Director: Fr. John Sawicki, C.S.Sp., Ph.D.

Economics is a social science that studies how people make choices and how societies allocate resources in the presence of insatiable wants and limited means. The discipline provides logical and empirical frameworks for examining people, businesses, and social institutions. The economics major at Duquesne is highly quantitative and prepares students both for a wide variety of professional careers and for graduate studies. Because the discipline stresses logical thinking and focuses not simply on how people and business behave but why they behave the way they do, an economics education makes the student more adaptable to changing opportunities after graduation and provides excellent preparation for graduate studies in many disciplines. Economics majors have the opportunity to write a Senior Thesis in which each student completes an independent research paper under the direction of a faculty member.

Learning Outcomes

Interdisciplinary Policy Markers

Be exposed to and be conversant with cross-disciplinary methods of explaining social, political, and economic issues.

  • Understand competing analyses for economic problems.
  • See Economics as more than an analytic tool, but an instrument employed in symphony with other disciplines. 

Develop complementary academic skills.

  • Stand up and pursue other areas in which Economics is a vital value-added.
  • Specifically, have other minors, majors, and personal skills which enhance problem solving and employability.
Intellectual Markers

Build the ability to explain core economic terms and positions.

  • Explain the function of the market.
  • Explain the success and failure of markets.
  • Apply the concept of equilibrium to both microeconomics and macroeconomics.
  • Identify key macroeconomic indicators as measures of economic change, growth, and development.
  • Understand comparative advantage.

Articulate and employ economic tools.

  • Discuss the application of marginal analysis.
  • Explain the use of benefit/cost analysis.
  • Problem-solve non-economics situations using economic methodology.

Possess academic and cultural fluency with forces which shape Economics, especially global influences.

  • Understand the global political economy.
  • Apply economic theories and concepts to contemporary social issues, as well as formulation and analysis of policy.
  • Describe how opportunity costs inform public policy and economic decision-making.
  • Identify and articulate ethical values in Economics.
  • Distinguish between normative and positive economics.
  • Identify the limits of economic analysis.
  • Compare and contrast efficiency and equity.
Dynamic Capability Markers

Emphasize skills in creative writing, public presentation, and personal briefing that accent intellectual markers.

  • Craft economic arguments in non-quantitative form.
  • Resolve popular approaches to Economics with more precise policy and quantitative approaches.
  • Develop professional and nuanced argumentation in class exchanges to build policy positions.

Showcase quantitative skills.

  • Present an economic argument in quantitative terms.
  • Demonstrate ability to solve systems of equations.
  • Conduct economic analysis using apps, equations, and graphs.

Demonstrate the ability to collect, process, and interpret data, including statistical inference.

  • Recognize how to use the scientific method in economics.
  • Apply empirical evidence to economic arguments.
  • Collect relevant data.
  • Use empirical and statistical evidence.
  • Use the results of such analyses to build positions and form policy.

Demonstrate computer proficiency in economics.

  • Utilize digital databases.
  • Build a battery of core software assets in Economics.
  • Understand Big Data analytics.
Professional Markers

Be aware of professional opportunities in Economics.

  • Empower an effective job search.
  • Build networking skills.
  • Assess the value and importance of graduate study or further credentialing, in a dynamic time frame, to build careers and earning potential.

Gain access and fluency in using the career and job search suites offered by Duquesne University.

  • Make access to these tools a regular habit.
  • Work with advisors and alumni to maximize opportunities.

Requirements for the Major: 30 credits

REQUIRED COURSES - 18 credits
  • ECON 301 - Intermediate Microeconomics (3 crs.)
  • ECON 302 - Intermediate Macroeconomics (3 crs.)
  • ECON 345 - International Economics (3 crs.)
  • ECON 353 - Public Economics (3 crs.)
  • ECON 481W - Econometrics (3 crs.)
  • ECON 484W - Advanced Econometrics (3 crs.)
ELECTIVE COURSES - 3 credits
  • ECON 319 - Economics of Sports (3 crs.)
  • ECON 320 - Economics of Gender, Race and Immigration (3 crs.)
  • ECON 331 - Environmental Economics and Policy (3 crs.)
  • ECON 490W - Economics Senior Thesis (3 crs.)
  • FINC 433W - Financial Markets and Institutions (3 crs.)

Requirements for the Minor: 18 credits

  • ECON 201 - Principles of Microeconomics (3 crs.)
  • ECON 202 - Principles of Macroeconomics (3 crs.)
  • Additional 12 credits in ECON at the 300-level or above