Undergraduate Studies
Welcome to Economics
- There are currently over 400 sophomores, juniors, and seniors majoring in Economics.
- We encourage you to become involved in the Department and to consider the discipline of Economics as yours.
- Take advantage of the many opportunities open to you - internships in industry, in local or state governments, employment opportunities within the department for academic scholarships, and the undergraduate Economics Student Organization (ESO).
- The Department encourages you to take the time to plan a reasonable program early. Select the program which is most appropriate for your career goals. Planning your program of study is important as not all courses are offered every semester and some of the degree requirements are quite specific. The departmental Undergraduate Adviser, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, and members of the faculty are all available to help you.
Economics
- Economics is first and foremost a social science and not as rigorous as a physical science. Human behavior is not easy to predict and one needs good intuition and appreciation for real-world economic phenomena before one can be a good economist.
- Economics is perhaps the most quantitative of the social sciences and models economic phenomena carefully and rigorously by relying heavily on quantitative tools.
- Economics is what economists do, and they undertake different activities.
- Corporate economists collect data and make forecasts concerning firms.
- Economists in the private sector work for consulting firms and advise government or private litigants. Occasionally, they give testimony in court as expert witnesses.
- Economists hold important positions at many banks and financial and security firms.
- Economists are employed by the Federal Reserve Banks to discuss monetary policy and bank regulation.
- Economists also work in the public sector -- perhaps the best known group is the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Economists work in the Labor Department, State Department, Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Defense and others.
- Economists are also employed by the State and Local governments, such as at the Hennepin County Board of Corrections, where they study the economics of crime, model jail overcrowding and prisoner release.
- Economists are in academe too and teach economics and carry out research on a variety of topics -- economic theory, econometrics, labor economics, industrial organization, economic development, and many more.
- The University of Minnesota, has national (really, international) recognition in research and graduate training in Economics, along with a undergraduate program.
History of the Economics Department
- At the turn of the twentieth century, when the discipline of Economics was essentially political economy, Economics and Political Science constituted a single department at the University of Minnesota. Subsequently, the two departments separated, and Economics became its own department in what was then the College of Science, Literature and Arts. In 1919, Economics was transferred to the newly established School of Business, and it remained there until 1962 when it was returned to today's College of Liberal Arts (CLA).
- The foundations of our current Economics department were really laid in the years following World War II. Under the leadership of the late Regents' Professor Walter W. Heller, who joined the faculty in 1947, many prominent economists were attracted to the University of Minnesota, and they, in turn, became the critical mass that attracted others. By the early 1980s, the quality of the department's faculty and graduate programs had risen to first rank among Economics departments in the nation's public universities, where it remains today.
- A recent survey showed that Ph.D. graduates of the department hold faculty positions at over 110 colleges and universities, including eight of the top ten rated departments of economics, eight Big Ten universities, and a number of selective liberal arts colleges. They also hold faculty positions at fifteen Canadian universities and forty-five other foreign universities. They serve on the staffs of seven Federal Reserve Banks and the Board of Governors, six US cabinet departments, a large number of ministries and agencies of foreign governments, and major international economic agencies (International Monetary Fund and the World Bank).
