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Economics Major/Minor
The Economics Major introduces students to the core body of knowledge in the discipline. In addition, students improve their abilities to conduct pricing, cost-benefit and program analysis, forecasting and industry analysis. They learn how economies interact which aids in all facets of business decision making. Finally, they learn to analyze the economics of the regulatory process and the reaction of businesses to the regulatory environment. Emphasis is placed on the application of basic economic tools to policy areas.
For those students wanting only an exposure to economics, an Economics Minor is also available.
Learning objectives
Upon completion of this program, students will be able to:
- Discuss the theories and principles of microeconomics including trade and comparative advantage, the functioning of markets, consumer theory, uncertainty and risk, production and costs, market structure under varying competitive conditions, price theory, public good provisions, externalities and other market failures, environmental protection, taxation and welfare economics.
- Discuss the theories and principles of macroeconomics including economic fluctuations, growth and development; unemployment; inflation, interest rates, deficits and debt, balance of payments and exchange rates, fiscal, monetary and various other polices using economic growth models, aggregate demand and supply as well as other applicable models.
- Collect, analyze and interpret relevant economic information from multiple sources.
- Demonstrate how quantitative/statistical methods and software packages can be used to examine economic data.
- Describe the role of government and institutions in the economy including taxation, spending, regulation and production.
- Integrate ethical concerns including efficiency, fairness, equity and individual freedom in policy development.
- Analyze the behaviour of individuals, businesses and industries in market-based systems; social issues; and the challenges of developing economies using different microeconomic and macroeconomic theories and principles.
- Assess and revise public policies addressing both market and non-market issues.
- Apply economic theories and principles in a professional setting.
Major requirements
The Major in Economics requires 42 ECON credits of which 24 must be at the 3000 and 4000 level, with a minimum of 6 credits at the 4000 level.
ECON 2900 Intermediate Microeconomics 1 (3,0,0) ECON 2900 Intermediate Microeconomics 1 (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine at a more advanced level how individuals and firms interact in various types of markets. Topics include consumer and producer behaviour; partial equilibrium analysis for perfectly competitive markets; and aspects of monopoly and imperfectly competitive markets. This course prepares students for advanced courses in economics.
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ECON 2950 Intermediate Macroeconomics 1 (3,0,0) ECON 2950 Intermediate Macroeconomics 1 (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students complete an advanced, in-depth examination of economic behaviour at the aggregate level. Topics include the determination and distribution of output in the long run; the classical dichotomy and neutrality of money; the measurement, problems, and determinants of unemployment and inflation in the long run; and the role of capital accumulation, population growth, and technology in growth theory.
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ECON 3900 Intermediate Microeconomics 2 (3,0,0) ECON 3900 Intermediate Microeconomics 2 (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students continue to study intermediate topics in partial and general equilibrium analysis. Topics include consumer choice under different scenarios, factor markets, game theory, imperfect competition, general equilibrium analysis and welfare economics, public goods, and externalities.
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ECON 3950 Intermediate Macroeconomics 2 (3,0,0) ECON 3950 Intermediate Macroeconomics 2 (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students continue to study short-run macroeconomic theory and its applications to contemporary policy issues. Topics include an overview of macroeconomics; macroeconomic data; the open economy; economic fluctuations; aggregate demand, including investment savings-liquidity preference money supply (IS-LM) curves; aggregate supply, including the Phillips curve; economic stabilization and the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy; and money supply and demand.
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Minor requirements
12 credits of 3000 and/or 4000 level Economics, excluding ECON 3090.
Recommended upper level courses
ECON 3100 Canadian Financial Markets (3,0,0) ECON 3100 Canadian Financial Markets (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students are introduced to money, banking, and the Canadian financial system. Topics include an overview of financial markets, interest rates and the structure of interest rates, the efficiency of financial markets, financial regulation, banks and other financial institutions, financial institutions risk management, the role of the central bank, the money supply, and monetary policy.
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ECON 3200 Introduction to Mathematical Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3200 Introduction to Mathematical Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine the mathematical methods and tools most commonly used in analyzing economic problems. Topics include a review of set theory, functions, and limits; linear models and matrix algebra; application of single and multivariable calculus; unconstrained and constrained optimization; integration and difference and differential equations; application of dynamic analysis; and linear and non-linear programing.
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ECON 3410 Economics of Climate Change (3,0,0) ECON 3410 Economics of Climate Change (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students investigate the climatic changes resulting from global warming and the policy actions being taken to address these problems. Topics include an overview of the science and economics of climate change; the impact of climate change on growth and economic development; the economics of stabilization including efficiency, externalities, public goods, and environmental policy instruments; inter-temporal decisions and uncertainties about the impacts of climate change; the policy responses to mitigation and adaption and their cost; international collective action and its challenges; and prominent climate policy approaches, such as the United Nations Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol.
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ECON 3500 Public Finance (3,0,0) ECON 3500 Public Finance (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine the rationale for government intervention in a market economy, the assessment of public policy, and the impact of government expenditures and taxation on the economy and the citizenry. Topics include government activities, externalities, public goods, social security, fiscal deficits and public debt, principles of taxation, incidence and effects of taxation, and optimal taxation.
