• College of Liberal Arts
• Curriculum Sequence

THE MAJOR IN ECONOMICS

College-wide Requirements: In addition to meeting the requirements in General Education and in the major, students must also complete six (6) credits in the Liberal Arts Core required of all majors in the College of Liberal Arts. Options for satisfying this requirement are outlined under the section on the College of Liberal Arts. Also, in order to qualify for graduation, students must pass the Senior Departmental Comprehensive Examination; must have taken all of their junior- and senior-level requirements in the major at Morgan (unless granted prior written permission by the Dean to take courses elsewhere); and must have earned a cumulative average of 2.0 or better and a major average of 2.0 or better, with no outstanding grades below "C" in the major (which includes all courses required for the major and required supporting courses).

The Department of Economics offers a B.A. or B.S. degree in economics.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the programs of the Economics Department are: (1) to develop within students a thorough understanding of the nature and workings of the urban, U.S. and global economic systems; (2) to prepare students to enter the economics profession in either business, industry, or government; and (3) to provide a solid foundation for graduate work in economics.

requirement for MAJOR in ECONOMICS: Students majoring in economics are required to complete the following courses: ECON 212, ECON 311, ECON 312, ECON 317, ECON 318, ECON 413, ECON 414, ECON 493 and nine (9) hours of Econ electives. In additions, they must complete six credits of free electives from any department in the university (including ECON). Those seeking to earn the B.A. in economics must satisfy these six free elective credits by pursuing two sequential intermediate courses in a foreign language:FREN 203-204, GERM 203-204, or SPAN 203-204. Those student not selecting the foreign language option will receive the B.S. degree in economics.

ECONOMICS COURSE OFFERINGS

ECON 211 PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS I--Three hours; 3 credits. The focus of this course is on macro-economics. Topics covered include the determinants of national income, employment, inflation, investment, the banking system, and government fiscal and monetary policies. Fall and Spring, no prerequisite.

ECON 212 PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS II--Three hours; 3 credits. The focus of this course is micro-economics. Topics covered include the theory of the firm, consumer theory, alternative market structures, public goods and distribution theory. Fall and Spring.

ECON 310 ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY--Three hours; 3 credits. This course assesses the historical and current economic status of people and institutions in the Black community. It analytically investigates alternative models and policies for their economic development and growth. Spring and odd years, no prerequisite.

ECON 311 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF STATISTICS I--Three hours; 3 credits. This course covers topics such as data organization techniques, measures of central tendency and dispersion probability theory and distributions, sampling techniques and distributions. Prerequisites: MATH 111, 118. Fall and Spring.

ECON 312 PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF STATISTICS--Three hours; 3 credits. This course covers topics such as estimation theory, hypothesis testing, ANOVA, regression and correlation, time series, index numbers and decision theory. Prerequisite: ECON 311. Fall and Spring.

ECON 315 LABOR ECONOMICS--Three hours; 3 credits. This course is primarily a study of the nature of the labor market with emphasis upon the market imperfections. Special attention is given to the theory of wages, collective bargaining and labor relations in various branches of industry. Fall and odd years, no prerequisite.

ECON 316 INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS--Three hours; 3 credits. Theory and practice of international trade, institutions and problems of trade, balance of payments, foreign exchange, policy on international investment and foreign aid. Spring and even years.

ECON 317 INTERMEDIATE MICROECONOMICS--Three hours; 3 credits. This course covers topics such as the role of prices as an allocative device in a market economy. Consumer theory, the theory of the firm, alternative market structures, general equilibrium theory, public goods, welfare economics and distribution theories are covered. Prerequisite: ECON 212. Spring.

ECON 318 INTERMEDIATE MACROECONOMICS--Three hours; 3 credits. This course covers topics such as aggregate general equilibrium theory. National income determination, employment, inflation, investment, consumption, the banking system, business cycles and stabilization policies are covered. Prerequisite: ECON 317. Fall.

ECON 320 PUBLIC FINANCE--Three hours; 3 credits. This course deals with the revenue, expenditure and debt activities of Federal, state and local governments; budgets and fiscal policy; the influence of government economic policy on the business sector; the incidence of taxation, appraisal of costs and the benefits of government programs. Spring, even years.

ECON 323 ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPING NATIONS--Three hours; 3 credits. This course covers such topics as theories of economic development, sources of capital formation and technical progress; as well as the problems of raising and allocating resources for development. Fall, even years.

ECON 331 MONEY AND BANKING--Three hours; 3 credits. The evolution of money and the banks, the national banking system, Federal Reserve System, foreign and domestic exchange, credit and Canadian and some European banking systems are discussed. Fall.

ECON 410 URBAN ECONOMICS--Three hours; 3 credits. The course emphasizes major influences affecting city growth, role of the government and private institutions in influencing uses of urban resources. Spring, odd years.

ECON 413 MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS--Three hours; 3 credits. Using the tools of differential and integral calculus, linear algebra and elementary topology, this course covers various optimization techniques. Prerequisite: Statistics 312. Spring, odd years.

ECON 414 ECONOMETRICS--Three hours; 3 credits. This course covers the application of mathematical and statistical methods. The course is concerned with estimating economic relationships and forecasting the behavior of economic variables. Topics include Simple and Multiple Regression and Correlation Analysis; Estimation and Hypotheses Testing in Regression Models; Specification of Regression Models: Times Series Analysis; Simultaneous Equation Models; and Forecasting. Prerequisite: ECON 413. Spring, even years.

ECON 422 ECONOMICS AND HEALTH--Three hours; 3 credits. This course will analyze the health care market place. It will cover issues such as the demand for, and supply of health, physicians services, hospital services, and health insurance. Special emphasis will be placed on current policy issues such as access, quality and cost of care under various types of organizational structure. Prerequisite: ECON 212.

ECON 424 ECONOMICS AND LAW--Three hours; 3 credits. The course analyzes legal problems using microeconomic theory. Its main focus is to demonstrate that the basic economic concepts, such as maximization, equilibrium and efficiency, are fundamental to explaining and understanding the law. Prerequisite: ECON 212.

ECON 440 REGIONAL ECONOMICS--Three hours; 3 credits. Techniques for examining regional income and product accounts will be developed as well as analyzing the occupational structure of employment and the industrial composition of regional output. Fall, even years.

ECON 493 BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC RESEARCH--Three hours; 3 credits. This course is designed to acquaint the student with the methods of research in economics and business. Each student participates in a research project which affords him the opportunity to integrate his theoretical knowledge into the resolution of a problem. Spring.

ECON 498 SENIOR INTERNSHIP--Five hours; 3 credits. This course provides the opportunity for the student to obtain supervised work experience in the major at an off-campus site selected and approved by the Departmental Chairperson. Registration is limited to seniors with minimum 3.0 cumulative and major averages and requires approval of the Departmental Chairperson. Exceptions may be approved by the Dean.

ECON 499 SENIOR RESEARCH OR TEACHING/TUTORIAL ASSISTANTSHIP--Five hours; 3 credits. This course provides the opportunity for the student to attain first-hand research or teaching/tutorial experience under the supervision and mentorship of a tenure-track faculty member. Registration is limited to seniors with minimum of 3.0 cumulative and major averages and requires the approval of the Departmental Chairperson. Exceptions may be approved by the Dean.