What if you could meet Wall Streeters in Drew’s classroom at the heart of the nation’s financial nervecenter...
Economics is the study of economic systems to help inform decisions for the future
STUDY ON THE STREET
Drew’s unique Wall Street Semester gives an insider’s introduction to financial markets and institutions. Students spend two days per week in New York City, attending presentations by prominent members of the financial community.
What is the best use of emergency funds in an earthquake-devastated region? Which countries in the world have the best climates for new high-tech industries? When and why did teenagers become a huge consumer market? Economists are called on to answer questions like these.
We do things like run an Iron Chef—style competition in a corporate finance class. Two teams present and the class judges. Who had better data? Who had better style? Which team would I hire?
Economics of Business and Sustainability is just one of the many interdisciplinary courses that give our majors that breadth that is the hallmark of a liberal arts education. Students really get to see economics as part of the fabric of social life.
global economy
Students spent three weeks in the United Arab Emirates to study firsthand the economy
and politics of this suddenly and spectacularly wealthy Middle Eastern nation.
Careers Made easy
choose your world
Economics is the foundation of both scholarly careers studying and forecasting economic patterns and careers in business for banks, financial institutions and corporations of all kinds.
Many of our majors go on to prestigious business and professional schools. Some go directly to Wall Street. Others head for positions in government and nonprofits—one of our seniors interns at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Manhattan, the happy outcome of meeting a Drew alumna who works there.
Our emphasis on presentation skills, and the personalized coaching our majors get, mean they shine in lecture halls and conference rooms.
Full-Impact Students
Nick Canan
The Wall Street Semester program is so well designed that it really sets you up for a great career path. Major players connected to the program have offered to have lunch with any of us. Getting insight from some of the top Wall Street brass—well, not many people have access to that.
Full-Impact Students
Taylor Fichtman
My economics major has led me to internships at three financial firms. I’m looking forward to the third one, starting this fall, at Morgan Stanley. I’m also president of the international economics honor society, Omicron Delta Epsilon.
Full-Impact Students
Joyce Liu
After I helped Professor Jennifer Kohn with econometrics for a paper on medical care use in Britain, she asked me if I wanted to take the paper and run with it. I said yes, and presented it at two regional economic conferences.
Full-Impact Students
Diana Ortiz
As a double major in art and economics, I enjoy the complexity and challenge of expressing the social activism of my artwork in the financial world. Similarly, art influences the way I look at economic models and development because I look out for the impact on social welfare.
Passionate Faculty
Miao Chi
Assistant professor
My research involves labor and demographic economics and applied microeconomics, and I teach econometrics, labor economics and microeconomics. I also happen to be a former Tai Chi instructor.
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Passionate Faculty
Fred Curtis
Professor of economics
I’m working on a long-term project connecting oil depletion and climate change to global trade and local economies. I’d call myself an ecological economist, and in my spare time, I meditate.
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts
Passionate Faculty
Jennifer Kohn
Assistant professor & director
My work in health economics is focused on modeling the demand for medical care in order to design financial tools to better manage risk. I love when I hear students repeating catchphrases I use in class, like “All models are wrong, but some are useful.”
Ph.D., Rutgers University
Passionate Faculty
Jennifer Olmsted
Associate professor
My research interests include gender and labor markets/poverty in the Middle East, time-use issues and the impact of religion on economic institutions.
Ph.D., University of California–Davis
Passionate Faculty
Maliha Safri
Assistant Professor
My specialties include political economy, migration, subjectivity, alternative economies, with a research focus on the economics of immigration. On top of that, I recently started swimming. I realized it’s never too late to fall in love with something.
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts
Passionate Faculty
Giandomenico Sarolli
Assistant professor
When you arrive at Drew, ask me about an article I’m writing titled, “Investor Impatience and Returns: A Laboratory Experiment.” Or about my family’s vineyard in Italy, where I work when I visit my father.
Ph.D., University of Virginia
Passionate Faculty
Bernard Smith
Associate professor
I’m an economic historian who researches late 19th-century industrial history and labor relations, with a particular interest in the garment industry. If I attempt to regale my wife and kid with tales of the old “schmatta” business, they roll their eyes and yell, “Zip it, Dad!”
Ph.D., Yale University
Passionate Faculty
Marc Tomljanovich
Associate professor
I once had a grateful student tell me that he was able to recognize and then go over to talk with Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke at a restaurant after taking my intermediate macroeconomics course. As for me, I’m investigating how stock traders act, in real time, on monetary policy information released during trading hours.
Bull Market
Students watched the Superbowl parade from
Drew’s own 11th floor classroom on Broadway in New York City.
My Favorite Course
“Instead of taking a general class, this allowed me to develop my interest further in international economics, and I now plan to write my honors thesis on it since I find it so interesting.”
Taylor Fichtman, on an independent study about the currency exchange market
An introduction to basic microeconomic analysis and institutions, with special emphasis on the roles markets play in an economy and the ways in which government can alter market activity. Includes such topics as consumer and firm behavior, competition and monopoly, poverty and justice, the environment, health care, and international trade.