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ECON 3550 International Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3550 International Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students analyze the movement of capital, goods, and services across international boundaries and assess their financial impact. With advances in transportation and communication, greater outsourcing, and increased globalization, trade, and foreign direct investment, the corresponding capital movements are becoming much more important to the global economy. Topics include the theories of absolute and comparative advantage; modern theories of trade, including factor-proportions; tariff and non-tariff barriers; current and capital accounts; exchange rate determination; balance of payments and exchange rate policy; evolution of the international monetary system; and trade and economic development.
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ECON 3600 Labour Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3600 Labour Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students analyze how individuals, families, firms, and governments operate within a contemporary labour market, and the impact of labour market institutions and government policy. Topics include an overview of the labour market; labour demand and elasticities; the effect of quasi-fixed labour costs on demand; labour supply and the decision to work; labour supply and household production; compensating wage differentials and labour markets; education and training; worker mobility; pay and productivity; gender, race, and inequality in earnings; and unions and the labour market.
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ECON 3610 The Economics of Gender (3,0,0) ECON 3610 The Economics of Gender (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students use economic theory and analysis in an attempt to explain why gender differences lead to different outcomes in education, career choices, family roles, and earnings. A comparison is made of the economic status of women relative to men throughout the world, with special emphasis on similarities and differences between Canada and other economically advanced nations. Topics include marriage and family; the economics of fertility; women at work; women's earnings, occupation, and education; the gender gap in earnings; women's employment and earnings; family policy; and women in developing countries.
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ECON 3650 Government and Business (3,0,0) ECON 3650 Government and Business (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students utilize neoclassical and institutional economic theory to examine government intervention in the economy. Topics include competition and economic efficiency; market failure; institutional theory; private sector governance structures; the role of the state; public sector governance structures, including competition policy, price and entry regulation, prevention of anti-competitive practices, and public enterprise and ownership; and government failure.
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ECON 3670 Economic Analysis of Law (3,0,0) ECON 3670 Economic Analysis of Law (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore and analyze legal issues from an economic perspective; economists focus primarily on whether particular legal doctrines, concepts, and processes are efficient. Topics include an introduction to the law, legal institutions, and procedures, as well as economic theory relating to property law, contracts, torts, criminal law, and general legal processes.
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ECON 3690 Community Economic Development (3,0,0) ECON 3690 Community Economic Development (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students investigate methods for effectively using local community resources to enhance economic opportunities while improving social conditions in a sustainable way. Topics include the theoretical basis for community economic development (CED), analytical techniques used to assess communities, environmental sustainability objectives for community development, competing strategies of community development, financing development strategies, and CED activity in Canada and other nations.
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ECON 3700 Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Economics of Project Evaluation (3,0,0) ECON 3700 Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Economics of Project Evaluation (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine projects that are commonly evaluated using benefit-cost analysis, and the appropriate methods for determining their cost effectiveness. Topics include project evaluation techniques; measuring welfare change; correcting for market distortions using shadow wages and prices; finding the appropriate discount rate; making valid valuations that incorporate inflation and appropriate planning horizon, scrap, and spillover and secondary effects; public enterprise pricing rules; valuing intangibles; and incorporating risk and uncertainty. Case studies of projects are analyzed from a variety of areas, such as natural resources, the environment, human resources, public service, and transportation.
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ECON 3710 Environmental Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3710 Environmental Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students apply the tools of microeconomic analysis to environmental issues. Topics include property rights and efficient resource use, market failure, the over-utilization of common pool resources, the Coase Theorem, non-market valuation techniques, government policies designed to cost-effectively control pollution, and real-world strategies for controlling pollution.
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ECON 3730 Forestry Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3730 Forestry Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students are introduced to the concepts and analytical techniques used in forestry economics and their application to forest management, conservation, and policy analysis. Topics include techniques for analyzing forestry investments; timber demand, supply, and pricing; valuation of non-marketed goods and services, such as recreation and wildlife habitat; land allocation and multiple use; forest management issues, such as planting, thinning, and optimal age of crop rotation; and regulatory issues, including allowable annual cut regulations, property rights, tenure, and taxes.
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ECON 3740 Land Use Economics (3,0,0) ECON 3740 Land Use Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students focus on land use issues with particular emphasis on government policies relating to the preservation and conservation of agricultural lands. Topics include rent theory; welfare measurement; property rights and externalities; project evaluation using cost-benefit and multiple accounts analysis; the economics of soil conservation; efficiency and equity in land use planning, including zoning changes; government land preservation and conservation policies, and agricultural subsidies; water use in agriculture; forest management; and multiple uses of public lands.
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ECON 3840 Economic Analysis of Health (3,0,0) ECON 3840 Economic Analysis of Health (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students apply microeconomic tools to an analysis of the health care system, while being introduced to the major issues in health economics and the ongoing debate over health care policy. Topics include the economic determinants of health, the market for medical care, the market for health insurance, the role of the government in health care, and health care reform.
