Economics

From international trade and interest rates to poverty and discrimination, the study of Economics is far-reaching. At its core, it’s about choice: How does a society use its scarce resources to produce and distribute goods and services? Who wins? Who loses? Why?

Our curriculum will immerse you in economic theories as well as evolving areas like public policy, innovation and intellectual property, and international development.

We offer two undergraduate degrees, one through the College of Arts & Sciences, and the other through the Leavey School of Business, as well as teach foundational courses for the MBA programs.

Our students often serve as research assistants to faculty, gaining hands-on exposure to modern research questions and methods, and occasional opportunities for co-authorship.

Unlike many specialized degrees, economics opens up a broad range of career possibilities from management and finance to public policy and nonprofit work as well as prepares students for graduate study in economics, business, and law.

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Submissions from 2002

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Community-Based Targeting Mechanisms for Social Safety Nets: A Critical Review, Jonathan H. Conning and Michael Kevane

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Marriage in Africa: simple economics, Michael Kevane

Submissions from 2001

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Bankruptcy, Debt, and the Macroeconomy, 1919-1946, Alexander J. Field

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Not What it Used to Be: The Cambridge Economic History of The United States, vols. II and III, Alexander J. Field

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The Regulatory History of a New Technology: The Electromagnetic Telegraph, Alexander J. Field

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Evolving Tenure Rights and Agricultural Intensification in Southwestern Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane and Leslie Gray

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Microenterprise Lending to Female Entrepreneurs: Sacrificing Economic Growth for Poverty Alleviation?, Michael Kevane and Bruce Wydick

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Social Norms and the Time Allocation of Women's Labor in Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane and Bruce Wydick

Submissions from 1999

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Comment on Paper by Gavin Wright, ‘Can A Nation Learn? American Technology as a Network Phenomenon’, Alexander J. Field

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Titanium Hoes? Farmers, Wealth and Higher Yields in Western Sudan, Michael Kevane

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Why do I live in African villages?, Michael Kevane

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A Woman's Field Is Made At Night: Gendered Land Rights And Norms In Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane and Leslie C. Gray

Submissions from 1998

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Critical Issues Relating to Impacts of Information Technology: Areas for Future Research and Discussion, Alexander J. Field

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Sunk Costs, Water Over the Dam, and Other Liquid Parables, Alexander J. Field

The Telegraphic Transmission of Financial Asset Prices and Orders to Trade: Implications for Economic Growth, Trading Volume, and Securities Market Regulation, Alexander J. Field

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Extra-Household Norms and Intra-Household Bargaining: Gender in Sudan and Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane

Submissions from 1997

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A Developmental State Without Growth? Explaining the Paradox of Burkina Faso in a Comparative Perspective, Michael Kevane and Pierre Englebert

Submissions from 1996

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Agrarian Structure and Agricultural Practice: Typology and Application to Western Sudan, Michael Kevane

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Qualitative Impact Study of Credit With Education in Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane

Submissions from 1995

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Local politics in the time of Turabi's revolution: gender, class and ethnicity in western Sudan, Michael Kevane and Leslie C. Gray

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Adults’ Abilities To Detect Children Who Are Ready To Learn, Michelle Perry, Jacqueline Woolley, and John Ifcher

Submissions from 1994

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French Optical Telegraphy, 1793-1855: Hardware, Software, Administration, Alexander J. Field

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Village labor markets in Sheikan district, Sudan, Michael Kevane

Submissions from 1993

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An Interview with Moses Abramovitz, Alexander J. Field

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For Whom is the Rural Economy Resilient? Initial Effects of Drought in Western Sudan, Leslie C. Gray and Michael Kevane

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Is the “Sheil” a Shill? Informal Credit in Rural Sudan, Michael Kevane

Submissions from 1992

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The Magnetic Telegraph, Price and Quantity Data, and the New Management of Capital, Alexander J. Field

