


Excellent preparation for an extremely wide
range of occupations and careers
Develop analytical skills you will use
throughout your work and personal life
High salary compared to other non-technical
majors


Highest starting and mid-career salary compared
to other business and social science majors.
Great preparation for graduate school

MA in Business, MA in Econ, Law School, etc.



Some specific occupations require in depth
knowledge that is only provided by very
specific degree programs (e.g., accounting)
Economics can be intellectually challenging at
times
Some students just do not like economics
courses

Popularity


Status and Flexibility



Economics is the most popular major at Harvard
and many universities across the United States.
In 2005, 12% of CEO's in the biggest 500 firms had
an undergraduate degree in economics.
Economics is consistently one of the top undergrad
majors among students in top graduate business
programs (MBA programs).
Analytical Skills

Economics majors tend to score among the highest
in admission tests to graduate schools (business,
law, social sciences, etc.).

Analytical Thinking Skills


Modeling Skills


Through the use of mostly graphical models
Math Skills


Thinking using the cost-benefit framework
At a non-sophisticated level
Data Analysis Skills

Which are focused on in some of our courses -particularly Econometrics (324), Forecasting (325), &
Economic Research (426)

Economics



An emphasis on general analytical thinking skills
useful in many different occupations & functional
areas
Depth in the economic method of analysis - the same
core skills (previous slide) are emphasized across
different economics courses
Business

Knowledge specific to certain functional areas of
business
 Finance, Supply Chain, Accounting, Marketing,
Management, Human Resources

Breadth across a wide variety of functional areas

The higher the field is on the triangle, the more
field specific the knowledge received.




Dedicated teachers who care about their
students
Accomplished scholars
Friendly and approachable
Available - we go out of our way to make
ourselves accessible to our students






Sandra Day-O'Conner
(Former U.S. Supreme Court
Justice)
Ronald Reagan
Meg Whitman (former CEO
of Ebay)
Warren Buffett (off and on,
richest person in world;
masters in economics)
Barbara Boxer (U.S. Senator)
Sam Walton (Founder of
Walmart)









Joan Robinson (a very famous
20th century economist)
Steve Balmer (CEO of
Microsoft)
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Mick Jagger
John Elway
Tiger Woods
Paul Newman
Ted Turner (the founder of
CNN)
William F. Buckley (a very
famous political journalist)

Just about anything you can do with a
business degree



Finance, General Business, Analyst, Entrepreneur
See Dr. Bob’s website (final slide)
And more …
Data Analysis
 Forecasting
 Economic Research
 Graduate School

 MBA, MPP, Law School, Econ Grad School

General Economics



Managerial Economics


Most flexible in terms of course options
Excellent complement to many minors and majors.
Preferred by many who have already taken
business courses (pre-reqs and upper division), as
many count towards the managerial specialization
Economic and Business Forecasting

Well suited to a double major in Business due to the
numerous required business courses



And they are appealing to employers
Because economics analytical emphasis
complements your applied business skills
Possible combinations include:
Supply Chain and Economics
 Finance and Economics
 Accounting and Economics
 General Business and Economics
 Social Science Majors: Psychology, Sociology,
Political Science, Geography, etc.







Principles of Economics Micro (Econ 201)
Principles of Economics Macro (Econ 202)
Introductory Business Statistics (Bus 221)
Pre-Calculus (Math 153 ) or Higher
Finite Mathematics (Math 130) or Higher
Additional Pre-Reqs. for Some Specializations


Accounting I (Acct 251) and II (Acct 252)
Legal Environment of Business (Bus 241)

Required Courses



Additional Courses



Principles of Economics Micro (ECON 201)
Principles of Economics Macro (ECON 202)
Choose 1 from following five Econ courses (310, 330,
332, 401, 402)
1 (Minor 2) or 2 (Minor 1) upper division elective
Econ courses.
An economics minor is offered at the west side
centers – Lynwood and Des Moines






Economic Research
Economics of Labor
Government and Business
Energy Economics
Environmental and
Resource Economics
Intermediate
Macroeconomics

Independent Study









Research
Math Econ
Intermediate Microeconomics
International Economics
Introduction to Econometrics
Introduction to Forecasting
Managerial Economics
Money and Banking
Public Finance
Academic activities
 Social opportunities
 Leadership experience
Interaction with professors



Dr. Carbaugh’s (Dr. Bob’s) Website


Dr. Sipic’s Website


http://www.cwu.edu/~carbaugh/JOBS%20FOR%2
0ECONOMICS%20STUDENTS.pdf
http://www.cwu.edu/~sipict/teaching.html#Why
%20study%20economics?
Dr. Tenerelli’s Website


http://www.cwu.edu/~tenerelt/
See the “Economics Major Information Packet”