Economics Department

Department of Economics Handbook: Overview

Introduction
The Department of Economics seeks to prepare students to better understand the world and to provide them with the skills both to pursue fulfilling careers and to enjoy a lifetime of learning. Successful students will gain the tools (analytical reasoning, quantitative and computing skills, and the ability to write well and to present material effectively) that will enable them to think creatively and contribute to debates on a wide array of interesting problems and issues of economic policy. The department offers a wide variety of courses, beginning at the introductory level, progressing through required courses at the intermediate level, and culminating in field courses, seminars, and independent studies. The department sponsors a number of awards and prizes. There also is an active, student-organized economics club.

The purpose of this handbook is to provide students with information about the economics program and to help students make informed decisions about concentrating in economics at William & Mary. The handbook will also be useful for economics minors, international studies students, public policy students, and other students interested in economics. The handbook expands on information found in the undergraduate catalog and provides a convenient source of detailed information on other aspects of the program as well as on the members of the economics department faculty.

One of the most important questions of concern to students in deciding on an undergraduate major is "what will I be able to do after I graduate?" With this handbook, students will know more about the contents of individual courses, the job market for economics concentrators, and the best way to prepare for graduate and professional school. Since economics provides a useful and powerful framework for analyzing a wide range of problems, economics concentrators have, upon graduation, successfully pursued diverse educational and employment paths.

The Major's Goals
Economics is a discipline devoted to a systematic study of wealth: its constrained production and exchange, its allocation among competing uses, its distribution among individuals and households, and its accumulation or decline. It is, therefore, concerned with how people make decisions (tradeoffs, opportunity cost, incentives), how people interact (international trade, markets, governments), and how the whole economy works (productivity, inflation, unemployment, growth).

The educational goal of the major, in the broadest sense, is to enable the concentrator to "think like an economist." Elaborating on this broad goal, the concentrator should

  1. understand and be able to apply the fundamental theoretical propositions of economics,
  2. comprehend the procedures by which hypotheses and economic models are formulated, tested, and modified (which further implies an understanding of the process by which data are collected and analyzed)
  3. appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of economic models and the diversity of economic thinking and
  4. gain an understanding of economic institutions and be able to put them in their social, political, and historical context. An understanding of these goals provides the background for the application of economics to the real world.

We hope to meet these goals for the diverse group of students who are attracted to the economics major. This diversity is important; we recognize that the economic way of thinking is very valuable in many fields of interest to our students. Economics concentrators pursue various paths following graduation. This is clear to the faculty as we talk with students and is confirmed when we see them when they are back on campus as alumni. Over 55 percent of our students eventually pursue some form of graduate work. Graduate work in Business (15.7 percent) and Law (11.8 percent) is the most common. While only 3.3 percent of our graduates have obtained a Ph.D. in Economics, this is about twice the national average for schools such as William & Mary.

Many of the students who pursue graduate work do so after experience in the job market. The major is designed to prepare students for a variety of work experiences. A recent survey of 445 graduates concentrating in economics indicates that 33.8 percent of these individuals took their first jobs in Management/Consulting, and 17.8 percent took their first jobs in Banking/Finance. Only 13.0 percent of these individuals listed their job as Economist. Behind Economist, but with significant numbers were Marketing/ Sales (9.4 percent) and Insurance (5.7 percent). In addition, many students have worked for various agencies of the federal government, state governments, and local governments. These results, both about the type of formal education pursued by our graduates and their job experiences, reinforce our notion that economics concentrators graduate with strong preparation for a variety of fields.

One strategy we pursue to meet the goals for students with various reasons for concentrating in economics is to maintain flexibility in the curriculum. A look at our list of courses from the catalogue, which is included in this handbook, shows that our offerings are quite diverse. We have a relatively small number of required courses, and students may then choose among various electives. We cover all of the standard subfields of economics, as well as several that are more unusual.