Learning Outcomes
Upon graduation from Dickinson, Economics majors will be able to:
- apply the core concepts and chains of reasoning underlying a variety of microeconomic and macroeconomic models to a range of economic phenomena and issues;
- critically assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of contending explanations for and the assumptions underlying competing theories of economic phenomena and issues;
- explain verbally and in written form a variety of economic theories, including mathematical models when applicable, demonstrating a grasp of contending explanations for economic phenomena and issues.
Upon graduation from Dickinson, Quantitative Economics majors will be able to:
- apply the core concepts and chains of reasoning underlying a variety of microeconomic, macroeconomic, and econometric models through theoretical and quantitative methods to a range of economic phenomena and issues;
- critically assess and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the assumptions underlying various models of economic phenomena and issues;
- explain verbally and in written form a variety of economic theories, including mathematical and empirical models when applicable, demonstrating a grasp of alternative explanations for economic phenomena and issues;
- develop quantitative tools and techniques, including the use of formal arguments, numerical computations, and empirical analysis, to evaluate the logic, validity, and robustness of various explanations for economic phenomena and issues.
Major
ECONOMICS
11 courses
Core Requirements:
ECON 111, 112, 268, 278, 288
MATH Requirements:
MATH 121 or 225 or INBM 220 or DATA 180
MATH 170
Elective Requirements:
Three ECON electives, at least two (2) of these electives must be at the 300-level or above
Capstone Requirement:
ECON 496
QUANTITATIVE ECONOMICS
13 courses
Core Requirements:
ECON 111, 112, 268, 278, 298
MATH Requirements:
MATH 121 or 225 or INBM 220 or DATA 180
MATH 170 and 171
Elective Requirements (4 courses):
Three ECON electives, at least two (2) of these electives must be at the 300-level or above
One Quantitative Economics (QECN) elective, at the 300-level or above
Capstone Requirement:
ECON 496
NOTE: Due to the substantial overlap between the two majors, a student is not permitted to double major in ECON and QECN.
Minor
ECONOMICS
Six economics courses including 111 and 112 and four other economics electives at the 200-level or above.
Suggested curricular flow through the major
The following curricular guidelines will help you pace your progress through the major. While no specific course must be taken in any given semester, the vertical structure of the program requires that you successfully complete prerequisites for admission to intermediate and higher level classes in a timely manner. Plan to fulfill your mathematics requirements during your first year or first semester sophomore year in order to take intermediate level requirements for the each major. MATH 170 (Single Variable Calculus) or a more advanced calculus class is required for ECON 268 and ECON 278. The statistics requirement (MATH 121 or MATH 225 or INBM 220) is a prerequisite for ECON 298, which is required for the QECN major. ECON 268 and ECON 278 (and ECON 298 for QECN Majors or ECON 288 for ECON majors) are prerequisites for upper-level electives and the senior seminar. You need at least three economics electives to complete the major (four for the QECN Major, one of which must be from the approved QECN elective list or by prior departmental approval); at least two of these must be at the 300 level (three for QECN), having one or more intermediate prerequisites.
ECON Major Suggested Curricular Flow:
Introductory Requirements (recommended for first years; ideally completed by middle of sophomore year):
ECON 111
ECON 112
MATH 121 or MATH 225 or INBM 220
MATH 170
Intermediate Requirements (to be completed as soon as prerequisites are met):
ECON 268
ECON 278
ECON 288
Electives (To be completed as soon as prerequisites are met):
Three electives are required for the ECON major. Two electives must be at the 300-level or above.
Senior Seminar (Spring Senior Year):
ECON 496
QECN Major Suggested Curricular Flow:
Introductory Requirements (recommended for first years; ideally completed by middle of sophomore year):
ECON 111
ECON 112
MATH 121 or MATH 225 or INBM 220
MATH 170
MATH 171
Intermediate Requirements (to be completed as soon as prerequisites are met):
ECON 268
ECON 278
ECON 298
Electives (To be completed as soon as prerequisites are met):
Three ECON electives are required for the QECN major. Two electives must be at the 300-level or above. One additional elective is required for the QECN major. (See list of pre-approved QECN electives below).
