The Department of Economics places a particularly strong emphasis on a well-rounded liberal arts education, ethical judgment and the ability to assess past and present public policies. We encourage a friendly, supportive environment for all students, promote student-professor interaction and build a community of scholars.
Students who have earned a degree in economics have gone on to careers in banking, consulting, financial research, the government, the hedge fund industry, insurance firms such as Travelers and industrial firms such as General Electric and United Technologies. Besides preparing a student for graduate study in economics, the major provides excellent preparation for graduate study in business, law and public policy.
The mission of the Department of Economics is to offer students educational opportunities that emphasize the relationship of theory to practice, preparing them to become accomplished citizens and professionals capable of critical thinking and independent analysis.
- Bachelor of Science in Data Science
- Bachelor of Science in Economics
- Minor in Applied Statistics and Data Science
- Minor in Economics
- Accelerated Dual-Degree BS in Economics/MBA (3+1)
- Accelerated Dual-Degree BS in Economics/MS in Accounting (3+1)
- Accelerated Dual-Degree BS in Economics/MS in Applied AI and Business Analytics (3+1)
Economics (EC)
EC 101. Chocolate, Cheating and Climate Change - Everyday Economics.3 Credits.
This course explores how economics touches our everyday lives including everything from our choice of chocolate, to the decision whether or not to cheat, to the global economics of climate change. Designed for non-majors, we take a less mathematical approach to exploring these issues, including the use of news media, experiments, and class discussion. Students develop critical thinking and effective communication, and act responsibly as intercultural citizens of a diverse world through becoming more knowledgeable about the world around them and treating others with different points of view with respect Not open to students who have taken EC 111 or EC 112.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed, Spring
UC: Social Sciences
EC 111. Principles of Microeconomics.3 Credits.
This course examines scarcity and choice, demand and supply, government price setting and taxes, elasticity, production and cost, and the theory of the firm. Analysis emphasizes learning core topics and applying critical thinking. ?A writing component is required.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year, All
UC: Social Sciences
EC 112. Principles of Macroeconomics.3 Credits.
This course examines the determinants of national income and the distribution of income, unemployment, inflation and how fiscal policy and monetary policy influence the economy. Analysis emphasizes learning core topics and applying critical thinking. A writing component is required.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every year, All
UC: Social Sciences
EC 206. Urban Economics.3 Credits.
Urban Economics explores the formation and characteristics of urban areas. Coverage begins with analysis of how cities arise and profit-maximizing decisions of firms. The course then describes features of cities including economies of scale, sources of urban economic growth, land-use patterns, housing, segregation, government policy, and local public goods provision.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: As needed, Fall
UC: Social Sciences
EC 211. Intermediate Microeconomics.3 Credits.
This advanced analysis of microeconomic theory includes study of consumer theory with use of indifference curves and budget constraints, firm theory with use of isoquants and isocosts, market structures and market failures. Calculus is used in this course.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every year
EC 212. Intermediate Macroeconomics.3 Credits.
This course helps students to understand two phenomena: long-run growth and business cycles. The long-run growth section emphasizes the distribution of income, the importance of technological change for increasing the standard of living and how to include environmental challenges in growth analysis. The section devoted to business cycles emphasizes critical thinking about the roles of fiscal and monetary policy in a modern economy.
Prerequisites: Take EC 112.
Offered: Every year
EC 272. Advanced Applied Statistics.3 Credits.
This course teaches statistical methods and concepts used in business decision making and social science research. Topics include sampling distributions, estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation, linear regression and forecasting.
Prerequisites: Take MA 170, MA 176, MA 206 or MA 275.
Offered: Every year, All
EC 304. Environmental Economics.3 Credits.
This course examines environmental issues and their economic impact. Topics include economic efficiency both in market and nonmarket activities; dynamic efficiency for nonrenewable and renewable resources; how environmental problems are modeled from an economic perspective including environmental racism, pollution and poverty; and principles of environmental policy design at the state, federal, and international level.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every other year
EC 320. Law and Economics.3 Credits.
This course covers the application of microeconomic theory to the law. Topics covered include the efficiency and welfare aspects of property rights, contract law, torts and criminal law, and the impact of changes in the law on economic agents.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every other year
EC 325. Sports Economics.3 Credits.
