Requirements for the BA in Economics
Please visit the Undergraduate Course Catalog for the most up-to-date degree requirements.
Basic Requirements
The major in Economics leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree. All courses offered for the major must be passed with a letter grade of C or higher.
Complete a minimum of 12 courses, at least 11 of which must be in Economics, distributed as follows.
Completion of the major requires approximately 41 to 46 credits.
A. Minimum of 12 Courses
At least 11 of the courses must be in Economics, distributed as follows:
- ECO 110 — Introduction to Microeconomics, 3 credits
- ECO 111 — Introduction to Macroeconomics, 3 credits
Note: This requirement may also be satisfied by students who earned credit for ECO 108 prior to Summer 2025.
Required Intermediate Economics Courses
- ECO 303 — Intermediate Microeconomic Theory, 4 credits
- ECO 305 — Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory, 4 credits
- ECO 320 — Mathematical Statistics, 4 credits
- ECO 321 — Econometrics, 4 credits
Upper-Division Economics Electives
Complete five additional courses in Economics at the 300 level and above, not including ECO 359 or ECO 459. Each course must be taken for a minimum of three credits. One of the five electives must be selected from the following list:
| Course | Title | Minimum Credits |
|---|---|---|
| ECO 310 | Basic Computational Methods in Economics | 4 credits |
| ECO 322 | Data Science and Machine Learning in Economics | 3 credits |
| ECO 323 | Applied Microeconomics | 4 credits |
| ECO 324 | Empirical Industrial Organization | 4 credits |
| ECO 326 | Industrial Organization | 3 credits |
| ECO 329 | Urban Economics | 3 credits |
| ECO 348 | Analysis for Managerial Decision Making | 4 credits |
| ECO 351 | Special Topics in Economics | 3 credits |
| ECO 352 | Special Topics in Economics | 3 credits |
| ECO 354 | Special Topics in Economics | 3 credits |
| ECO 355 | Game Theory | 3 credits |
| ECO 357 | Special Topics in Economics | 3 credits |
| ECO 360 | Money and Banking | 3 credits |
| ECO 362 | Financial Economics | 3 credits |
| ECO 383 | Public Finance | 3 credits |
| ECO 386 | International Finance | 3 credits |
| ECO 389 | Corporate Finance | 3 credits |
Complete one additional course, either in Economics, not including ECO 359 or ECO 459, or from the list of pre-approved electives in other departments. The course must carry a minimum of three credits.
Note: No more than two 400-level courses will count toward fulfillment of the major.
B. Mathematics
Complete one of the following:
- MAT 125 — Calculus A, 3 credits
- MAT 130 — Trigonometry and Logarithms, 1 credit, and MAT 125 — Calculus A, 3 credits
- AMS 151 — Applied Calculus I, 3 credits
- Level 6 on the mathematics placement examination
- Any higher-level calculus course
Note: If students do not place into MAT 125 based on the mathematics placement examination, MAT 123 or MAT 119/MAT 123 is required for the major.
C. Upper-Division Writing Requirement
Complete the upper-division writing requirement during the senior year, after completing all or most of the upper-division major requirements.
Most students fulfill this requirement by registering for ECO 359, a WRTD-certified course. Students completing a larger independent research project should not register for ECO 359. Instead, they should seek faculty approval to register for ECO 487 and obtain WRTD certification by registering for the 0-credit ECO 459 course in the same semester.
In exceptional cases, a paper completed as part of another upper-division class may be used to satisfy the requirement if the instructor and student agree and the student registers for ECO 459 in the same semester.
Double majors must fulfill the Economics upper-division writing requirement in addition to the upper-division writing requirement for their other major.
Additional Notes
- Students who need to take MAP 103 will be unable to take ECO 110 or ECO 111 in the first semester of their freshman year and should adjust their schedule accordingly.
- Economics is a quantitative social science. Students planning to use Economics for graduate study or career preparation should consider additional courses in mathematics and applied mathematics.
- A maximum of four Economics courses taken at other institutions may be applied toward the major.
SBC Courses
This table illustrates major courses that may also be used to fulfill SBC requirements.
| SBC Category | Required Major Courses | Optional Major Courses |
|---|---|---|
| QPS | AMS 151, MAT 125 | |
| SBS | ECO 110, ECO 111 | |
| STAS | ECO 373 | |
| EXP+ | ECO 475, ECO 476, ECO 488 | |
| SBS+ | ECO 303, ECO 305 | ECO 327, ECO 334, ECO 355 |
| WRTD | ECO 359 | ECO 459 |
SBC Notes
- Some course information may be subject to change. Please contact your major advisor for additional consultation.
- For majors that require study in a related area or completion of a minor, visit the respective program’s Major SBC Courses page to view expanded SBC options.
- Optional major courses denote courses in which students can choose from more than one option. These may include, but are not limited to, major electives, concentration courses, track courses, specialization courses, or calculus, physics, and chemistry sequences.
- CEAS majors, the Athletic Training major, the Respiratory Care major, and the Clinical Laboratory Sciences major are exempt from the LANG learning objective. Students enrolled in the major in Social Work are exempt from the LANG learning objective but are required to enroll in and pass with a letter grade of C or higher the first semester of an elementary foreign language course numbered 111, or satisfy the requirement through alternate methods.
- Students are responsible for completing the general education requirements published in the Bulletin that was current as of the first semester of matriculation or rematriculation. Freshmen who matriculate in Fall 2019 or later, transfer students who matriculate in Spring 2020 or later, and students who rematriculate in Fall 2019 or later must satisfy the DIV learning objective as part of their degree requirements.