Objectives for Undergraduate
Programs in Economics

Program Statement

The undergraduate economics programs at Seattle University seek to create persons who are eager and prepared to solve problems and make decisions in the private and public sectors. Our curriculum is designed to equip students with the different types of knowledge and skills necessary for them to achieve this goal, including preparation for graduate study in economics and related fields, such as law, business and public administration. The course content acquaints students with the economy in which they live and provides them with an understanding of how economics relates to the other social sciences. Our method, our analytical approach, of studying society provides the students with the tools of analysis necessary to approach problems and decision-making. Finally, our choice of teaching methods has the goal of promoting the cognitive development of our students. We seek to create ethical persons who think like economists and have a predisposition to serve society and further social justice.

Program Objectives

Knowledge

A graduate of the economics or business economics programs at Seattle University should be able to:

• understand, and describe to the lay person, the important aspects of a local, regional, national, and international economy.

• explain to the non-economist the fundamental economic problem of scarcity (and tradeoffs).

• explain the determinants of aggregate economic activity, including the basics of fiscal and monetary policy and how each affects the economy.

• explain to the non-economist the meaning of a market economy and how markets allocate society's scarce resources.

• explain to the non-economist what it means for markets to fail and the role of government in finding solutions for market failure.

• understand the domain of economics—the questions covered by economics and the questions not covered by economics. 

Skills

A graduate of the program in economics or business economics at Seattle University should be able to:

• identify key relationships between important variables.

• understand the difference between correlation and cause-and-effect.

• identify the relationship between assumption and interpretation.

• apply algebraic, graphical, and statistical tools to analyses of problems and issues in business and public policy

• think critically, for example, be able to:

  • summarize low-level articles from professional journals.

  • articulate the connections between the different sub-disciplines of economics.

  • automatically compare and contrast different economic theories.

• make oral presentations.

• convey their ideas in a variety of written forms.

• understand how to employ their skills in service to the community.

• present themselves in a professional manner.

For more information on our Economic Degree Programs, click here