Senior Seminar (Spring Senior Year):
ECON 496
NOTES:
- Please allow enough flexibility in your schedule if you are planning on studying abroad. In addition, make sure you discuss your plans with your faculty advisor well in advance.
- Due to the substantial overlap between the two majors, a student is not allowed to double major in Economics and Quantitative Economics.
Pre-approved QECN Electives
- COMP 331 Operations Research (cross-listed as MATH 331)
- ECON 398 Advanced Econometrics
- ECON 375 Mathematical Economics
- ENST 318 Advanced Applications of GIS (cross-listed as GEOS / ARCH / GISP 318)
- INBM 300 Applied Empirical Data Analysis
- INBM 300 Big Data in Business
- INBM 300 Investments
- INBM 300 Empirical Methods in Finance
- Any other INBM 300 with either INBM 220 or INBM 250 as a prerequisite
- MATH 325 Probability and Statistics II
- MATH 361 Real Analysis
- Any other ECON elective with either ECON 298 or MATH 171 as a prerequisite
- Any course with prior departmental approval
Independent study and independent research
Each faculty member has special fields of study and will usually be available for advice in that area. No more than two independent study or tutorial study enrollments may be counted toward the major and they must conform to the appropriate level within the major.
Honors
Honors in Economics or Quantitative Economics
Any student with a 3.50 overall grade point average may undertake a two-course independent research project and oral defense of the research project. Honors in the major will be awarded if the two courses are over and above the eleven required courses for ECON majors and thirteen courses for QECN majors, if a grade of A or A- is earned on the project, and if the departmental oral examination on the project is successfully completed. For detailed information, go to the department web site.
Courses
111 Introduction to Microeconomics
A study of the fundamentals of economic analysis and of basic economic institutions, with particular emphasis upon consumer demand and upon the output and pricing decisions of business firms. The implications of actions taken by these decision-makers, operating within various market structures, upon the allocation of resources and the distribution of income are examined. Special attention is given to the sociopolitical environment within which economic decisions are made.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year, Quantitative Reasoning, Social Sciences
112 Introduction to Macroeconomics
A study of the fundamentals of economic analysis and of basic economic institutions, with particular emphasis upon national output, employment, and price levels. The monetary and financial system is explored together with problems of economic stability. Monetary and fiscal policy procedures are analyzed and evaluated in light of the current economic climate. Special attention is given to the historical development of major economic institutions.
Prerequisite: 111.
Attributes: Appropriate for First-Year
214 Special Topics
An economic topic requiring some exposure to introductory economic concepts. Past topics have included Middle Eastern Economies, Feminist Economics, Network Industries, and the Economic Analysis of Policy. Specific topics will be described in each semester’s registration materials.
Prerequisites: 111 and/or 112 depending upon the topic.
Attributes: Social Sciences
222 Environmental Economics
A study of human production and consumption activities as they affect the natural and human environmental systems and as they are affected by those systems. The economic behavioral patterns associated with the market economy are scrutinized in order to reveal the biases in the decision-making process which may contribute to the deterioration of the resource base and of the quality of life in general. External costs and benefits, technological impacts, limits to economic growth, and issues of income and wealth distribution are examined. A range of potential policy measures, some consistent with our life style and some not, are evaluated.
Prerequisite: 111.
Attributes: ENST Society (ESSO), INST Sustain & Global Environ, LAWP Policy Elective, Sustainability Investigations
226 Global Economy
The course introduces economic theory that builds on ideas from introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics. It uses that theory as a framework for examining developments in the changing global system. Developments include the revolution in information technology; the dynamics of human population growth; the implications of climate change; challenges to human security; and emerging patterns of organizational interdependence and collaboration. Those developments provide the context for business managers and for government officials responsible for shaping strategies and implementing policies.
Prerequisite: ECON 111 and 112; concurrent enrollment in ECON 112 by permission of the instructor. This course is cross-listed as INST 200.
Attributes: East Asian Social Sci Elective
228 Economic Analysis of Policy
This course introduces the basic economic techniques used in the analysis of public policy and applies these techniques to a variety of social problems and policies. The economic techniques taught include the analysis of market failure, benefit-cost analysis, and economic impact analysis. Applied topics vary, but are likely to include education and job training, public assistance, transportation policy, and environmental protection.
