The purpose of the network is to promote the exchange of doctoral students in order to better enable them to conduct economic research at the highest international level and to get a broader perspective on economic policy issues. European economic departments are typically too small to offer the full range of graduate classes that are taught at top universities in the U.S. Therefore, the participating institutions combine their strengths and strongly encourage their doctoral students to spend up to one academic year at one of the partner universities in order to complement their graduate education by taking specialized courses abroad.

Those students who already have a well-defined research project can collaborate with an expert in their field at one of the partner institutions. All exchange students will benefit from getting acquainted with a new research environment in a different country and from establishing contact with other researchers and doctoral students in Europe.

EDGE organizes an annual conference, the Jamboree, to be held at one of the partner institutions, in order to further promote the contacts between our departments and the exchange of ideas and students.