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Uncontrolled Land Development and the Duration of the Depression in the United States, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1991

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Do Legal Systems Matter?, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1988

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Economic History and the Modern Economist: Let Us Now Praise Exogenous Variables, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1987

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Modern Business Enterprise as a Capital-Saving Innovation, Alexander J. Field

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The Future of Economic History, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1985

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On the Unimportance of Machinery, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1984

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A New Interpretation of the Onset of the Great Depression, Alexander J. Field

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Asset Exchanges and the Transactions Demand for Money, 1919-1929, Alexander J. Field

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Microeconomics, Norms, and Rationality, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1983

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Land Abundance, Interest-Profit Rates and Nineteenth Century American and British Technology, Alexander J. Field

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Malthus's Macroeconomic and Methodological Thought, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1982

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Optimal Pricing in the Presence of Experience Effects, Frank H. Clarke, M. N. Darrough, and John Heineke

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Land Abundance, Factor Returns, and Nineteenth Century American and British Technology: A Ricardian/Linear Production Model Retrospective, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1981

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The Problem with Neoclassical Institutional Economics: A Critique with Special Reference to the North-Thomas Model of pre-1500 Europe, Alexander J. Field

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Whither Quantitative History?: A Review of Some Recent Work in the Economic and Social History of Education, Alexander J. Field

Submissions from 1980

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Industrialization and Skill Intensity: The Case of Massachusetts, Alexander J. Field

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The Relative Stability of German and American Industrial Growth, 1880-1913: A Comparative Analysis, Alexander J. Field

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Law Enforcement Agencies as Multiproduct Firms: Correcting Some Misconceptions, John Heineke and M. N. Darrough

Submissions from 1979

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Economic and Demographic Determinants of Educational Commitment, Massachusetts, 1855, Alexander J. Field

Occupational Structure, Dissent and Educational Commitment, Lancashire, 1841, Alexander J. Field

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On the Explanation of Rules Using Rational Choice Models, Alexander J. Field

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Law Enforcement Agencies as Multiproduct Firms: An Econometric Investigation of Production Costs, John Heineke and M. N. Darrough

Submissions from 1978

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Education and Social Programs: Workshop Report, Alexander J. Field

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Sectoral Shift in Antebellum Massachusetts: A Reconsideration, Alexander J. Field

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Technical and allocative efficiency: preliminary ideas toward discrimination between the hypotheses, John Heineke and M. N. Darrough

Submissions from 1977

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The multi-output translog production cost function: the case of law enforcement agencies, John Heineke and M. N. Darrough

Submissions from 1976

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Educational Expansion in Mid-Nineteenth Century Massachusetts: Human Capital Formation or Structural Reinforcement?, Alexander J. Field

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Educational Reform and Manufacturing Development in Mid-Nineteenth Century Massachusetts, Alexander J. Field

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Modeling the offense decision: a critical survey, John Heineke

Submissions from 1975

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The models of economic choice theory: a paradigm for non-economists, John Heineke

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A Labor Theoretic Analysis of the Criminal Choice, John Heineke and M. K. Block

Submissions from 1973

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Demand for Refined Lead, John Heineke

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The Allocation of Effort Under Uncertainty: The Case of Risk Averse Behavior, John Heineke and M. K. Block

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The supply of legal and illegal activity: A choice theoretic analysis, John Heineke and M. K. Block

Submissions from 1972

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A theory of household behavior under uncertainty, John Heineke and M. K. Block

Submissions from 1971

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Rigid pricing policies and profit maximization, John Heineke

Submissions from 1970

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A note on a compound distribution: the demand for hospital beds, John Heineke

Submissions from 1969

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A stochastic model of wildfire ignitions and damages, John Heineke and Stein Weissenberger

Submissions from 1967

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Stochastic Reserve Losses, John Heineke and Eleanor M. Birch

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Stochastic Reserve Losses: A Rejoinder, John Heineke and Eleanor M. Birch