Prerequisite: 111 or permission of the instructor.
Attributes: Social Sciences
230 Political Economy of Gender
Political Economy of Gender adopts a gender-aware perspective to examine how people secure their livelihoods through labor market and nonmarket work. The course examines the nature of labor market inequalities by gender, race, ethnicity and other social categories, how they are integrated with non-market activities, their wellbeing effects, their role in the macroeconomy, and the impact of macroeconomic policies on these work inequalities. These questions are examined from the perspective of feminist economics that has emerged since the early 1990s as a heterodox economics discourse, critical of both mainstream and gender-blind heterodox economics. While we will pay special attention to the US economy, our starting point is that there is one world economy with connections between the global South and the North, in spite of the structural differences between (and within) these regions.
For ECON 230: ECON 111 (ECON 112 recommended); For SOCI 227: SOCI 110 or ECON 111; For WGSS 202: none (ECON 111 recommended) This course is cross-listed as SOCI 227 & WGSS 202.
Attributes: AMST Representation Elective, AMST Struct & Instit Elective, INST World Economy & Developmt, LAWP Policy Elective, Sustainability Connections, US Diversity, WGSS Intersect/Instit/Power, Writing in the Discipline
240 International Development
This course examines the challenges and strategies of economic development, with a detailed focus on how households behave. The goal is to provide an understanding of what life for poor households in developing countries is like, what can be done about it, and an idea of how valuable insights can be gained using standard economic tools and thinking. In addition to learning about theoretical models and real-life examples, we will spend significant time understanding recent research on development problems. Issues examined include: poverty measures, health issues such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and undernutrition, economic growth, agriculture, land use, technology adoption, foreign aid, credits, child labor, child education, migration, and measures of inequality. Prerequisite: ECON 111 and 112. This course is cross-listed as INST 240.
Attributes: INST Africa Course, INST Asia Course, INST Global Security, INST World Economy & Developmt, LAWP Policy Elective, Security Studies Course
247 Money and Banking
A study of the role of money and credit in the U.S. economy. The nature of money, the structure of the banking system in the context of a rapidly changing financial institutional environment, and the Federal Reserve System are examined. Various theories of money as guides to monetary policy are compared and contrasted. Neoclassical approaches will predominate, although some alternative approaches will be explored.
Prerequisite: 112.
268 Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory
Neoclassical theories of economic behavior in the aggregate. Models will be used as a framework for analyzing the determination of the level of national output and for explaining fluctuations in employment, the price level, interest rates, productivity, and the rate of economic growth. Policy proposals will be appraised.
Prerequisite: 111 and 112; MATH 170.
Attributes: Social Sciences
278 Intermediate Microeconomic Theory
Neoclassical theory of relative prices of commodities and productive services under perfect and imperfect competition. The role of prices in the allocation and distribution of resources and commodities. Economic behavior of individual economic units like consumers, firms, and resource owners.
Prerequisite: 111 and MATH 170.
Attributes: Social Sciences
288 Contending Economic Perspectives
A study of major heterodox economic theories such as Marxian, institutional, feminist, post-Keynesian, or Austrian economics. Students will study these contending economic perspectives through their historical evolution, methods and theoretical structures, and/or current policy debates.
Prerequisites: 111 and 112.
298 Econometrics
This course is an introduction to econometrics in which the tools of economic theory, mathematics, and statistical inference are applied to the analysis of economic data. Students will develop foundational knowledge of applied statistics and econometrics through exploration of empirical techniques relevant to quantitative economics including probability, estimation, hypothesis testing, correlation, modeling, simple and multiple linear regression analysis, and time series analysis. In addition, this course will cover basic extensions of a multiple linear regression model such as dummy variables and interaction terms. Students will use Stata, or other statistical analysis software widely used in economics, to understand and apply empirical work.
Prerequisite: ECON 111 and ECON 112; MATH 170 and (MATH 121 or MATH 225 or INBM 220 or COMP 180 or DATA 180 or MATH 180)
Attributes: Social Sciences
314 Advanced Special Topics
Prerequisites: One or more of the core intermediate theory courses (268, 278, 288, 298) depending on the topic.
