Welcome to the Economics Department!
Economics studies how individuals, organizations, and governments pursue their goals, and helps us understand the efficiency and equity consequences of those decisions and interactions. The study of economics is much broader than what you might think! We do study markets, inflation, and the macroeconomy, but we also study health, migration, irrationality, history, the environment, unemployment, and game theory. We look forward to sharing our passion for economics with you.
- A short overview of the economics department and major can be found here.
- Students who are not declared economics majors but have questions about economics should contact the economics non-major advising representative, Professor Chris Kingston, cgkingston@amherst.edu
For Non-Majors
- We encourage you to take any course whose requirement you've met, whether you're a major or not.
- Most students start with the introductory Economics course Economics 111/111E or a 200 level course if you place out of Economics 111/111E.
- While Economics 111/111E is required for the major, it is also appropriate for students who will only take one course in Economics.
- Our 200 level courses (lower-level electives) require only Economics 111/111E as a prerequisite and are most appropriate for students relatively early in their study of economics. They tend to be slightly larger classes with 20 to 50 students. Elective classes delve deeply into particular subject areas, such as industrial organization, inequality, development, environmental economics, economic history, or the economics of globalization.
- Non-majors with the necessary prerequisites also take our 300 and 400 level courses.
- All of our courses count towards the major except for Econ 108 (Starting in F23 this course is STAT only.)
Considering Majoring?
- Please visit the About the Major landing page for an introduction to the major.
- Please visit the "Getting Started in the Major" page for more detailed information about starting the major, including the introductory course Economics 111/111E as well as placing out of Economics 111/111E.
For Transfer Students
- Transfer Credit: Students who transfer to Amherst and wish to receive credit towards the major requirements for previous work must obtain written permission from the Department Chair.
- Students need to have taken both introductory microeconomics and introductory macroeconomics to get credit for the equivalent of Economics 111. Transfer students who received transfer credits for both introductory microeconomics and introductory macroeconomics may take four elective courses, instead of five. At least one of the electives must be an upper-level elective (numbered 400-490)