Front of the Landau Building of Economics

Economics BA

The undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree provides an excellent background for those who plan on government and private enterprise careers and those pursuing graduate degrees in professional schools or economics. 

The department expects undergraduate majors in the BA program to be able to:

  • Understand the core knowledge within Economics
  • Analyze a problem and draw correct inferences using qualitative and/or quantitative analysis
  • Write clearly and persuasively and communicate ideas clearly
  • Evaluate theory and critique research within the discipline

Course Requirements

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. 

Beginning Fall 2024, students must earn a grade of C or better in courses completed for the Economics core requirements. 

The following courses are required:

  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. Students interested in receiving transfer credit or AP score waivers for Math prerequisites should submit the Econ Math Requirements Waiver Petition.
  3. ECON 50 OR ECON 50Q (5 units): basic price theory. Prerequisite: Econ 1 and Math 20 (or equivalent).
  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 several field courses. Students are advised to take ECON 102B early in their program.

Field Courses - 3-5 units each (must be taken at Stanford in California) (23-25 units required)
  • Full list of field courses for the Econ BA
  • 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). Email econ-undergrad [at] stanford.edu (econ-undergrad[at]stanford[dot]edu) with written instructor or DUS approval to enroll.

*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, so long as the student completes at least 85 total units for the BAH. Students considering using ECON 199D units to fulfill field course requirements should email the econ-undergrad [at] stanford.edu (econ-undergrad[at]stanford[dot]edu) for approval. 

Electives (20 Units)

Choose from any ECON courses taken for a letter grade. 

Up to 10 units of electives may be fulfilled by some combination of the following:

Please note:

  • Due to similarities in coursework, econ students may choose one course in each pair for their elective requirement:
    • ECON 135 or ECON 140
  • Students may count ECON 160 or ECON 167G or ECON 180 toward field requirements; the other courses can be counted as elective units.
  • 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.
Economics Capstone (Writing in the Major) (5 units)

Beginning with the graduating class of 2025, all Stanford Students will be required to complete a Capstone Project as part of their major. 

The Economics Capstone is made up of two requirements: 

  1. An ePortfolio completed with the student's advisor during their junior year and 
  2. Completion during senior year of either 
    1. ECON 101 or 
    2. an Economics Honors Thesis 

Both components are intended to allow students to apply the knowledge and skills they have gained in their course of study and to strengthen the relationships between students and mentors. 

Successful completion of either ECON 101 or the Economics Honors Program will also count for the Economics Writing in the Major requirement. 

More details about each component can be found on the Economics Capstone page. 

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 20 (or equivalent) is a prerequisite for an Economics BA 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 course completion is one year from the date a grade of incomplete ("I") is given. Instructors may require that a course be completed anytime up to the one-year time limit. Students are responsible for seeing that all Incompletes are cleared within the time limit. The university's rule is that an Incomplete not cleared within the time limit becomes a NP. 
  • Students must complete their declaration of the major no later than the last day of the quarter, one quarter before anticipated degree conferral.