Attributes: Social Sciences
332 Economics of Natural Resource Sustainability
This course uses microeconomics to analyze the use and conservation of natural resources, including energy, minerals, fisheries, forests, and water resources, among others. Broad themes include the roles of property rights, intergenerational equity, and sustainable development in an economy based on resource exploitation.
Prerequisite: 278. For ENST, ENSC and INST majors, prerequisite is ECON 222.
Attributes: ENST Society (ESSO)
344 Public Finance
Theoretical analysis of the interaction of the public and private sectors emphasizing problems of allocation and distribution. Topics include economic rationales for government, public expenditure theory, redistribution of income, collective decision making, and taxation. Neoclassical approaches predominate; however, some alternative approaches will be explored.
Prerequisite: 278 or permission of the instructor.
351 Gender and Development
This course examines the gender dimensions of economic development and globalization from the perspective of feminist economics. This perspective implies foregrounding labor, broadly defined to include paid and unpaid work, and examining gender differences in work, access to resources, and wellbeing outcomes, and how these are affected by macroeconomic policies and how gender inequalities are relevant for societal wellbeing. Since the early 1980’s economic globalization has been achieved on the basis of a common set of macroeconomic policies pursued in industrial and developing countries alike. These policies frame both the gender-differentiated impacts of policy and the initiatives that are implemented to reduce inequalities between men and women. The main objective of the course is to examine the impact of these policies on men and women in the global South (a.k.a. developing countries/Third World) on gender inequalities and to evaluate the policies/strategies for reducing gender inequalities and promoting the well-being of all people. The pursuit of these objectives will entail first a brief examination of the central tenets of feminist economics and an historical overview of the policy-oriented field of gender and development. Gender-differentiated statistics will be reviewed as they pertain to the topics under discussion.
Prerequisite: For ECON 351: ECON 288; For INST 351: ECON 288 or INST 200 or INBM 200; For WGSS 302: at least one WGSS course or ECON 288. This course is cross-listed as INST 351& WGSS 302.
Attributes: AMST Struct & Instit Elective, Global Diversity, INST World Economy & Developmt, WGSS Intersect/Instit/Power, WGSS Transntl/Global Perspect, Writing in the Discipline
353 The Economics of Labor
An analysis of labor market issues and policies. Topics covered include discrimination, anti-discrimination policy, the minimum wage, health and safety policy, and other labor market policies and institutions. While the neoclassical approach dominates, other approaches will be explored.
Prerequisite: 278 or permission of the instructor.
371 British and European Economic History
Rapid economic development took off in Britain during the eighteenth century. What were the causes and consequences of this first Industrial Revolution? Why did it take place in Britain and not France or other European country? Technological change, along with rapid population growth and migration, resulted in uneven distributional outcomes within and between countries. This course will cover important questions in British and European economic history. Readings will focus on improvements in living standards and efforts made to address unequal outcomes with an emphasis on the impact of industrial development and institutional change. This course may be taught as a Writing in the Discipline or standard elective. Quantitative Economics majors may elect to write an empirical research paper.
Prerequisites: 268 and 278. Recommended: 288.
373 History of Economic Thought
This course provides an appraisal of the origins and evolution of selected economic theories, primarily through the works of great economists of the past. Past economic works are analyzed in their theoretical and historical context.
Prerequisites: any one of the following intermediate-level ECON courses 268, 278, 288, or 298.
398 Advanced Econometrics
This course covers some advanced topics in applied econometrics. Students will apply multiple regression analysis to both cross-sectional and longitudinal (panel) data to familiarize students with a variety of advanced econometric techniques including instrumental variable analysis, differences-in-differences methods, limited dependent variable models, and dynamic panel analysis. Students will conduct individual empirical research projects using Stata, or other statistical analysis software widely used in economics, to enable students to understand and apply the conventions of empirical research in economics. We will cover elements of technical writing, reviewing existing literature, data collection and organization, and file management for complete transparency and reproducibility.
Prerequisites: 268 or 278, and 298.
Attributes: Quantitative Econ Elective, Writing in the Discipline
496 Economics Seminar
A reading, research, and conference course on a selected economics topic. Student seminar choices must be approved by the department.
Prerequisite: 268, 278, and 288 (for ECON majors) or 298 (for QECN majors) and permission of the instructor.