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The Economics Major
ECONOMICS (Div. II)
Chair, Professor DAVID J. ZIMMERMAN
Professors: BRADBURD, C. HILL, HUSBANDS
FEALING*, MONTIEL, SCHAPIRO, S. SHEPPARD, WINSTON, ZIMMERMAN. Associate
Professors: BRAINERD*, GOLLIN*, SWAMY*. Assistant Professors: BAKIJA*,
DE BRAUW, GEIREGAT*, GENTRY, KHAN, KOTCHEN, LOVE, MANI, OAK, PEDRONI,
RAI, SCHMIDT, SHORE-SHEPPARD*. Visiting Professor Emeritus: BRUTON. Visiting
Associate Professor: SAMSON. Visiting Assistant Professor: GIBSON, MATHESON.
*On leave for all or part of the academic year
For students who have already taken Economics 101, your course sequence should be Economics 101, any Economics course numbered 201 to 240 prior to taking Economics 251 or 251M, 252, and a statistical methods course (either 253 or 255, or Mathematics and Statistics 243 and 346) which should be taken before 401, plus any three economics electives of which at least two must be selected from advanced electives numbered 350 to 394, and Economics 401.
(Please note that students who have taken Economics 101 cannot take Economics 110 or 120, and note that students cannot take Economics 110 or 120 without having passed the quantitative studies exam or the equivalent.)
Students who are beginning their sequence with Economics 110 or Economics 120 should follow the following sequence:
Economics 110 Principles of Microeconomics
Economics 120 Principles of Macroeconomics
(Economics 110 and 120 may be taken separately and in any order)
Economics 251 Price and Allocation Theory
or Economics 251M Price and Allocation Theory (In the spring semester,
this section of the Price and Allocation Theory course will employ a somewhat
more mathematical exposition of microtheory.)
Economics 252 Macroeconomics
One statistical methods course, Economics 253 or 255, or Mathematics and Statistics 243 and 346. (The statistical methods course should be taken before 401.)
Three Economics electives, of which at least two must be selected from advanced electives numbered 350 to 394
Economics 401 Senior Seminar
To complete the major, economics students must receive a passing grade on the oral examination given in the course of Economics 401. A student who fails the oral examination must re-take the exam and receive a passing grade.
The primary objectives of the major are to develop an understanding of economic aspects of contemporary life and to equip the student to analyze economic issues of social policy. The introductory courses stress use of the basic elements of economic analysis for understanding and resolving such issues. The two required intermediate theory courses then provide a more thorough grounding in economics as a discipline by examining the strengths and weaknesses of the price system in allocating economics resources and by examining the aggregate processes which determine employment, inflation, and growth. A course in statistical methods (253 or 255, or alternatively, Math 243 plus Math 346) equips the major to understand and apply the basic tools of quantitative empirical analysis. Majors must take three electives, in at least two of which they apply parts of the theory learned in the required intermediate theory courses. In the senior seminar, the student studies a series of current theoretical or policy problems, applying analysis and research methods.
The normal requirement that nine economics courses be taken at Williams will usually be waived only on the basis of transferred credit deemed acceptable by the department. Credit is granted based on grades consistent with college policy on various examinations:
* Students who receive a 5 on the Microeconomics AP or Macroeconomics AP exam, or a 5 on each, may place out of Economics 110 or 120, or both, respectively, but major credit will be given for only one course.
* The Department will grant major credit for both Economics 110 and 120 to a student who receives a 6 or 7 on the higher-level Economics IB examination, and that student can place into any 200-level course or intermediate-level micro or macro course.
* For A levels credit, the Department will grant major credit for both Economics 110 and 120 to a student who receives a grade of A or B.
Prospective majors please note that instructors in all sections of Economics 251, 252, and 253 feel free to use elementary calculus in assigned readings, lectures, problem sets, and examinations; therefore, Economics 110 and 120 and Mathematics 103 or its equivalent are required as prerequisites for these courses except for 251 which only requires Economics 110 and Mathematics 103 as a prerequisite. By elementary calculus is meant differentiation of single variable polynomial functions and conditions for a maximum or minimum; it does not include integration or multivariable calculus. Instructors in advanced electives (courses numbered 350-394) may also use elementary calculus in assigned readings, lectures, problem sets, and examinations. Students interested in graduate study in economics should consider studying more advanced mathematics; see your advisor for specific suggestions. Students are also reminded that some courses now have specific mathematics requirements; see course descriptions.
