B.S. Applied Economics

Ever wonder how economists help solve real-world problems like biodiversity loss, stagnating business growth, food insecurity, or food waste? The Applied Economics major provides students with the ability to weigh the pros and cons of solutions, while avoiding the biases and rules of thumb that commonly produce regrettable decisions. They learn to discover facts in real-world observations using quantitative tools like Microsoft Excel or R programming. In addition to microeconomic, macroeconomic, and quantitative courses, students have the ability to customize their studies by choosing electives from one of five engaging tracks:

• Applied Economics & Policy: In this track, students learn how economic reasoning and research methods can guide public policy by revealing important tradeoffs in the availability and distribution of the food we eat, fiber that clothes us, and waters and lands that sustain us.
• Development & Trade: This track trains students in the application of modern economic theory to problems in international trade, growth, and development. Topics include macroeconomic and microeconomic aspects of development and the economics of growth, the global trade flows of goods, services, and factors of production.
• Economics of Entrepreneurship: This track helps students on their journey to become entrepreneurs interested in starting a new business or helping organizations to develop new business opportunities. Students will explore and practice the decisions and methods entrepreneurs use when creating and launching a new product or service concept that can create new supply and demand in a chosen marketplace.
• Food Systems: This track teaches students how to apply economic reasoning and research methods to analyzing the production, processing, marketing, distribution, and consumption of food, becoming equipped to understand and address the complex challenges and opportunities facing our food systems. Electives for this track allow for a tailored experience for each student's interests.
• Natural Resource & Environmental Sustainability: This track focuses on how economic tools can be used to understand, value, and manage the natural systems that underpin society. Students learn to analyze environmental tradeoffs, evaluate conservation and climate policies, and design solutions that support both ecological and economic resilience.  

• Or you build your own track! Enroll in at least 12 credits of APEC 3xxx, APEC 4xxx and/or APEC 5xxx to build an Individualized Track that strengthens your understanding of how economic reasoning and research methods can be used to solve a wide range of production, development, environmental, food system, marketing, natural resource, or trade problems.

  Electives cross the range of major and minor programs, so students learn how to work with other disciplines to find the best solutions to our most critical problems. The capstone course develops written and oral communication proficiency, while students tackle a problem of their choosing.

  The major's flexibility and free electives encourage students to complete complementary minors—with just one or two extra courses: CSOM’s Entrepreneurship Minor, CFANS’s Food Systems Minor, and the University’s Sustainability Studies Minor. CSOM’s Management Minor is another popular choice for our majors.

  Our students have used their degrees to pursue careers in government (Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and New York City Economic Development Corp.) and the private sector (e.g., Allianz, Ameriprise, Ecolab, Bremer Bank, Land O’Lakes, and UnitedHealth). Others have pursued professional or graduate training in economics, law, management, and public policy.

  Requirements

  Find requirements for the APEC major in the University Catalog (link will open in a new window).