Economics

• Meet the Economics faculty.

  Mission

  The primary objective of the economics major is to provide undergraduate liberal arts students with a rigorous, in-depth, broad, and critical program in theoretical and empirical economics.  Our curriculum will provide a solid grounding in neoclassical theory, statistical and econometric methods, and their applications in the various fields of economics.  This training at AUW will help students think critically about the economic issues they confront in their everyday lives.  It will foster the development of necessary skills that enable our diverse student body to actively engage in a gamut of policy issues in local, national, and global communities; and compare and contrast alternative methodologies in assessing the broader social and political consequences of various economic doctrines.

  Learning outcomes

  The core program goal is to ensure our students possess a basic knowledge of microeconomics concepts such as supply and demand, consumer decision making, elasticity, costs, market structure, and labor markets; and a basic knowledge of macroeconomics concepts including national income accounting, inflation, unemployment, and monetary and fiscal policy.

  Other important learning goals:

  • To apply the general concepts learned from economic theory and methods to particular fields of economics
  • To analyze and explain the current economic events in the local and global communities under the framework of economic theory
  • To demonstrate an ability to generate and interpret descriptive statistics
  • To articulate an economic hypothesis and interpret econometric tests of the hypothesis and explain the results and policy implications
  • To explain and evaluate the relevant benefits and costs that need to be considered when comparing decisions and policy choices
  • To effectively communicate, orally and written, basic economic concepts, analytical methods, and policy choices