SAS Banner School of Arts and Sciences

Major Requirements

E-mail Print
On this page we provide a brief summary of the key features of an economics major. Additional information can be obtained in the official university catalog. Also, a Worksheet to help guide your course selection is available. Finally, all students are strongly encouraged to periodically visit the Undergraduate Office in Room 202 in New Jersey Hall to review their status as an economics major.

Required Courses

All economics majors must take 5 required economics courses: 102, 103, 320, 321, and 322. Students must get a C or better in 102, 103, 320, 321 and 322. Students must also complete one semester of calculus (135 or 151) with a C or better and one semester of statistics (285 or 211) with a C or better. *Note: Students who took 203, 204 with a grade of C or better do not need to take 320 or 321. (The requirement for a C or better in 322 applies to all students who declare an economics major after June 30, 2009).

Elective Courses

All economics majors must take 7 elective (300 & 400) economics courses. (Students who took 200 instead of 102 and 103 must take 8 electives).

Economics electives are divided into two categories: lower level and upper level.

Lower level electives have only 102 & 103 as prerequisites while upper level electives have additional prerequisites. A minimum of 4 upper level electives is required to complete the major.  Details on requirements regarding elective courses are found below. Only one course with a D (any elective) can count toward the major.

A maximum of three (3) lower level courses can count toward the major. (You can take more than three of these courses for university credit even though only three will count toward meeting the major requirement of seven economics electives.) The following list of elective courses includes all courses in the official catalogue but the department can not guarantee each course will be offered every term or even every year.

Lower Level Economics Electives

(only prerequisite is 102 & 103 or 200)

300    International Economics
301    Money and Banking
303    Labor Institutions/Markets
305    American Econ. History
307    Economics of Globalization (additional preqrequisites is 300 or 335 or 336)
327    History Econ. Thought
331    Economics of Crime
334    Energy Economics
348    Social Welfare Programs
357    Economics of India
359    Economics of Asia
362    Comp. Econ. Systems
379    Marxian Economics
389    Public Policy Business
395    Law and Economics
396    Bankruptcy/Takeover
398    Independent Study
399    Independent Study

Upper Level Economics Electives

Students must take a minimum of four (4) upper level economics electives.

Prerequisites: 320 and Econometrics:
302    Labor Economics
304    Topics Labor Markets
311    Methods of Cost-Benefit
316    Health Economics
330    Urban and Regional Econ.
332    Environmental Econ.
335    International Trade
340    Income Inequality
341    Industrial Organization
342    Innovation/Intell.Property
360    Public Economics
363    Economics of Taxation
364    Personal Economics & Public Policy
369    State/Local Public Fin.
375    Women in the Economy
386    Operations Research
388    Govt Protection
393    Financial Economics
408    Market Discipline
419    Managerial Economics
471    Economics of Regulation

Prerequisites: 321 (or) 204 and Econometrics:
394    Capital Markets (this course also has Eco 393 as a pre-requisite)
412    Monetary Theory/Policy

Prerequisites: 320, 321 and Econometrics:
336    International Balance of Payments
337    Econ. European Union
339    Economic Development
343    European Econ. History
344    Financial/Mon. History
349    Economics of Transition
356    Economics of Latin Amer.
358    Economics of Japan
370    Economic Growth
377    Economics of Population
378    USSR and Russia
409    Math Economics
415    Portfolio Theory
421    Economic Forecasting
430    Adv. Economic Theory
433    Adv. Intl Economics
490    Adv. Independent Study
491    Adv. Independent Study

Prequisites: 320 & Econometrics & permission of instructor (minimum grade of B+ in 322 required)
401    Advanced Econometrics

Prerequisites: 320,  321, Econometrics, and co-requisite of Advanced Econometrics:
493    Senior Honors
494    Senior Honors

Prerequisites: 320, Econometrics, and Year of Calculus:
410    Operations Research II

Prerequisites: 320 (or) 203, Statistics, Year of Calculus:
405    Econ. of Uncertainty
406    Game Theory
407    Econ. of Information







Contact Us

New Jersey HallNew Jersey Hall, Room 202
75 Hamilton Street
New Brunswick, NJ
08901-1248
P  (732) 932-7363 (undergraduate)
P  (732) 932-7451 (graduate)
F  (732) 932-7416
help@econ.rutgers.edu