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ECON 3900 Intermediate Microeconomics 2 (3,0,0) ECON 3900 Intermediate Microeconomics 2 (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students continue to study intermediate topics in partial and general equilibrium analysis. Topics include consumer choice under different scenarios, factor markets, game theory, imperfect competition, general equilibrium analysis and welfare economics, public goods, and externalities.
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ECON 3950 Intermediate Macroeconomics 2 (3,0,0) ECON 3950 Intermediate Macroeconomics 2 (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students continue to study short-run macroeconomic theory and its applications to contemporary policy issues. Topics include an overview of macroeconomics; macroeconomic data; the open economy; economic fluctuations; aggregate demand, including investment savings-liquidity preference money supply (IS-LM) curves; aggregate supply, including the Phillips curve; economic stabilization and the effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy; and money supply and demand.
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ECON 3990 ***Selected Topics in Economics (3,0,0) or (6,0,0) ECON 3990 ***Selected Topics in Economics (3,0,0) or (6,0,0)Credits: 6 credits The subject matter in this course varies from semester to semester depending upon the interests of faculty and students. Courses are taught by visiting professors to instill their unique perspectives or by regular faculty to address emerging topics in a discipline, share research or teaching interests, or test potential new courses. The added variety in the curriculum greatly enhances the student learning experience.
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ECON 4100 International Financial Markets (3,0,0) ECON 4100 International Financial Markets (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine international financial markets and institutions and their critical role in the global economy. Topics include the elements that constitute a global financial institution; types of financial institutions and markets; global market structure differences; recent market failures, their causes, and solutions; and global financial regulation and reform.
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ECON 4320 Econometrics (3,0,0) ECON 4320 Econometrics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students are introduced to econometric models and the application of classical regression techniques to estimate socio-economic relationships. Topics include an introduction to econometrics; simple linear regression; interval estimation and hypothesis testing; predictions, goodness of fit, and modeling issues; multiple regression; non-linear relationships; heteroscedasticity; dynamic models, autocorrelation, and forecasting; simultaneous equations; and qualitative dependent variables. General econometric computer software is used to reinforce course concepts.
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ECON 4330 Forecasting in Business and Economics (3,0,0) ECON 4330 Forecasting in Business and Economics (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students apply a variety of forecasting methods to solve problems in business and economics. Topics include qualitative forecasting methods; the forecasting process, data considerations, and model selection; moving averages and exponential smoothing; multiple regression and time series decomposition; Box-Jenkins methodology to fit autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (ARCH); time-varying volatility and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and vector autoregressive models; combining forecasting results; and implementing forecasting.
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ECON 4560 International Macroeconomics and Finance (3,0,0) ECON 4560 International Macroeconomics and Finance (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students explore the determination of exchange rates in an open economy and policies that governments may adopt to influence their movement. Topics include balance of payments; foreign exchange markets; interaction of the money, interest rates and exchange rates; exchange rates in the long run, including purchasing power and interest rate parity; exchange rates in the short run; fixed exchange rates and foreign exchange intervention; history of the international monetary system; macroeconomic policy under floating exchange rates; and performance of global capital markets and policy issues.
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ECON 4660 Industrial Organization (3,0,0) ECON 4660 Industrial Organization (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine the performance and operation of imperfectly competitive markets, as well as the behavior of firms in these markets. They attempt to answer big questions, such as why are firms and markets organized the way they are; how does the behavior of firms affect the structure and performance of markets; and how does the organization of markets determine how firms behave and how markets perform. Topics include theories of the firm; market structure models; strategic interaction among firms; business practices such as mergers and acquisitions, price discrimination, advertising, innovation, vertical restraints, and cartels; and new developments in industrial organization, including network issues and auction markets.
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ECON 4720 Sustainable Economic Development (3,0,0) ECON 4720 Sustainable Economic Development (3,0,0)Credits: 3 credits Students examine theories and issues, internal and external challenges, and alternative policy options relating to sustainable economic development. Topics include a comparative analysis of the leading theories of economic growth, development, and sustainability; lack of economic growth, poverty, and income distribution; consequences of population growth and technological change; employment and migration, human capital, agriculture, and rural development; international trade and commercial policy, foreign investment, and aid; and global integration, economic transition, and environmental degradation.
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ECON 4960 Directed Studies in Economics (0,3,0) or (0,3,0)(0,3,0) ECON 4960 Directed Studies in Economics (0,3,0) or (0,3,0)(0,3,0)Credits: 6 credits Individuals or groups of students engage in independent study, research, or practice related to a topic in economics under faculty supervision. The supervisor(s) determines the appropriate curriculum, evaluation methods, and credit assignment in consultation with the student(s) and subject to the approval of the department chairperson(s) and dean.
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ECON 4990 ***Selected Topics in Economics (3,0,0) or (6,0,0) ECON 4990 ***Selected Topics in Economics (3,0,0) or (6,0,0)Credits: 6 credits The subject matter in this course varies from semester to semester depending upon the interests of faculty and students. Courses are taught by visiting professors to instill their unique perspectives or by regular faculty to address emerging topics in a discipline, share research or teaching interests, or test potential new courses. The added variety in the curriculum greatly enhances the student learning experience.
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* These courses are offered every year, subject to minimum enrollment requirements. All other courses are offered every other year.
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