Economics
German Izon, Chair
department web page
Faculty
Maggie apRoberts-Warren, David C. Bunting (Professor Emeritus), Roberta J. Greene, Mark Holmgren, Germán M. Izón, Nicholas W. Larsen.
Degrees
Required courses in these programs of study may have prerequisites. Reference the course description section for clarification.
Undergraduate Programs
The Economics Program offers flexible degree options that can be tailored for a variety of career choices. A Bachelor of Science (BS) major provides valuable training for students interested in general management positions, public sector careers, or attending law school or graduate school in the social sciences with electives in poverty and discrimination, public finance, and international economics. An Economics Minor enhances any EWU major, especially for those interested in social sciences, business, or public affairs, with courses in money and banking, industrial organization, and political economy. The department also supports health related fields with courses in health economics and risk and insurance.
Economics courses appeal to students who are analytical and problem solvers and interested in social issues or the operation of private organizations. Economics majors have found careers in a wide variety of private and public sector occupations as bankers, union officials, market analysts, managers, stockbrokers, insurance executives, researchers, and legislative staffers. They are employed by port districts, export/import firms, public utilities, consulting firms, railroads, airlines, software firms, aerospace firms, and numerous local, state, and federal government agencies. Others have gone on to graduate studies at Washington State University, University of Washington, Oregon, Yale, and Purdue; or received law, MBA, MPA, or International Studies degrees.
Prospective majors or those considering a minor or second major should consult with a departmental advisor to design a program consistent with their goals.
General Admissions Requirements for Economics
Upper-division courses in economics assume students have satisfied the university requirement for competency in basic mathematics and English. All programs in the major require some university level mathematics, statistics, and computer use. Students are strongly urged to consult with a department advisor early in their academic careers to plan an interesting and efficient program in economics.
Economics Courses
ECON 100. GENERAL EDUCATION ECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Satisfies: a BACR for social sciences.
General consideration of economic reasoning and methodology through examination of fundamental concepts in micro- and macroeconomics and through extension and applications of economic theory.
ECON 195. INTERNSHIP. 1-5 Credits.
Faculty-supervised field experience with a public or private organization.
ECON 200. INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: MTHD 104 completed.
Satisfies: a BACR for social sciences.
Examines the general functioning of a price system using fundamentals of supply and demand. Explores the variety of market forms, theory of factor incomes and the effects of government intervention to promote efficiency and equity.
ECON 201. INTRODUCTION TO MACROECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: MTHD 104 completed.
Satisfies: a BACR for social sciences.
Reviews national income accounts and the determinants of national income and employment for an economy. Explores the impact of monetary and fiscal policy on aggregate performance and considers specific problems such as full employment, inflation, economic growth and international economic relations.
ECON 295. INTERNSHIP. 1-15 Credits.
Pre-requisites: permission of the instructor, department chair and college dean.
Faculty-supervised field experience with a public or private organization.
ECON 299. DIR ST IN ECONOMICS. 1-5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: permission of the instructor, department chair and college dean.
Individual reading and research. Restricted to sophomores who have completed ECON 201 and freshmen and sophomore participants in Model United Nations.
ECON 304. INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMIC THEORY. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100 and ECON 200; or ECON 100 and ECON 201; or ECON 200 and ECON 201.
Theoretical basis of exchange, production, private markets and their forms, income distribution, the public sector, resource allocation, welfare economics and application of economic theory to public and private decision making.
ECON 305. INTERMEDIATE MACROECONOMIC THEORY. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100 and ECON 200; or ECON 100 and ECON 201; or ECON 200 and ECON 201.
With references to recent experiences, a theoretical framework is developed to explain the determination of output, employment, price level, interest rate and economic growth of an aggregate economy. Using case studies, policy implications and alternatives are explored.
ECON 317. POLITICAL ECONOMY. 5 Credits.
Notes: ECON 100, or ECON 200, or ECON 201 can be substituted for the junior standing prerequisite with instructor approval.
Pre-requisites: junior standing.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–global studies.
How public decisions can be made more rational, more productive of welfare, or more in the general interest. Selected literature from economics, political science, and related disciplines provides an analytical framework for the discussion of a number of social problems.
ECON 324. ECONOMICS OF POVERTY AND DISCRIMINATION. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: AAST 324.
Notes: ECON 100, or ECON 200, or ECON 201 can be substituted for the junior standing prerequisite with instructor approval.
Pre-requisites: junior standing.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Causes of poverty and evaluation of anti-poverty programs. Examines economic theories of discrimination from different perspectives with a particular focus on issues of gender and race.