The primary focus of this course is professional sports. Topics include microeconomic foundations of sports economics, industrial organization of the sport industry, antitrust and regulation, financing sports stadiums, labor and racism issues and the economics of college sports.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every other year
EC 330. Public Finance.3 Credits.
Public Finance examines the situations in which markets fail to provide the outcomes desired by society, leading to issues such as environmental degradation and inequality of income and education and explores the opportunities of government to improve upon the market outcomes. Multiple tax and spending programs are critically analyzed to understand the impact they have on behavior to influence more desirable outcomes.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every other year, Spring
EC 341. Money and Banking.3 Credits.
This examination of the institutions and theory of monetary systems considers the domestic and international macroeconomic impacts of changes in monetary policy. Students are taught to apply critical thinking and quantitative analysis to monetary issues that are of a local and global nature.
Prerequisites: Take EC 112.
Offered: Every other year
EC 350. International Economics.3 Credits.
This course examines international trade theories, trade policies, exchange rate determination models and macroeconomic policies in open economies.? Students are taught to apply critical thinking and quantitative analysis to international economics issues that provide them global perspectives on current topics and help them understand global economic developments and policy as well as how they impact both domestic and foreign economies.
Prerequisites: Take EC 112.
Offered: Every other year
EC 352. Industrial Organization.3 Credits.
Market structures are examined with an emphasis on the imperfectly competitive markets. Market failures and regulation and antitrust also are considered.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every other year
EC 355. Game Theory.3 Credits.
Applied game theory analysis of real-world strategic environments in economics and business. Topics include: Normal form games, Nash equilibrium, mixed strategies, repeated games, sequential games with perfect and imperfect information, sub-game perfect equilibrium and principal-agent problems.? The course is an introduction to modeling and heavily emphasizes critical thinking.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every other year
EC 361. Labor Economics.3 Credits.
This course examines the application of microeconomic theory to labor markets and also considers, unions, labor market, immigration, discrimination and other topics.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: Every other year
EC 364. Managerial Economics.3 Credits.
This course considers the application of microeconomic theory to firm management, firm theory, market structures. It includes basic applied regression analysis.
Prerequisites: Take EC 111.
Offered: As needed
EC 365. Econometrics.3 Credits.
This course provides an introduction to the statistical methods and tools used in applied economic research. Topics include model specification estimation, and inference in the simple and multivariate regression model. The use of statistical software is required.
Prerequisites: Take EC 112; EC 272, MA 275, MA 285 or PS 206.
Offered: Every year, Fall and Spring
EC 366. Advanced Econometrics.3 Credits.
This course surveys econometric methods and tools that are particularly useful for applied microeconomic research. The course is structured around a series of projects that require students to build and estimate econometric models. Lectures complement the projects by providing the link between econometric theory and actual empirical practice.
Prerequisites: Take EC 365.
Offered: As needed
EC 375. Development Economics.3 Credits.
This course analyzes the economic issues facing developing countries around the world. Topics include international aid, inequality, the determinants of economic growth, corruption, education and human capital, micro-financing, and the role of multinational firms in these impoverished regions.
Prerequisites: Take EC 112.
Offered: As needed
EC 396. Economics Internship.3 Credits.
Internships in economics must be approved by the department chair and the dean in accordance with college regulations.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
EC 399. Independent Study.1-6 Credits.
Prerequisites: None
EC 450. Senior Seminar.3 Credits.
This course serves as the capstone course in economics. Intermediate microeconomic and macroeconomic theories, along with econometric methods, are used to analyze specific economic issues or policies. Focus is on the application of statistical analyses in order to understand the impact of public policies and other economic phenomena.
Prerequisites: Take EC 211 or EC 212 and Senior Standing.
Offered: Every year, Fall
EC 498. Special Topics in Economics.1-6 Credits.
Subject varies each semester according to student and faculty interest.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: As needed
EC 600. Managerial Economics.3 Credits.
This course considers the practical application of the tools of economic analysis to the solution of important business problems. An examination of analysis of demand, cost and output, market structure and pricing policies is included.
Prerequisites: None
Offered: Every year