THE
DEGREE WITH HONORS IN ECONOMICS
For detailed instructions for academic year 2003/04
click here
Our honors program is designed to provide an opportunity for especially
motivated and qualified majors to conduct sustained, independent research
on a topic of interest to them. To get honors you need to do some original
and independent research and to complete an honors thesis reporting the
research. The key here is "original and independent," but those
words do not necessarily imply "theoretical" or "mathematical"
or "econometric;" some of our most successful honors graduates
have worked on case studies, historical analysis, economic philosophy,
and the history of economic thought.
There are two routes to honors. One involves research beginning in October
of the senior year and extending through the rest of the fall semester,
Winter Study, and the spring semester. The other involves research over
the entire senior year, and requires some initial student planning late
in the junior year. Both require a substantial written thesis for successful
completion. Both require one additional course in the major, so that an
honors major must complete at least ten courses in economics rather than
nine. Your choice between the two routes will depend on a variety of factors,
such as the nature of your faculty adviser's involvement and the time
required to do research adequately on your topic; some projects, for example,
may require an extensive period of data development, or extensive preliminary
reading of unfamiliar literature, that makes the longer period advisable.
The advantages and disadvantages of each route should become clearer below.
(The first, shorter route is sometimes called, colloquially, the "mini-thesis
route," but this is, frankly, a misnomer: the thesis in the shorter
route must be a substantial written product.)
A. Shorter Route
In this route you will use the second half of Economics 401 to work on an honors proposal, under the guidance of a sponsoring faculty member. You will be excused from the normal work of Economics 401 in the last five weeks in order to work on the proposal (although you may find it valuable to audit 401 during the period). Your proposal is included as part of the basis for your grade in 401. The proposal must be a paper about 20 pages long which includes a clear statement of the goals of the research and a defense of the value of the research, a review of relevant literature, a statement of hypotheses you will test (if you are proposing empirical research) and a description of methods of testing, a discussion of available data (again, if relevant), and related topics.
An advantage of the shorter route is that at the time you begin work on the proposal, you need not have a concrete topic fully worked out. What you must demonstrate are interest and some background in a promising area of research, and that a faculty member is willing to work with you on the proposal. It clearly is highly advantageous for you to propose a topic for which one or more of your prior courses has prepared you. We encourage students who have at least a 3.5 GPA to apply for this route, but we will consider strong proposals from students with lower GPAs.
At the end of 401, the sponsoring faculty member and the coordinator of the honors program will read your proposal and will make a decision on whether to permit you to proceed with further research. They make the decision primarily on the potential for original research, as revealed by the proposal and your efforts during the period just ended. If the department does not permit you to proceed, or if you voluntarily abandon the pursuit of honors, then you'll receive credit for 401 and the process is ended.
Assuming you proceed, you then work independently with the sponsoring faculty member during Winter Study, and, if acceptable progress is made by the end of Winter Study, during the spring semester. You will enroll in Economics 30 in Winter Study and in Economics 404 during the spring; these courses do not meet regularly in the style of regular courses but all the students meet occasionally in a group and everyone makes periodic oral reports to the group. Economics 404 is the extra course required of honors majors; it may not substitute for any elective.
Safety Valves. Note that in this route you must show satisfactory progress at two specific points in time -- the end of Economics 401 and the end of Winter Study -- in order to continue. At either point, the department might not permit you to go on, or you may decide you don't want to continue. In that case, you'll receive credit for work already done -- either in the form of a grade on the proposal that enters into the Economics 401 grade or in the form of a passing grade in Winter Study. We have devised this honors program with the explicit goal of encouraging students to begin honors research even if they are somewhat uncertain whether they will continue on through the spring.
B. Longer Route
This route is open to students who are well qualified by preparation and interest to pursue a narrowly specialized topic for an entire year, and who have identified a promising topic by the end of the junior year.
