Bachelor of Arts (BA)
The Department of Economics is home to over 1700 undergraduate students. Economics majors can enroll in a broad array of economics courses, ranging from economic history to advanced macroeconomics. Students are encouraged to study abroad, participate in research, and take advantage of the many opportunities Berkeley has to offer.
Declaring the Major
As an impacted major in high demand, declaration of the Economics major is admission-based and students must meet specific criteria in order to be admitted. Students who want to apply to the economics major must have completed or be currently enrolled in all the major prerequisites. Students admitted to Berkeley as freshmen must apply by their fifth semester of post-high school coursework unless they have fewer than 80 total units. This total includes coursework in-progress but excludes high school enrichment units, e.g., Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or other college units earned prior to high school graduation. Transfer students required to enroll in remaining prerequisites and apply to the major during their first semester at Berkeley. The 80 unit cap does not apply to transfer students.
For more information, please visit the department's prospective student website.
Honors Program
Students interested in graduating with honors in economics should consult with a faculty adviser no later than the second semester of their junior year. The department recommends a student for graduation with honors based on evidence of superior performance provided by a thesis written in the senior year and the student's course grade record overall and in the major. The minimum major grade point average (GPA) requirement is 3.5 in upper division economics courses and 3.3 GPA overall. The senior thesis may be an extension of a seminar paper prepared under the continued guidance of a faculty member through enrollment in ECON H195A/ECON H195B.
Minor Program
There is no minor program in economics.
Visit Department Website
Economics is the study of how people make choices under conditions of scarcity and the results of those choices for society. Limited resources make tradeoffs necessary for consumers, businesses, and nations. Microeconomics studies how consumers make choices in using their time and spending their income and how businesses make choices in producing and selling goods and services. Macroeconomics studies the determination of national income and how it deviates from its potential (full employment) over the business cycle. The important outcomes for the national economy are income and how it is distributed, unemployment, inflation, economic growth, and how well financial markets and international trade are functioning. Economics is important in studying the impact of government policies, ranging from regulatory activities in individual markets to general measures for stabilizing and steering the economy at large. The effect of alternative economic policies on the welfare of the population is a core concern in economics. Undergraduates should have the following knowledge and skills when they graduate with an economics major from UC Berkeley. The Department of Economics wants their majors to have knowledge of economics principles with the skills to apply this knowledge in the following ways.
Learning Goals of the Major
Critical Thinking Skills
- Apply economic analysis to evaluate everyday problems.
- Apply economic analysis to evaluate specific policy proposals.
- Compare two or more arguments that have different conclusions to a specific issue or problem.
- Understand the role of assumptions in arguments.
Quantitative Reasoning Skills
- Understand how to use empirical evidence to evaluate an economic argument.
- Interpret statistical results.
- Conduct appropriate statistical analysis of data and explain the statistical problems involved.
- Obtain and/or collect relevant data using specific qualitative and/or quantitative research methods.
Problem-Solving Skills
- Solve problems that have clear solutions.
- Propose solutions for problems that do not have clear answers and indicate under what conditions they may be viable solutions.
Specialized Knowledge and Application of Skills
- In specific content areas (fields) of economics, develop deeper critical and quantitative thinking skills, and apply problem-solving skills to complex problems.
Communication Skills
- Communicate effectively in written, spoken, and graphical form about specific economic issues.
- Formulate a well-organized written argument that states assumptions and hypotheses, which are supported by evidence.
- Present an economic argument orally.
Lifelong Learning Skills
- Possess a working knowledge of information databases (e.g., Econ Lit, Nexis-Lexis).
- Know how to locate and use primary data sources (e.g., BLS Household Survey, UN Human Development Index).
- Understand and evaluate current economic events and new economic ideas.
