Program Overview

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Economics BA

The Economics BA program at the University of MissouriSt. Louis is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of economic concepts, theories, and practices. The program focuses on the development of analytical skills, enabling students to apply economic principles to a wide range of topics, including property rights, environmental regulation, labor markets, and government regulation.

Overview

The study of economics is an excellent way to learn how to apply analytical skills to a range of interesting questions and problems. Students in the Economics BA program learn to think analytically and apply their knowledge to various topics, exploring the economy as a whole and examining the sources of growth, recessions, and inflation, as well as government policies designed to influence the economy.

General Education Requirements

All undergraduate economics majors must meet the university and college general education requirements. Candidates for the B.A. degree may take any foreign language to meet this requirement, while candidates for the B.S. degree take mathematics and quantitative courses instead of the foreign language requirement. Courses in economics may be used to meet the university social sciences requirement.

Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Option

Courses outside the major field and ECON 1001, Principles of Microeconomics, and ECON 1002, Principles of Macroeconomics, may be taken on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis.

Prerequisites

All prerequisites for economics courses must be completed with a C- or better.

Degree Requirements

Each required course must be completed with a grade of C- or better, and students must maintain a GPA of 2.0 for courses used for the degree. Students may take no more than 45 credit hours of economics (ECON) courses in their degree requirements.

Required Courses

• ECON 1001: Principles of Microeconomics (MOTR ECON 102) - 3 hours
• ECON 1002: Principles of Macroeconomics (MOTR ECON 101) - 3 hours
• ECON 2800: History of American Economic Development - 3 hours or ECON 2200: Monetary Policy in Historical Perspective
• ECON 3001: Intermediate Microeconomics - 3 hours
• ECON 3002: Intermediate Macroeconomics - 3 hours
• ECON 3100: Economic Data and Statistics - 3 hours or MATH 1320: Introduction to Probability and Statistics or SCMA 3300: Business Analytics and Statistics
• Electives: Fifteen credit hours of additional ECON courses at the 2000 level or greater - 15 hours
• Total Hours: 33

Departmental Honors

A student may earn departmental honors with a GPA of 3.6 in economics and the recommendation of the department.

Complementary Areas of Study

The department encourages all majors to develop breadth in related disciplines. Course work and minors are available in a number of areas, such as business administration, computer science, statistics, and political science. In addition, courses offered by the department are required for the B.S. in Actuarial Science and help satisfy the prerequisites for courses required for the Certificate in Actuarial Studies and have been approved by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) to satisfy the VEE requirements in Economics.

General Business Preparation

It is recommended that students interested in pursuing careers in business also take:

• ACCTNG 2400: Fundamentals of Financial Accounting - 3 hours
• ACCTNG 2410: Managerial Accounting - 3 hours
• BUS AD 2900: Legal Environment of Business - 3 hours
• FINANCE 3500: Financial Management - 3 hours
• MKTG 3700: Principles of Marketing - 3 hours

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the program, graduates should be able to:

• Understand fundamental economic concepts, including choice and opportunity cost, and demonstrate an understanding of how markets work.
• Understand and evaluate individual, firm, and societal decision-making.
• Understand the determination of output, unemployment, and inflation in an economy.
• Explain the role and impact of fiscal and monetary policy.
• Learn to locate economic data and critically analyze patterns and relationships using basic statistical methods and statistical software.
• Understand the US economy and its key institutions in a historical context.

Sample Four Year Plan

First Year:

• Fall: INTDSC 1003, MATH 1030, ENGL 1100, Foreign Language 1001 - 15 hours
• Spring: ECON 1001, MATH 1100, Foreign Language 1002, EXPLORE Humanities & Fine Arts - 17 hours

Second Year:

• Fall: ECON 1002, Foreign Language 2101, EXPLORE Humanities and Fine Arts, EXPLORE Mathematics and Life/Natural Sciences, EXPLORE - Social Sciences - 15 hours
• Spring: ECON 3001, ECON 2000+ level elective, EXPLORE Humanities and Fine Arts, EXPLORE Mathematics and Life/Natural Sciences, Global Perspectives Requirement - 15 hours

Third Year:

• Fall: ECON 2800, ECON 3100, ENGL 3100, Elective or minor - 15 hours
• Spring: ECON 3002, ECON 2000+-level Course, Elective or minor - 15 hours

Fourth Year:

• Fall: ECON 2000+ level elective, ECON 2000+ level elective, Elective or minor - 15 hours
• Spring: ECON 2000+ level courses, Elective or minor - 13 hours

Total Hours: 120