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Andrew Brodhead

Economics BS

The undergraduate Bachelor of Science degree provides an excellent background for those who plan to pursue PhD degrees in Economics or related disciplines, or technical careers in fields such as finance and data analytics. 

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

  • Understand and apply the core knowledge within Economics
  • Analyze a problem and draw correct inferences using both qualitative and quantitative reasoning
  • Communicate economic ideas and findings clearly and persuasively
  • Evaluate theory and critique research within the discipline
  • Formulate and interpret mathematical and statistical models of economic phenomena

Course Requirements

Economics Core (47 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 50 OR ECON 50Q (5 units): basic price theory. Prerequisite: Econ 1 and Math 20 (or equivalent).
  3. ECON 51 (5 units): intermediate micro. Prerequisites: Econ 50. 
  4. ECON 52 (5 units): intermediate macro. Prerequisites: Econ 50. 
  5. STATS 117 (3 units): Theory of Probability I
  6. ECON 102B (5 units): econometrics. Prerequisites: Economics 102A or STATS 117.
  7. ECON 102C (5 units): Advanced Topics in Econometrics. Prerequisite: ECON 102B
  8. ECON 160 or ECON 180 (5 units): Game Theory and Economic Applications
  9. CS 106B (5 units)*: Programming Abstractions. 
    *CS 106B MUST be taken for 5 units to count toward the ECON BS.
  10. MATH 115 (4 units): Functions of a Real Variable. Prerequisite: MATH51 or equivalent.

The material in ECON 102B is used in several field courses. Students are advised to take ECON 102B early in their program.

Field Courses - 5 units each (25 units required)

Full list of field courses for the Economics BS

  • ECON 102D: Econometric Methods for Public Policy Analysis and Business Decision-Making
  • ECON 108: Data Science for Business and Economic Decisions
  • ECON 115: Causality, Decision Making and Data Science
  • ECON 118: Development Economics
  • ECON 125: Economic Development, Microfinance, and Social Networks
  • ECON 136: Market Design
  • ECON 141*: Financial Markets
  • ECON 144: Family and Society
  • ECON 146: Economics of Education
  • ECON 147: The Economics of Labor Markets
  • ECON 149: Management Economics
  • ECON 152: Advanced Microeconomics
  • ECON 155: Environmental Economics and Policy
  • ECON 156: Energy Markets and Policy
  • ECON 157: Imperfect Competition
  • ECON 158: Regulatory Economics
  • ECON 165: International Finance
  • ECON 166: International Trade
  • ECON 177: Empirical Environmental Economics
  • ECON 179: Experimental Economics
  • ECON 198: Junior Honors Seminar
  • 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.
Non-Economics Electives (8 units)

In addition to the Economics Field Courses, students must complete at least 8 units from the following course list:

  • MATH 113: Linear Algebra and Matrix Theory
  • MATH 118: Mathematics of Computation
  • MATH 136: Stochastic Processes
  • MATH 151: Introduction to Probability Theory
  • MATH 171: Fundamental Concepts of Analysis
  • MATH 172: Lebesgue Integration and Fourier Analysis
  • STATS 200: Introduction to Statistical Inference
  • STATS 202: Data Mining and Analysis
  • STATS 206: Applied Multivariate Analysis
  • STATS 207: Introduction to Time Series Analysis
  • STATS 208: Bootstrap, Cross-Validation, and Sample Re-use
  • STATS 209: Introduction to Causal Inference
  • STATS 214: Machine Learning Theory
  • STATS 216: Introduction to Statistical Learning (Inactive)
  • STATS 217: Introduction to Stochastic Processes I
  • STATS 218: Introduction to Stochastic Processes II
  • STATS 219: Stochastic Processes
  • STATS 229: Machine Learning
  • STATS 250: Mathematical Finance
  • STATS 270: Bayesian Statistics
  • CS 129: Applied Machine Learning
  • CS 161: Design and Analysis of Algorithms
  • CS 221: Artificial Intelligence: Principles and Techniques
  • CS 228: Probabilistic Graphical Models: Principles and Techniques
  • CS 229: Machine Learning
  • CS 233: Geometric and Topological Data Analysis
  • CS 246: Mining Massive Data Sets
  • MS&E 111: Introduction to Optimization
  • MS&E 112: Graph and Combinatorial Optimization
  • MS&E 121: Introduction to Stochastic Modeling
  • MS&E 135: Networks

Full list of approved non-economics electives

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 75 of the 85 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 equivalent) is a prerequisite for an Economics BS degree. It must be taken for a letter grade to satisfy the MATH 115 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.