If you want to start on this route, you must apply to the department by May 1 of your junior year, submitting a careful and detailed proposal for work under the supervision of a specified faculty member who has agreed to work with you. Thus this route requires you to identify and justify a topic much earlier than the shorter route does. Many department members typically require the proposal to fit more closely with their own research than they do for a shorter-route proposal. If we approve your application, then you will register for Economics 493 in the fall of the senior year, and that course may substitute for an elective (lower-level, middle-level, or advanced)--if you go on to complete the thesis, that is. If you make satisfactory progress in the fall, you'll go on to register in Economics 31 in Winter Study, and -- again assuming progress -- for Economics 494 in the spring. Economics 494 is the extra course required for honors and it may not substitute for an elective. In this route you are not excused from any part of 401.
In this route also you have safety valves. Even if you do not continue beyond the fall, or beyond Winter Study, you will receive credit for satisfactory work done up to that time, in the form of a grade for Economics 493 and Economics 31. However, if you drop out without completing Economics 494, then you cannot substitute Economics 493 for an elective in the major.
In both routes, the department makes a final determination of honors at the end of the spring semester, based on the written thesis and an oral defense before a department committee and other faculty and students -- this oral defense is an event open to the public. The honors coordinator will assist you in making effective oral presentations and in anticipating questions from faculty and students, and in fact will require you to make a "dry run" of an oral presentation before the actual defense. The honors coordinator takes the quality of your thesis and oral defense into account in determining your grade for Economics 404.
The department awards honors for an original and effective thesis, and highest honors for one that is unusually so in both respects.
AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDIES AND AREA STUDIES
A major in economics who concentrates in African-American or Area Studies may substitute the non-economics courses in the concentration for one lower-level elective in the Economics major, but not for an advanced elective (350-394).
Note on Course Numbers: Courses between 201 and 240 are lower-level electives and are open to first-year students who have taken 101. Courses between 260 and 349 are intermediate electives which do not build on specific prior experience, but do require some maturity, so they have any two economics courses or permission of the instructor as prerequisites. Courses 350 and above are advanced electives primarily designed for Economics and Political Economy majors and have theory prerequisites.
GRADUATE COURSES IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
Juniors and seniors majoring in Economics or Political Economy may, with the permission of the instructor, enroll in graduate courses given by the Center for Development Economics. A Center course may substitute for an advanced elective in the major with permission of the chair of the department.
Notes for students interested in pursuing a PhD in Economics:
Graduate training in economics requires much more mathematical sophistication than undergraduate economics does. Multivariable calculus (Math 105), linear algebra (Math 211) and real analysis (Math 301) are essential. Other math, statistics, or computer science courses may also be useful as preparation for certain fields in economics. In general, good grades in Math classes will boost your chances of getting into a top Economics PhD program.
We encourage you to take Econ 251M instead of Econ 251 and Econ 255 instead of 253. To get an idea of what economics research is all about (and to get to know a faculty member well), you should consider writing a senior honors thesis.
Where should you apply? There are several rankings available on the web, and these can give you a rough idea of reputations of various departments. Most departments are stronger in some fields than in others -- talk to a professor in the field you are interested in for more specific suggestions on where to apply.
Stanford Professor Susan Athey has extremely useful tips here.
This table of recent outcomes (not a random sample) gives a rough idea of how competitive the process is:
How to finance a PhD? Graduate programs typically offer financial aid to some of the students they admit. If you are a US citizen or resident, you should also consider applying for outside fellowships from the NSF and Javits. If you are an Asian citizen, you should consider applying for the Japan-IMF scholarship.
Mark Foley at Davidson College hosts a page with these and other useful links here.
Graduate programs look for a high score in the quantitative GRE.
Recent Williams graduates who are currently in Economics PhD programs
and have graciously agreed to dispense advice are:
Saumitra Jha, Stanford
Lock Reynolds, Michigan
Dan Rosenblum, Yale
Congratulations to recent graduates who are all starting PhD programs
in 2005!
Saroj Bhattarai (Princeton)
Anne Jirapattanakul (Columbia)
On Jeasakul (Berkeley)
Ryan McDevitt (Northwestern)
Paul Vichyanond (Princeton)
Noam Yuchtman (Harvard)
Brad Howells (Berkeley)