An introduction to basic macroeconomic analysis with special emphasis on problems of unemployment, inflation, and economic growth. Topics include national income determination; money, financial markets, and monetary policy; fiscal policy and the economic role of government; the United States and the world economy.
Offered: every semester.
ECON 301 - Intermediate Microeconomic Theory (4)
A theoretical analysis of resource allocation in a market economy. Topics include the theory of consumer behavior, production, and costs; decision making under various market conditions; general equilibrium and welfare economics.
A study of the determinants of the level of income, employment, and prices as seen in competing theoretical frameworks. Includes an analysis of inflation and unemployment, their causes, costs, and policy options; the sources of instability in a market economy; debates on policy activism; prospects for the control of aggregate demand.
Offered: Every semester.
Prerequisite: ECON 102 or equivalent.
ECON 303 - Economic Methodology And Introductory Econometrics (4)
This course studies empirical economic research, especially focused on the classical linear regression model and how to proceed with econometric analysis when some assumptions of the classical model do not hold. It examines sampling, statistical theory and hypothesis testing. This course also examines criticisms of and alternatives to common econometric methodologies.
Offered: Spring Semester.
Prerequisite: ECON 101, ECON 102, and MATH 117 or MATH 320.
MATH 117 - Introductory Statistics (4) (Same as: MAT+861.)
This course is designed to enable you to use statistics for data analysis and to understand the use of statistics in the media. The course makes use of SPSS, a widely-used statistics package for the computer. Course topics include graphical and tabular presentation of data, measures of central tendency, dispersion, and shape, linear transformations of data, correlation, regression, basic probability and the normal probability model, sampling, t-tests, and one-way analysis of variance.
Offered: every semester.
Note
Students must pass ECON 301, ECON 302 and ECON 303 with a grade of C- or better in order for these courses to satisfy requirements for the Economics major.
II. Electives (20 credits)
20 credits, of which eight be at the upper level and four in the area of critical or historical perspectives.
A. Critical and Historical Perspectives (4-20 credits)
ECON 314 - American Economic Development (4)
A survey of the economic history of the United States from its establishment as a collection of British colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries to its emergence as the world's leading industrial nation in the mid-20th century. Explores the nature, causes, and consequences of America's economic growth and development and the social and political transformations that accompanied its rise to world industrial supremacy. Through the study of American economic development, students acquire a historical perspective on contemporary economic theory, issues, policies, and debates.
Offered: annually.
Prerequisite: ECON 301 and ECON 302.
ECON 315 - Political Economy of Race, Class, and Gender (4)
A study of race, class, and gender using the political economic approach to the study of economics. The course will investigate the impact of introducing the categories of race, class, and gender into political economic theory and will also undertake some empirical analyses of the roles of race, class, and gender in producing economic outcomes for minorities and majorities in the U.S.
Signature of instructor required for registration.
Offered: alternate years.
Prerequisite: Sophomore or higher standing and one course in Economics.
ECON 316 - History of Economic Thought (4)
A consideration of the philosophical basis, historical context, and development of economic thinking. Focuses on pre-20th-century economists-the Mercantilists, the Physiocrats, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, and early neoclassical economists. Some attention given to later economists and schools of thought as continuations and modifications of earlier ideas in economics.
Offered: alternate years.
Prerequisite: Sophomore or higher standing and one course in economics.
ECON 317 - Contemporary Political Economy (4)
A consideration of the varying interpretations by present-day economists of the current state of the U.S. economy and of the challenges it faces in the 21st century. Topics include the historical origins and major ideas of such contemporary schools of economic thought as neo-conservatism, post-Keynesian liberalism, and ecological/humanistic economics.
Offered: annually.
Prerequisite: ECON 101 and ECON 102.
ECON 350 - Selected Topics in Economics (4)
Topics determined by department. Recent topics have included economics of racism, government regulation of industry, the microeconomics of macroeconomics, and workplace democracy.
An introduction to basic microeconomic analysis and institutions, with special emphasis on the roles markets play in an economy and the ways in which government can alter market activity. Includes such topics as consumer and firm behavior, competition and monopoly, poverty and justice, the environment, health care, and international trade.
An introduction to basic macroeconomic analysis with special emphasis on problems of unemployment, inflation, and economic growth. Topics include national income determination; money, financial markets, and monetary policy; fiscal policy and the economic role of government; the United States and the world economy.
Offered: every semester.
ECON 301 - Intermediate Microeconomic Theory (4)
A theoretical analysis of resource allocation in a market economy. Topics include the theory of consumer behavior, production, and costs; decision making under various market conditions; general equilibrium and welfare economics.
A study of the determinants of the level of income, employment, and prices as seen in competing theoretical frameworks. Includes an analysis of inflation and unemployment, their causes, costs, and policy options; the sources of instability in a market economy; debates on policy activism; prospects for the control of aggregate demand.
Offered: Every semester.
Prerequisite: ECON 102 or equivalent.
Note
ECON 301 andECON 302 must be passed with a grade of C- or better to satisfy the requirements for the minor.
