Tulane University's most popular and acclaimed multidisciplinary major, the Political Economy major aims to promote sustained reflection on the multiple connections between political and economic activities and institutions.
The Political Economy major supports and promotes Tulane University's mission to create, communicate and conserve knowledge in order to enrich the capacity of individuals, organizations and communities to think, to learn, to act and to lead with integrity and wisdom.
The political economy major aims to promote sustained reflection on the interrelations of political and economic activities and institutions. It provides undergraduate students with the basic skills of economic analysis. The major is also based firmly on the view that the study of the interrelations of politics and economics has a rich humanistic tradition and that its pursuit can encourage sustained reflection on fundamental values. Political economy is a multidisciplinary major built on a core of eight required courses and five elective courses drawn from economics, political science, history and philosophy.
This major is designed to avoid the sometimes excessive specialization that characterizes more traditional undergraduate majors. While providing students basic skills of economic analysis, the political economy major at Tulane is distinctively based on the view that technical economic analysis should not be divorced from a broader concern for understanding the moral and historical foundations of economic institutions and political structures.
Internship Grants and Senior Thesis
In the summer between junior and senior years, a political economy major may elect to participate in a summer internship. The Murphy Institute offers a limited number of grants in an open competition for political economy majors only. With consent of the Associate Director, a student may pursue a degree with honors in political economy. A senior honors thesis is required.
Finally, it should be noted that undergraduate majors in political economy are invited to participate in various activities sponsored by the Murphy Institute. The Murphy Institute hosts prominent scholars and public figures in a series of annual lectures. Student majors are invited to all of these occasions, as well as to more informal meetings with our visitors.