Economics is often misunderstood. At its heart, economics is a social science that seeks to explain human behavior. Far from being limited to questions of unemployment, interest rates, and the demand for goods and services, economics seeks to answer questions spanning a wide range of issues. These include poverty, discrimination, crime, pollution, education, international trade, international finance, taxation, natural resources and many other issues. Unlike the study of business management that focuses on improvements for a single firm or industry, economics takes a societal view that examines the impact of decisions or policies on individuals, households, businesses, taxpayers, the environment, and the country as a whole. In order to examine the impacts of policies from a societal view, economic analysis relies on a highly analytical method that requires knowledge of micro- and macroeconomic theories, mathematical modeling, and logic. At its heart, economics is a social science that seeks to explain human behavior. Far from being limited to questions of the demand and supply for goods and services, economics seeks to answer questions spanning a wide range of issues. These include poverty, discrimination, crime, pollution, education, international trade, taxation, natural resource management, and many other areas. Unlike the study of business management which focuses on improvements for a single firm or industry, economics takes a societal view that examines the impact of decisions or policies on individuals, households, businesses, taxpayers, the environment, and the country or the world as a whole. In order to examine the impacts of policies from a societal view, economic analysis relies on a highly quantitative analytical method that requires knowledge of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, mathematical modeling, statistics and logic. Graduates who have mastered the “economic way of thinking” are prepared to move on into successful careers. Our majors have gone on to careers in law, business, finance, foreign service, government, consulting, education, and research. For those wishing to pursue graduate school, economics majors tend to score very well on entrance exams.

Career in law, business, finance, foreign service, government, consulting, education, and research.