Requirements

Economics Major

There are seven required courses for the major:

Either ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning or ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics serve as prerequisites for ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics and, because these are prerequisites for most other economics courses, most students begin their work in economics with these introductory courses. Prospective majors are encouraged to take at least one core course by the end of the sophomore year, and all three core courses should be completed by the end of the junior year. Advanced topics courses have one or more of ECON 2555 Microeconomics, ECON 2556 Macroeconomics, and ECON 2557 Economic Statistics as prerequisites. 

All prospective majors and minors are required to complete MATH 1600 Differential Calculus or its equivalent prior to enrolling in the core courses. (A math placement into MATH 1700 Integral Calculus or higher counts as satisfying the MATH 1600 Differential Calculus requirement.)

Economics Minor

Additional Information and Department Policies

• Normally, no more than two courses taken at another college or university may be counted toward economics major or minor requirements with departmental approval.
• Economic courses numbered 1000 to 1099 (with the exception of ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning) do not serve as prerequisites for higher-level courses.
• An independent study can be used to satisfy no more than one major requirement; an intermediate independent study can satisfy a 2000-level elective, or an advanced independent study can satisfy a 3000-level non-seminar.
• Similarly, an independent study can be used to satisfy no more than one elective course requirement in either the economics minor or the economics and finance minor. 
• To fulfill major or minor requirements, courses must be taken for letter grades and a C- or better must be earned.
• In order for a course to serve as a prerequisite for a required course, students must earn a C- or better, or CR (credit), if taken Credit/D/Fail. Therefore, this means ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning , ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics, and/or ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics can be taken Credit/D/Fail even if a student plans to major or minor in economics.  Please note however that taking any of these classes Credit/D/Fail means they cannot satisfy one’s MCSR distribution requirement.
• Economics majors cannot also minor in economics or economics and finance. 
• Any statistics course taken to satisfy a requirement for a non-economics major may double-count towards an economics minor. 
• Students who aspire to advanced work in economics, e.g., an honors thesis and/or graduate study in a discipline related to economics, are strongly encouraged to master multivariate calculus (MATH 1800 Multivariate Calculus) and linear algebra (MATH 2000 Linear Algebra) early in their careers. Such students are also encouraged to take MATH 2606 Statistics instead of ECON 2557 Economic Statistics as a prerequisite for ECON 3516 Econometrics. The ECON 2557 Economic Statistics requirement is waived for students who complete MATH 2606 Statistics and ECON 3516 Econometrics. Students should consult the Department of Economics about other mathematics courses that are especially useful for advanced study in economics.
• Students who do honors enroll in ECON 4050 and then ECON 4051 the following semester. However, a successfully completed honor's project is only worth one 3000-level non-seminar credit.

Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate (AP/IB)

• Students who received a score of four or five on the Microeconomics AP exam are eligible to receive credit for ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics. Any credit awarded for the Microeconomics AP exam will be removed from the student's record if the student elects to take ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning or ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics. 
• Students who received a score of four or five on the Macroeconomics AP exam are eligible to receive credit for ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics. Any credit awarded for the Macroeconomics AP exam will be removed from the student's record is the student elects to take ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics. 
• Students who received a minimum score of six on the Economics IB exam (HL) are eligible to receive one general college credit and placement into courses requiring either ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics or ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics. Any credit awarded for the Economics IB exam (HL) will be removed from the student's record if the student elects to take ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning or ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics or ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics.
• Students who received a score of four or five on the Statistics AP exam have the option to use that score to satisfy the statistics requirement for either of the economics minors but not for the major. 
• In order to receive credit for Advanced Placements/International Baccalaureate work, students must have their scores officially reported to the Office of the Registrar by the end of their sophomore year at Bowdoin.

Information for Incoming Students

Economics addresses the functioning of economic institutions (i.e., financial markets, labor markets, corporations, government agencies), and current policy issues: determinants of the pace and nature of economic development; the allocation of health-care services; impacts of urban policy and the design of cities; the advantages and disadvantages of government spending and debt; the tendency toward poverty and its alleviation; human impacts on the environment and ways of addressing them; environmental justice; the effects of globalization and technological change on various groups across society; arguments for and against deregulation; the economics of racial and gender injustice, etc. The major is a useful preparation for work in law, business administration, finance, public administration, medicine, environmental policy, education, agricultural work, computer science, non-profit work, and many other fields. Students interested in graduate school in law, business, finance, data science, public policy, public health, and economics will also find the major great preparation. 

In fall 2024 the economics department is offering one other course designed for first years. This course will provide first-year students an alternative entryway into the discipline: ECON 1013 The Moral Economy.

The economics department provides an initial course placement for all new students, based on each student’s responses to the math/economics questionnaire, quantitative skills assessment tool, and any officially submitted AP information. Based on this information, students are placed in one of the following gateway courses for Economics:

• ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning
• ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics
• ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics
• or a 2000-level elective of their choosing

Students who have questions about their placement, or who wish to register for a first economics course that is different from their original placement, should email the chair of the Economics department. If students have not officially submitted AP/IB scores, then that information was not considered and their placement may need to be adjusted.

• ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics has multiple sections offered each semester and is the standard gateway course into the department. ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics serves as a prerequisite for ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics and several additional 2000 level electives.
• ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning covers all the material in ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics in a more supported Quantitative Reasoning (QR) environment that requires an additional weekly hour-long lab session. Multiple lab session times will be available to students enrolled in ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning and will be determined after registration. ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning also serves as a prerequisite for ECON 1102 Principles of Macroeconomics and several additional 2000 level electives.
  • In academic year 2024-2025, ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning will be taught in the spring. Students placed in ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning who are interested in majoring in economics should be assured that it is not a problem to wait until the spring to begin taking economics classes and are encouraged to consider taking MATH 1050 Quantitative Reasoning in the fall.
  • Students who take MATH 1050 Quantitative Reasoning in the fall and do well in that course can then take either ECON 1101 Principles of Microeconomics with a prerequisite override of their placement or ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning in the spring. Students who find they need more practice with QR concepts are encouraged to choose ECON 1050 Principles of Microeconomics and Quantitative Reasoning in the spring even after taking MATH 1050 Quantitative Reasoning in the fall.
    • Students who received the "2000-level elective" placement (those students with 4's or 5's in both AP Micro and AP Macro or a 6+ on High Level IB economics exam) and want to get started right away with economics should consider one of the following fall 2024 electives as appropriate places to begin: ECON 1099 Using “Big Data” to Investigate and Suggest Solutions to Economic and Social Problems, ECON 2001 Economic Policy, ECON 2225 Artificial Intelligence and Economics, or ECON 2238 Eatconomics: The Economic Analysis of the Food Industry.
      • With rare exceptions, students wishing to start immediately with ECON 2555 Microeconomics  or ECON 2556 Macroeconomics or ECON 2557 Economic Statistics should wait until the spring term. Students seeking that exception should see the chair of the Economics department.
      • Students should be aware that any credit awarded for AP/IB scores in economics will be removed from their record if they elect to take a lower-level course. For more details, see the department's AP/IB policy above.