Major

Economic Majors have diverse interests. To provide guidance, we have grouped courses into Focus Areas: Behavioral & Experimental, Finance, International & Development, Government Policy Analysis, Quantitative Methods, Business Strategy and Regulation. Students can focus on a specific area or take a range of courses to meet the following requirements for a Bachelor of Arts in Economics (80 units).

Core Economics Courses (30 units)

The Department encourages students to complete the core courses before undertaking the upper division courses, and if possible by the end of the sophomore year.

  1. Econ 1 (5 units). This is the only Econ core course that may be double-counted.
     
  2. Econ 102A (5 units): it is recommended that students satisfy this basic statistics requirement before proceeding with the rest of the program. Prerequisite: Math 20 or equivalent. Please note: results from the Math Department placement diagnostic exam cannot serve as a substitute for completion of the math prerequisite.**
     
  3. Econ 50 (5 units): basic price theory. Prerequisite: Econ 1 and Math 51 (or CME 100 or CME100A)**. 
     
  4. Econ 51 (5 units): intermediate micro. Prerequisites: Econ 50.
     
  5. Econ 52 (5 units): intermediate macro. Prerequisites: Econ 50.
     
  6. Econ 102B (5 units): econometrics. Prerequisites: Economics 102A.

The material in Econ 102B is used in a number of field courses. Students are advised to take Econ 102B early in their program.

**Students interested in receiving transfer credit or AP score waivers for Math prerequisites should submit the Econ Math Requirements Waiver Petition. 

Field Courses (must be taken at Stanford in California) (25 units)
Econ 102CAdvanced Topics in Econometrics
Econ 102DEconometric Methods for Public Policy Analysis and Business Decision-Making
Econ 108Data Science for Business and Economic Decisions
Econ 111Money and Banking
Econ 112Financial Markets and Institutions: Recent Developments
Econ 113Historical perspectives on inequality and opportunity in America
Econ 118Development Economics
Econ 125Economic Development, Microfinance, and Social Networks
Econ 126Economics of Health and Medical Care
Econ 127Economics of Health Improvement in Developing Countries
Econ 131The Chinese Economy
Econ 135*Finance for Non-MBAs
Econ 136 Market Design 
Econ 137Decision Modeling & Information
Econ 140*Financial Economics-5 units 
Econ 141*Financial Markets
Econ 144Family and Society
Econ 146Economics of Education
Econ 147The Economics of Labor Markets
Econ 149The Modern Firm in Theory and Practice
Econ 150Economic Policy Analysis
Econ 155Environmental Economics and Policy
Econ 156Energy Markets and Policy
Econ 157Imperfect Competition
Econ 158Regulatory Economics
Econ 160 (or 180 or 167G)**Game Theory and Economic Applications (Honors Game Theory; Game Theory & Social Behavior)
Econ 165International Finance
Econ 166International Trade
Econ 177Empirical Environmental Economics
Econ 178Behavioral Economics
Econ 179Experimental Economics
Econ 185Data Science for Environmental Business
Econ 198/199D***Junior Honors Seminar / Honors Thesis Research
Econ 200-level courses

Advanced undergraduate majors with

strong quantitative preparation may

enroll in graduate (200-level) courses

(excluding 239D & 299) with permission

of the Director of Undergraduate Studies

and the course instructor (see Section

XII.A). Submit a completed “Course

Substitution” form to the Econ

Academic Office.

* Students may only count units from one of the following towards their major as the courses are too similar in content: Econ 141, Econ 140, or Econ 135.

**Students may count toward the econ field course requirement Econ 160, Econ 167G, or 180. The others may count as electives.

***Students enrolled in the Econ BAH may take up to 10 units of 199D. The successful completion of an honors thesis and at least five units of credit in Econ 199D may replace the requirement for Economics 101 (WIM). The remaining units of ECON 199D may be used to meet the minimum field requirements for the major, as long as the number of units for the BAH is at least 85.

