Economics Honors Courses
The content of the Honors Program is designed to develop a deep and critical understanding of the methodology, theory, and policy aspects of a social science, which provides key insights into political, legal, business, and personal arenas of life. For example, should economics be considered a scientific discipline? What is the relation of economics to other fields of inquiry? How have economists viewed the role of the market price system in the development of modern economics? What is the role of ethics in economics? To what extent can economists agree on policy objectives or goals? What weights should be given to potentially conflicting objectives such as efficiency, equity, security, and growth? While simultaneously answering these inquiries, the program will expose the student to the way in which the “skills of the economist” can be applied to the problems of modern society.
Honors Economics Prescribed Courses for Major
Students pursuing an honors path in Economics are strongly encouraged to choose the honors version of prescribed Economics courses whenever possible. Most semesters there are at least one or two of these courses offered with an honors section and honors students benefit from taking the honors version. The Economics prescribed courses most typically offered during one semester of the academic year are: ECON 102H, ECON 302H, ECON 104H, ECON 304H, and ECON 306H.
Economics 400M
This course is required for an honors degree in economics unless an exemption or substitution is approved in advance by the department. This course is typically taken during the graduation year, the student’s senior year, in most cases. This is a three-credit course open only to students enrolled in the Honors Program. Economics 400M is typically offered in the Fall semester and is devoted to the methodology and philosophy of economics, the role of the price system, and their relation to problems of public policy, involving work in some applied area of economics. In previous years the course has been concerned with such topics as:
- Current international economic problems
- Issues in federal tax policy
- Methods and effects of government regulation
- Worker and consumer safety standards
- Issues in health economics
- Origins and development of social insurance and economic regulation
- Income distribution and welfare economics
- Economic application of game theory
- Economics of technological change
Economics 489M
This course is required for an honors degree in economics, unless an exemption or substitution is approved in advance by the department. Students who write a thesis in economics must take ECON 489M (Honors Thesis) for two semesters. This course is typically taken during the student’s year of graduation. Normally this entails taking 2 credits in the fall semester and 4 credits in the spring semester. ECON 489M is a year-long course during which this small group of senior students meets with the professor (i.e., it is not an independent study course). During the first semester of this two-semester sequence, the course’s emphasis is on helping students narrow their focus to a feasible honors thesis topic, begin planning out the thesis, and writing. They receive 2 credits for this first semester. The second semester continues with most of the thesis writing, and students present their theses to their classmates during the latter part of the second semester. Students receive 4 credits for the second semester. Each semester of ECON 489M entails multiple assignments, and deadlines for those assignments as well as expectations of the students being clearly defined in the class.
Economics 413 or Economics 452
Both courses are 3 credit courses offered in the Spring Semester. The honors option can be used for these non-honors economics courses (subject to instructor’s approval). These courses are optional and can be used by students who seek additional opportunities to obtain honors credits for economics courses.