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Abstract
Survey results from a large sample of economics departments describe offerings for principles courses, coursework requirements for economics majors, and program augmentations such as capstone courses, senior seminars, and honors programs. Findings are reported for all institutions, and institutions are subdivided into six different categories based on public or private control and the highest economics degree offered. The coursework required for the economics major typically consists of ten courses, five in a required core and five electives. The most conspicuous curriculum change over the past 30 years is the rise of econometrics as a required course, now mandatory at about half of major programs. The authors estimate that about 40 percent of students who matriculate as first-year undergraduates take at least one economics course before they leave.
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Notes
The full set of tables is posted on the AEA Web site (http://www.aeaweb.org/UAQ/).
The 64 percent was calculated on the basis of data from the NCES Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System. It is the number of first-time, full-time undergraduates at institutions that awarded at least one bachelor's degree in economics divided by the total first-time, full-time undergraduates at all four-year institutions.
Another question addressed in the previous study was how many students who take one principles course in economics continue and take a second one. It reported that 52 percent for four-year college and university students who take at least one introductory course could be expected to take a second course. We do not have information from our survey to update that estimate, but we suspect that it has not changed much either, for the same reasons (i.e., no major change in the undergraduate curriculum affecting economics).
Economics is not as popular as some other undergraduate majors that are more profession-oriented, such as business, engineering, education, or health sciences. Those areas, however, include several specific majors within the overall degree category (e.g., for business there is management, marketing, accounting, finance, and others). Therefore, a direct comparison with economics is more problematic in these cases (e.g., the ratio for economics to business degrees is 0.07). Psychology is not a comparable major because it is less mathematical, can be an easier major for students, and attracts a different type of student than economics (ratio: 0.28).
This survey of coursework requirements for the economics major is the most recent, but it is not the only one that has been conducted in recent years. Each study has different sampling frames and methods, but the results are fairly consistent across studies. Bosshardt and colleagues (2013) presented findings from a 2011 survey of 160 economics departments that offered either a BA or BS degree. Their BA and BS degree distinctions also are reported for departments in business colleges and not in business colleges. Petkus and colleagues (Citation2014) collected information on economics majors using college and university Web sites and academic course catalogs. Their results from 792 institutions in 2010 are reported for all institutions and divided into categories for baccalaureates, liberal arts, masters, and universities.
From our survey, the average requirement for the economics major is 10 courses in arts and sciences colleges. It was 9.5 courses for majors in business colleges but 10 at the larger and more numerous public economics PhD-granting institutions (the main state universities), so the average weighted by student enrollments is close to 10 courses for economics majors located in business colleges, too. These differences, however, are quite minor, may be due to sampling error, and are not important for the purposes of this study.
The proportion of institutions requiring a senior thesis of all students may be overstated. Five large public PhD-granting institutions with several hundred senior economics majors each year reported having such a requirement. It is possible they interpreted the question as asking whether there is a senior thesis requirement for any student rather than for all students.
McGoldrick (Citation2008) surveyed economics departments about writing requirements, seminars, capstone courses, comprehensive exams, and honors programs in 2004. Using the same mailing list as we used in 2013, she secured 254 responses and found roughly the same results.