Economics
Economic theory, policy analysis, econometrics, and market behavior.
Who It's For
You enjoy thinking about how people, businesses, and governments make decisions about scarce resources. If you are analytical, enjoy both math and social science, and are interested in policy debates, market behavior, or inequality, economics offers powerful frameworks for understanding the world. Students who like building models and testing hypotheses about human behavior thrive here.
If you dislike math, be aware that modern economics is heavily quantitative — especially econometrics. Students who want practical, directly applicable business skills might prefer business administration or finance, which focus more on organizational skills than economic theory.
How Your High School Classes Connect
How much each subject matters in this degree
Common Coursework
Study economy-wide forces — GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, and government monetary policy.
Analyze how individuals and firms make decisions about prices, production, and resource allocation.
Master derivatives, integrals, and infinite series — the math behind rates of change and accumulation.
Learn probability distributions, estimation, hypothesis testing, and regression for data analysis.
Model consumer and firm behavior mathematically — utility maximization, market structures, and game theory.
Build mathematical models of GDP, inflation, unemployment, and monetary policy effects.
Use regression and statistical methods to test economic theories with real-world data.
Work with matrices, vectors, and systems of equations used in graphics, AI, and engineering.
Analyze strategic interactions where each person's outcome depends on others' choices.
Study trade theory, tariffs, exchange rates, and how globalization affects national economies.
Analyze taxation, government spending, and public goods — when markets fail and policy intervenes.
Study wages, employment, discrimination, unions, and what determines who earns what.
Examine why some countries are poor and what policies help economies grow and reduce poverty.
Trace major economic events — industrialization, depressions, trade expansion — and their lasting effects.
Common Next Steps
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Is Economics right for you?
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