Electives (20 units)

Choose from any Econ courses taken for a letter grade.  Up to 10 units of this requirement may be fulfilled by upper division math, statistics and computer science courses. Approved courses include: MATH 113, 114, 115, 118, 120, 136, 151, 161, 163, 171, 172, 175 and STATS 200, 202, 206, 207, 208, 209, 209A, 217, 218, 219, 221, 222, 237, 240, 315B and CS 161, 221, 224M, 227B, 228, 229, ACCT 152, GSBGEN 336 and PoliSci 110C. Click here for a full list of Approved Course Petitions

  • A maximum of 10 elective units may be made up of some combination of the following: transfer credit, Econ 139D: Directed Reading, approved non-econ courses, or approved BOSP/SIW/SINY courses.
  • Suitable transfer credit must be approved in writing by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
  • Students may only count Econ 135 or 140 toward major requirements because they are very similar.
  • Students may only count Econ 143 or 148 toward major requirements because they are very similar.
  • Students may count only Econ 160 or 180 toward field requirements, the other may be counted toward elective requirements.
  • Advanced undergraduate majors with strong quantitative preparation may enroll in graduate (200-level) courses with the permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the course instructor.
  • The department does not give credit for internships. Thus Econ 139D: Directed Reading, cannot be used to obtain credit for internships.

 

Writing in the Major Course (WIM must be taken at Stanford in California) (5 units)

Econ 101 (5 units). This course fulfills the Writing in the Major requirement. Any WIM course for Economics may be taken only after completing Econ 51, 52, 102B and at least two field courses.

Economics Capstone

The Economics Capstone is comprised of two parts: 

1. During their junior year, declared Econ students will be required to complete an ePortfolio of their work in the major. They will then need to meet with their advisor to discuss their ePortfolio and receive a grade for their work. More information about this requirement is available in the ePortfolio Student Guide.

2. Graduating seniors are required to enroll in ECON 101 as their final capstone course. This class fulfills the WIM requirement, as well as completing the Capstone project. Enrollment in ECON 101 is by permission only. Students who anticipate that they will be graduating in the following year will be asked to submit their preferences for the ECON 101 sections in late Spring-Early Summer of the year before. Preference forms will be available on the Economics Department Website, and students will be notified by email when they are available. 

More information and form links can be found under the Capstone Page of the Economics Department Website.

Econ Common Syllabus

The Economics Common Syllabus explains econ course management policies.

Other Requirements
  • At least 55 of the 80 units required for the major must be taken at Stanford in California.
     
  • No courses receiving Department of Economics credit under the preceding requirements may be taken CR/NC.
  • Math 51 (or CME 100 or CME100A) is a prerequisite for an Economics degree. It may be taken for credit to meet the Econ 50 prerequisite.
  • Students scoring a 5 on both the advanced placement (AP) microeconomics and macroeconomics tests or a score of 7 on International Baccalaureate (IB) higher level economics test may petition the Director of Undergraduate Studies to have the ECON 1 course requirement waived.  Students do not receive units credit for placing out of ECON 1.
     
  • A grade point average (GPA) of C= (2.0) or better must be received for all units applied toward the Major.
     
  • To use transfer credit in partial satisfaction of the requirements, the student must obtain written consent from the department's Director of Undergraduate Study, who will establish the amount of credit to be granted toward the department requirements.
     
  • The maximum time limit for satisfactory completion of a course is one year from the date a grade of incomplete ("I") is given. Instructors may require that a course is completed anytime up to the one-year time limit. Students are responsible for seeing that all grades of incomplete are cleared within the time limit. The university's rule is that a grade of incomplete that is not cleared within the time limit becomes a grade of NP.
     
  • Students must complete their declaration of the major no later than the last day of the quarter, one quarter before anticipated degree conferral.
Information Book for Econ Majors

You are encouraged to read the Information Book for Econ Majors for detailed information about the program.