Economics

Description of Program

The economics program offers the opportunity to study how incentives affect human interaction (microeconomics) and how the economy grows and fluctuates (macroeconomics).

The economics major provides preparation both for students planning to enter the world of work directly after Drake, and for students planning to attend professional or graduate school. The economics major provides excellent preparation for professional study in law, business, or public administration, because economics is an important analytical tool used in these fields. The economics major supplemented by courses in mathematics provides preparation for graduate study in economics or a closely related field (finance, public policy, international relations, etc.). Students interested in graduate study should also consider the major in Quantitative Economics, described elsewhere in this catalog.

Degree Options

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) with major in economics, and Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) with major in economics. In addition, candidates for degrees offered by other colleges at Drake University may add a second major in economics or a minor in economics to their programs.

Requirements for Major

All candidates for an economics major must complete the following courses:

  • Mathematics 28 – Business Calculus, or Mathematics 50 – Calculus I
  • Statistics 71 – Statistics I
  • Statistics 72 – Statistics II
  • Economics 1 — Principles of Macroeconomics
  • Economics 2 — Principles of Microeconomics
  • Economics 173 — Intermediate Microeconomic Analysis
  • Economics 174 — Intermediate Macroeconomic Analysis
  • Five additional Economics courses numbered 100 or above

All candidates must also satisfy the requirements of the Drake Curriculum.

Additional requirements for the B.S.B.A. degree: Candidates must complete the required business core curriculum, including Business 195 as the capstone.

Additional requirements for the B.A. degree: Candidates must write a capstone paper, registered as a one-hour independent study (Economics 199). Candidates for the B.A. degree may add second majors from other colleges at Drake such as Mathematics or Politics. However, they may not add a minor in Marketing or a minor in Business Studies. Instead, students interested in business should consider the B.S.B.A. degree, which requires the same economics courses as the B.A. degree but includes broad training in business subjects.

[ back ]