Purdue's innovative specialty area in Space, Health and Population Economics (SHaPE) offers in-depth training in the intersecting realms of regional and urban economics, health economics and spatial demography. It is responsive to the growing interest in studying real-world phenomena such as income inequality, land use, urban sprawl, environmental amenities, climate change, health and nutrition, epidemiology and public health impacts, population aging, migration, agglomeration and human capital, within their proper spatial context. The Space, Health and Population Economics specialty area focuses on integrating prevailing insights from regional and urban economics, health economics, demography, and labor economics. Moreover, students develop skills in state-of-the-art quantitative techniques, such as spatial data analysis, GIS, spatial econometrics, discrete-choice modeling and panel data econometrics.

Faculty teaching the required and elective courses in the Space, Health and Population Economics specialty area have extensive national and international experience, involving institutions in Indiana, the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. The program has well established connections to the US Census Bureau, the World Bank, research institutes and departments of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the Population Studies Centre and the Department of Economics of Waikato University in New Zealand, the Kiel Institute for World Economics in Germany, and the Department of Geography of the London School of Economics in the UK. In addition, students are encouraged to take advantage of the wealth of resources offered by other departments, especially in GIS and remote sensing.

The Space, Health and Population Economics program prepares students for careers in NGOs, government agencies, academia, and the private sector. Potential future employers include international organizations (IMF, World Bank, OECD and FAO), government agencies (CDC, FDA, USDA, US Census Bureau, HUD and the Federal Reserve), universities and private research organizations (regional and urban research institutes), private developers and consultancy agencies, marketing firms and insurance companies.

All students specializing in Space, Health and Population Economics are required to actively participate in a weekly integrative brownbag series to which students as well as faculty and guest-speakers contribute.

Students who intend to go on for a Ph.D. degree are encouraged to include additional advanced quantitative, and economics courses in their MS program. Improving (foreign) language skills in speaking and writing is considered important and will be encouraged.