Economics Major Requirements
The Economics major is a single unified track leading to a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) degree in Economics. The purpose of the program is to teach students to think and write clearly about economic problems and policy issues, applying the basic tools of economic analysis, including quantitative techniques.
Requirements for the Economics major (80 units)
NOTE: All courses used to complete the following requirements must be taken for letter grades, and 55 of the 80 units must be taken at Stanford in California. Transfer credit must be approved in writing by the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies. Math 51 taken for a letter grade is a prerequisite for an Economics degree.
Core Economics Courses (35 units) The Department encourages students to complete the core courses before undertaking the rest of their program, and if possible by the end of the sophomore year.
1. Introductory Economics 1A -Micro (5 units)
2. Introductory Economics 1B -Macro (5 units). Econ 1A is a prerequisite for Econ 1B.
3. Economics 102A (5 units): it is recommended that students satisfy this basic statistics requirement before proceeding with the rest of the program. Prerequisite: Math 41 or equivalent.
4. Economics 50 (5 units): basic price theory. Prerequisite: Economics 1A and Mathematics 51 with a letter grade. Grade in Econ 50 must be B or better.
5. Economics 51 (5 units): intermediate micro. Prerequisites: Econ 50.
6. Economics 52 (5 units): intermediate macro. Prerequisites: Econ 50, Econ 1B.
7. Economics 102B (5 units): econometrics. Prerequisites: Economics 50 and 102A.
Material in Econ 102B is used in a number of field courses. Students are strongly advised to design their program of study so that Econ 102B is taken early in their program.
Field Courses (must be taken at Stanford in California) (20 units)
Four courses must be chosen from among Economics 102C, 111, 113, 115, 118, 126, 128, 136**, 137**, 140*, 141, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 153, 155, 157, 158, 160**, 164, 165, 166, 179, 180**, 181**, 182** (5 units each)
Policy Writing Course (5 units)
Economics 101 (5 units). This course fulfills the Writing in the Major requirement. Any WIM course for Economics may be taken only after completing Econ 51, 52, 102B and at least two field courses.
Electives (20 units)
Choose from Economics courses numbered between 100 and 198, excluding 190 and 191. Up to 10 units of this requirement may be fulfilled by upper division math and statistics courses. For example, Math 113, 114, 115, 136, 151, 171, 175, or Stats 200, 206, 207, 217, 218, 237.
A maximum of 10 units of transfer credit or of Econ 139D, directed reading and research, may be taken as electives. Suitable transfer credit must be approved in writing by the Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies. Advanced undergraduate majors with strong quantitative preparation may enroll in graduate (200-level) courses (see Section XII.A) with permission of the Director of Undergraduate Studies and the course instructor. Some courses offered by Overseas Studies may be counted toward this requirement (see Section VI). The department does not give credit for internships. Thus Econ 139-D, directed reading, cannot be used to obtain credit for internships.
* Students may not count units from both Econ 140 and Econ 135 towards their major as the courses are too similar in content.
**Students may count toward the econ field course requirement either Econ 136 or 182; either Econ 137 or 181; either Econ 160 or 180 (180, 181, 182 are honors courses). The second may count as an elective.
Other Requirements
1. At least 55 of the 80 units required for the major must be taken at Stanford in California.
2. No courses receiving Department of Economics credit under the preceding requirements may be taken CR/NC.
3. Students scoring a 5 on both the advanced placement (AP) microeconomics and macroeconomics tests or a score of 7 on International Baccalaureate (IB) higher level economics test may petition the Director of Undergraduate Studies to have the ECON 1A (but not 1B) course requirement waived. Students do not receive units credit for placing out of ECON 1A.
4. A grade point average (GPA) of C= (2.0) or better must be received for all units applied toward the Major.
5. To use transfer credit in partial satisfaction of the requirements, the student must obtain written consent from the department's Associate Director of Undergraduate Study, who will establish the amount of credit to be granted toward the department requirements.
6. The maximum time limit for satisfactory completion of a course is one year from the date a grade of incomplete ("I") is given. Instructors may require that a course be completed anytime up to the one year time limit. Students are responsible for seeing that all grades of incomplete are cleared within the time limit. The university's rule is that a grade of incomplete that is not cleared within the time limit becomes a grade of NP.
7. Students must complete their declaration of the major no later than the last day of the quarter, one quarter before anticipated degree conferral.