Economics

Overview

Economics is the study of decision-making and policy-making in the context of a world constrained by scarcity. We aim to help our students understand how decisions are linked to incentives and how policies can help align individual incentives with social objectives, including an efficient use of the world's resources and an equitable distribution of its output. We also aim to equip our students with the rigorous theoretical and empirical tools of our profession to enable them to better analyze and guide the decision making of individuals, the conduct of businesses and nonprofit enterprises, and the policies of governments and international organizations.

The Department aims to ensure that students majoring in Economics (1) understand the framework that professional economists use to analyze social and economic issues; (2) recognize how economic behavior and policies can affect both the aggregate level of prosperity and differentials in prosperity across members of society distinguished by characteristics such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status; (3) have proficient decision-making and problem-solving skills; (4) are competent in writing and speaking; and (5) possess critical-thinking skills that enable them to apply the theoretical and empirical tools of professional economists to a wide range of issues.

Major Requirements

A major in economics requires a minimum of ten courses. 

The major can be completed in fewer than four years, but it is almost impossible to complete the major in less than three years.

COURSEWORK

Choosing Electives

The economics department offers many electives, please choose from the following. If you would like to know how these electives might be grouped with other non-economics courses to give more intellectual continuity to a course of study, please refer to the department website: https://www.oxy.edu/economics/courses-requirements/choosing-electives.

Please select three of the following electives for your major requirements:

SECOND-STAGE WRITING REQUIREMENT

Students majoring in Economics will satisfy the Second-Stage Writing Proficiency Requirement by arranging (with the instructor) for ECON 272 or an ECON 300-level course to be designated as the student's writing course. Students need to notify the instructor of the course they are wishing to designate as their writing course before the end of the semester. Writing courses cannot be retroactively counted. Also, students can only designate one course as their writing course in a given semester. Writing proficiency will be determined through faculty assessment, and is independent of the course grade. The Second-Stage Writing Requirement must be satisfactorily completed by May of the student's junior year. Students who fail the requirement or who fail to meet the deadline will be required to both take (and pass) a college writing course in the senior year, typically WRD 201, and demonstrate acceptable writing skills in the senior comprehensive in order to graduate. Students should familiarize themselves with the departmental requirement at the time of declaring the major. See information about Writing Requirements in the college catalog and consult the department chair for additional information.

COMPREHENSIVE REQUIREMENT

Economics students meet their comprehensive requirement by successfully completing ECON 495 with a grade of C or above in the fall semester of their senior year. Students who will be off campus during the fall semester of their senior year must contact the department chair by the end of their junior year to make alternative arrangements.

HONORS

Majors can earn honors by taking ECON 498 in the spring semester of their senior year and by writing and defending, in that class, a thesis that is judged by the department faculty to be of honors quality. Enrollment in ECON 498 is limited to students with GPAs of 3.5 or higher (both overall and within the department). Interested students should consult with their academic advisor and then apply to the department chair in the fall semester of their senior year.

OFF-CAMPUS AND TRANSFER CREDITS

• Students who have passed a microeconomics or macroeconomics class at another college or university will be allowed to skip ECON 101.
• Economics majors must complete the following courses at Occidental and may not satisfy them with transfer credits: ECON 250, ECON 251, ECON 272, at least two 300-level electives, and their Senior Comprehensives course.
• Students may take one accounting course for College credit, either at Occidental or through transfer credits. Students may not receive College credit for any other business-related course.
• Students who have received a score of 4 or 5 on either AP Calculus test have met the departmental Calculus I major requirement (and the calculus pre-requisite for courses that require Calculus I).
• Students who have received a score of 5 on both the AP Microeconomics test and the AP Macroeconomics test will be allowed to skip ECON 101 and ECON 102. Students who have received a score of 4 on both the AP Microeconomics test and the AP Macroeconomics test, or a score of 4 in one and 5 in the other, will be allowed to skip ECON 101. Students who have an AP Microeconomics score of 5 may be allowed to skip ECON 101 after consultation with the economics department.

Minor Requirements

COURSEWORK

Students must complete the following coursework:

Electives:

Courses

Economics Courses

Faculty

Regular Faculty

Lesley Chiou, chair

Professor, Economics

B.A., University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Bevin Ashenmiller

Associate Professor, Economics; Advisory Committee, Urban and Environmental Policy

B.A., Princeton University; Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara

Andrew Jalil

Associate Professor, Economics

A.B., Sc.B., Brown University; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

Brandon Lehr

Associate Professor, Economics

B.A., University of California, Berkeley; Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mary Lopez

Associate Professor, Economics; Affiliated Faculty, Latino/a and Latin American Studies

B.A., University of California, Riverside; M.A., Ph.D., University of Notre Dame

Robby Moore

Elbridge Amos Stuart Professor of Economics

B.A., Pomona College; A.M., Ph.D., Harvard University

Jesse Mora

Assistant Professor, Economics

B.A., Claremont McKenna; M.A., John Hopkins-SAIS; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz

Diana Ngo

Assistant Professor, Economics

B.S., Harvard University; Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley

Woody Studenmund

Laurence de Rycke Professor of Economics

A.B., Hamilton College; M.A., Ph.D., Cornell University

Kirsten Wandschneider

Professor, Economics

M.Sc., Ph.D., University of Illinois

Kevin Williams

Assistant Professor, Economics

B.A., Claremont McKenna College; M.S., Ph.D., University of California, Davis

On Special Appointment

Yating Chuang

Part-Time Non-Tenure Track Assistant Professor, Economics

B.A., National Tsing Hua University; M.P.P., University of Maryland, College Park; Ph.D., University of Madison, Wisconsin

Daron Djerdjian

Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Professor, Economics

B.A., University of California, Los Angeles; Ph.D., Syracuse University

Daryl Ono

Non-Tenure Track Instructor of Accounting, Economics

B.A., University of California, Los Angeles; Ph.D., Pacific Western University

Victoria Umanskaya

Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Professor, Economics

B.A. (DHE), Saratov State University; Ph.D., University of Wyoming