Economics Minor

Economics Minor

Overview

The Economics Minor is intended for students with a strong interest in rigorous economics who are majoring in related fields. For instance, this minor should be attractive for students preparing for an MBA program, preparing for Law School, preparing for Foreign Service, or students who are interested in quantitative data analysis in the social sciences.  Students interested in declaring the minor should fill out the appropriate form.  Students must have grades in at least ECON 0100 and 0200 with a minimum 2.0 in all classes that count for the minor to declare.

Requirements

The Economics Minor consists of six courses, none of which may be taken as pass/fail. The six courses include three required courses and three electives.

(All Three Courses are Required)

  • ECON 0100 (formerly 001): Introduction to Microeconomics

  • ECON 0200 (formerly 002): Introduction to Macroeconomics

  • ECON 2100 (formerly 101): Microeconomic Theory. Prerequisites: ECON 0100, ECON 0200, MATH 1400 (formerly 104) or 1070, MATH 1410 (formerly 114) or 1510 (formerly 115) or 1080.

(Choose 3 courses):

You can choose from a wide range of course offerings, subject to the constraint that one of the three courses needs to be a 4000-level (formerly 200-level) course.

Please note: 4000-level courses require some or all of the 2000-level (formerly 100-level) courses as prerequisites. Moreover, these courses require two semesters of calculus. Courses at the 0xxx level only require ECON 0100 and possibly ECON 0200 as prerequisites. For details, please see Course Information.

The following categorization of courses is indicative of particular specializations that could be pursed within the minor.  However, note that all electives offered by the department count toward the minor:

Econometrics and Statistics

  • ECON 2300 (formerly 103): Statistics for Economists (prerequisite for Econometrics)

  • ECON 2310 (formerly 104): Introduction to Econometrics (prerequisite for other 200-level econometric courses)

  • ECON 4310 (formerly 221): Time Series Econometrics

  • ECON 4320 (formerly 222): Microeconometrics

Empirical Microeconomics

  • ECON 0410 (formerly 030): Public Policy Analysis

  • ECON 0430 (formerly 033): Labor Economics

  • ECON 0450 (formerly 035): Industrial Organization

  • ECON 0440 (formerly 036): Law and Economics

  • ECON 0610 (formerly 014): American Capitalism

  • ECON 0630 (formerly 039): Economics and Financing of Health Care Delivery

  • ECON 4410 (formerly 231): Public Finance

  • ECON 4420 (formerly 232): Political Economy

  • ECON 4430 (formerly 233): Labor Economics

  • ECON 4440 (formerly 234): Law and Economics

  • ECON 4450 (formerly 235): Industrial Organization

  • ECON 4460 (formerly 236): Health Economics

  • ECON 4470 (formerly 237): Urban Fiscal Policy

Microeconomics/Game Theory

  • ECON 0120 (formerly 013): Strategic Reasoning

  • ECON 0465: Economics and Philosophy

  • ECON 4101 (formerly 212): Game Theory

  • ECON 4120 (formerly 211): Social Choice Theory

  • ECON 4130 (formerly 262): Market Design

  • ECON 4140 (formerly 260): Decision Making

  • ECON 4150 (formerly 245): Math for Economists

Macroeconomics

  • ECON 2200 (formerly 102): Macroeconomic Theory (prerequisite for other 200-level macro courses)

  • ECON 4110 (formerly 210): Economics of Family

  • ECON 4200 (formerly 241): Economic Growth

  • ECON 4210 (formerly 242): Numerical Methods for Macroeconomists

  • ECON 4220 (formerly 243): Monetary and Fiscal

  • ECON 4230 (formerly 244): Macro-ModellingPolicies

  • ECON 4240 (formerly 246): Money and Banking

International Economics and Development

  • ECON 0510 (formerly 024): Development Economics

  • ECON 0500 (formerly 050): International Economics

  • ECON 4510 (formerly 251): International Trade

  • ECON 4520 (formerly 252): International Finance

  • ECON 4130 (formerly 262): Market Design

  • The following combinations of courses are incompatible: ECON 0410 Formerly 030) and 4410 (formerly 231); ECON 0430 (formerly 033) and 4430 (formerly 233); ECON 0450 (formerly 035) and 4450 (formerly 235); ECON 0440 (formerly  036) and 4440 (formerly 234); ECON 0500 (formerly 050) and either ECON 4510 (formerly 251) or 4520 (formerly 252).

  • Students are required to take four of the six economics courses in residence at the University of Pennsylvania. All courses taken in residence must be taken within the Economics Department. No substitutions for courses from other departments will be accepted.

  • Students must have a GPA of 2.0 in the Economics Minor in order to graduate with a minor in Economics.

  • Students who have declared an Economics Major, a Mathematical Economics Major, or an Economic Policy Minor cannot receive an Economics Minor.

  • Independent Studies: At most, one independent study (ECON 4999 -formerly 199) can be counted toward the minor. It does not count as a 4000-level course.

  • Wharton students who have taken BEPP 1000 (formerly ECON 010 instead of ECON 0100 and 0200 need to take one additional 4000-level ECON course to satisfy the requirements of the minor.

  • Wharton students may replace the required ECON 2100 course by BEPP 2500 (formerly 250) HONORS. The regular BEPP 2500 course does not count as a substitute for ECON 2100.

  • Students who have received ECON 0100 credit and an ECON 0200 waiver for a single semester introductory micro/macro course need to take an additional 0xxx (or higher) level ECON course to complete the minor. 

  • Starting with students entering Penn in the Fall of 2017, we will no longer convert advanced placement waivers (AP, IB, and A-Level) for ECON 0100 or ECON 0200 into course credits upon completion of the ECON minor, the EPOL minor, the ECON major, or the MATH-ECON major. However, the waiver can be used to satisfy prerequisites for higher-level economics courses.

     

    A student with an advanced placement waiver (AP, IB, and A-Level) in ECON 0100 (or ECON 0200) has two options: 

     

    (i) Take ECON 0100 (or ECON 0200) at Penn and count it toward the minor.

     

    (ii) Take an additional ECON course to replace ECON 0100 (or ECON 0200). 

     

    Students who have waivers for both ECON 0100 and ECON 0200 need to take two additional ECON courses.