Bachelor in Economics/Financial Economics

The Department of Economics is dedicated to providing a rigorous, challenging curriculum that emphasizes economic theory and focuses on how economists view the world. Students master a wide variety of philosophical, technical, logical, computer, and quantitative skills. The Wabash College Economics major is taught to evaluate arguments and policies, analyze empirical data, and present his views, rationales, and results.

The department does not award credit for business classes taken off-campus.

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Requirements for the Major

*A course in statistics, either DV3-252 Stats Soc Sciences or a full-credit Mathematics Department Statistics course above the 100-level must be taken before enrolling in ECO-253 Introduction to Econometrics.

**ECO-358 and ECO-401 do not count for this requirement.

***ECO-262 Financial Markets and Institutions do not count toward the major in economics.

Senior Comprehensive Exams

The Written Comprehensive Exam in Economics is spread over two days and designed to evaluate the student’s understanding of both core concepts and the wide variety of applications of economic theory. The first day consists of an objective, standardized test that contains questions from every economics course offered at Wabash. The second day consists of an essay exam on micro and macro theory and econometrics.

Although the above sequence is preferred, there can be flexibility in this basic pattern. The well-prepared first-year student might want to begin the study of economics in the first semester of the freshman year, while “late contractors” (students who decide to major in economics during their sophomore year) may choose a more tightly packed junior/senior year combination of economics courses. Students with weak performance in MAT110 are less likely to succeed majoring in Economics. The prospective economics major should be careful in planning the theory/empirical sequence year. The sequence of DV3-252 Stats Soc Sciences in the FALL and ECO-253 Introduction to Econometrics in the SPRING is crucial. ECO-251 Economic Approach With Excel should be taken by the time the other courses in the theory/empirical sequence are completed. It is most convenient to take ECO-251 Economic Approach With Excel and ECO-291 Intermediate Micro along with DV3-252 Stats Soc Sciences in the fall. Thus, if the economics major is planning to study off-campus as a second-semester junior, it is absolutely imperative that he begin the empirical sequence and take ECO-253 Introduction to Econometrics as a sophomore. We advise students to take ECO - 292 Intermediate Macro before the spring of the junior year.

Contact any member of the Economics Department if you have questions, need help in making course decisions, or want advice concerning the study of economics at Wabash and beyond.