ECON 327. LABOR ECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100 or ECON 200 or instructor permission.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Supply and demand for the labor and important institutions in the labor market, especially the upgrading of labor via education and vocational training, the mobility of labor, the influence of trade unions on wages, the effects of race and sex discrimination on wages, and labor's inflation unemployment problems.
ECON 337. ECONOMETRICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100 and ECON 200; or ECON 100 and ECON 201; or ECON 200 and ECON 201; and DSCI 245 or CSBS 320 or MATH 380 or MATH 385 or instructor permission.
Using appropriate statistical software packages for data analysis, examines applications of linear regression and hypothesis testing to provide information for economic and business decision-making.
ECON 370. INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100 and ECON 200; or ECON 100 and ECON 201; or ECON 200 and ECON 201; or instructor permission.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–global studies.
Interaction of national economics and the problems arising there from, particularly trade and payments problems and the development of regional and international economic institutions.
ECON 375. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100; or ECON 200; or ECON 201.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–global studies.
Development prospects of present-day underdeveloped countries. Historical development of industrial countries by analogy. Attention given to both economic and non-economic factors in the development process and to population problems and human resource development.
ECON 396. EXPERIMENTAL COURSE. 1-5 Credits.
Experimental course, title and credits vary.
ECON 398. SEMINAR. 1-5 Credits.
Examines contemporary topics in Economics.
ECON 399. SPECIAL STUDIES. 1-5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 200 and ECON 201 or permission of the instructor, department chair and college dean.
Subjects studied vary according to faculty and student interest.
ECON 412. ECONOMIC HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. 5 Credits.
Cross-listed: HIST 487.
Pre-requisites: junior standing.
Economic development of the United States from the early colonial period to the present: explorations, westward movement, labor, rise of great industries, world trade, and post-war economic problems.
ECON 430. MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100 or ECON 200 and MATH 161 or HONS 161.
Mathematical methods and techniques applied to economic problems.
ECON 444. MONEY AND BANKING. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100 and ECON 200; or ECON 100 and ECON 201; or ECON 200 and ECON 201; or instructor permission.
Reviews contemporary US banking practices and regulations; surveys theories of interest rates and bank behavior; surveys monetary policies and determinants and effects of Federal Reserve policies.
ECON 450. PUBLIC FINANCE AND PUBLIC POLICY. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100; or ECON 200; or ECON 201; or instructor permission.
Examines the causes and consequences of government in the US economy and impact of government expenditure and revenue-raising activities.
ECON 452. HEALTH ECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100; or ECON 200; or ECON 201; or instructor permission.
Examines economic aspects of health care, including factors influencing the demand and supply of health services and the roles of insurance and government in healthcare markets.
ECON 454. SPORTS ECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100; or ECON 200; or ECON 201; or instructor permission.
Uses microeconomic principles to examine the behavior of individuals, teams, leagues, unions, and government in the production and consumption of sports entertainment. Topics covered include: competitive balance, salary caps, stadium financing, and collective bargaining.
ECON 456. BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS. 5 Credits.
Notes: ECON 100, or ECON 200, or ECON 201 can be substituted for the junior standing prerequisite with instructor approval.
Pre-requisites: junior standing.
Behavioral economics applies psychological insights into human behavior to explain economic decision-making. Actual behavior of individuals may differ from the predictions of standard economic models. Behavioral economic analysis provides insight into how individuals allocate scarce resources in situations that are misrepresented by standard models.
ECON 457. ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS AND POLICY. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 100; or ECON 200; or ECON 201; or instructor permission.
Environmental Economics studies the economics of public policy toward the environment. It applies theoretical tools of economics to analyze environmental concerns relevant to society. Introduces policy tools that could be implemented to mitigate or solve these issues.
ECON 490. ECONOMICS SENIOR CAPSTONE. 5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: ECON 304 or ECON 305 and senior standing.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–senior capstone.
Designed for students who have completed core theory requirements for undergraduate majors in the Economics Department. Provides a guide from which students further develop and refine skills by conducting an empirical research project relevant to some field of economics from beginning to end.
ECON 495. INTERNSHIP. 3-5 Credits.
Pre-requisites: permission of the instructor, department chair and college dean.
Faculty-supervised field experience with a public or private organization.
ECON 496. EXPERIMENTAL COURSE. 1-5 Credits.
Experimental course, title and credits vary.
ECON 497. WORKSHOP, SHORT COURSE, CONFERENCE, SEMINAR. 1-5 Credits.
Examines contemporary topics in Economics.
ECON 498. SEMINAR. 3-5 Credits.
Examines contemporary topics in Economics.