Social Science
Economics

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Portrait of Adam Smith from The Warren J. Samuels Portrait Collection at Duke University.

“There is no such thing as a free lunch.”

Why Economics?

"Economics, once considered one of the more difficult subjects for undergraduates to grasp, is the top major at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Stanford and the Universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago; second at Brown, Yale and the University of California at Berkley; and third at Cornell and Dartmouth."

One way or another, economi=h3c forces affect every individual at some level, and thus an understanding of economics helps individuals cope with and adapt to the rapidly changing local, national, and global marketplaces. Why? The economic way of thinking is analytical, clear, concise, and rigorous. People with training in economics are good at problem solving because they learn to identify problems, to specify alternative solutions, to determine what data are relevant, and to objectively weigh costs and benefits in making decisions.

Economics at UAS 

At the University of Alaska Southeast, economics students study the same core micro and macro theory and statistical theory that students attending any other institution study. The benefit to economics study at UAS is the small class size and individual attention that students receive.

Careers in Economics

There are ample employment opportunities for those who receive a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science with an emphasis in economics because the analytical skills of economics study are useful in the public sector as well as the private sector. Such a degree is an excellent background for careers in banking, real estate, litigation analysis, planning, government, bond trading, financial analysis, teaching and a host of other employment opportunities.

An economics background is also excellent preparation for graduate study in economics, law, business, and international relations. For example, many law schools believe economics provides one of the best backgrounds for success in legal studies, because of the logical, analytical way of thinking it teaches. Many graduate business schools prefer that their students have a broad liberal arts background, which an economics emphasis provides. Also, a considerable portion of the MBA program is based on economics. Financial theory, for example, is largely applied microeconomics. Students with good backgrounds in economics are clearly at an advantage in many MBA programs.

Course Work

Primary Concentration Area (24-25 credits)

ECON S201 ECON S202 SSCI  S300 ECON S321   —or— ECON S324	Principles of Economics I: Macroeconomics Principles of Economics II: Microeconomics Research Methods in Social Science Intermediate Microeconomic Theory Intermediate Macroeconomic Theory	3  3  3       3
ECON S___	Electives (At least 9 credits must be upper division	12-13

Secondary Concentration Area (15-16 credits)

ECON S201 ECON S202	Principles of Economics I: Macroeconomics Principles of Economics II: Microeconomics	3 3
ECON S___	Electives (At least 6 credits must be upper division)	9-10