window on its programme page. |
| Gates Cambridge | Economics research at Cambridge | United Kingdom | Varies by course. The US round and the international round run separately. |
| LSE scholarships | Decided from your LSE programme application | United Kingdom | Apply to the programme first. Funding follows admission. |
| Fulbright Scholarship | Master’s and PhD in economics | United States | Set by the Fulbright commission in your own country. |
| Swedish Institute SISGP | Economics at Swedish universities | Sweden | Two steps. Universities first, then the scholarship application. |
| Erasmus Mundus | Economics joint masters across two or three countries | Europe | Varies by joint programme, usually autumn to January. |
| DAAD Scholarship | Economics, including the EPOS development track | Germany | Varies by programme. Each DAAD course sets its own date. |
| AERC programmes | Collaborative master’s and PhD at African universities | Africa only | Not a route for readers outside Africa. |
Start here
The guides that cover this field as a whole, rather than one route.
Fully funded scholarships for economics students
The main guide, with what each route pays and who it accepts.
10 scholarships
Business and MBA scholarships
Several of these routes fund both, and the conditions differ.
Related field
Public health scholarships
Development economics overlaps here, and the work-experience rules are similar.
Related field
Writing a PhD research proposal
What an economics proposal needs beyond a model and a dataset.
Documents
Work experience decides more of these than grades do. The Joint Japan/World Bank scholarship is built around it, DAAD’s EPOS track asks for it, and Chevening counts it in years. A first-class degree with no working years behind it loses to a good degree plus real policy or field experience on most of these panels. If you are still studying, that is an argument for applying later rather than applying weaker. Confirm every date on the funder’s own page before you apply.