Economics

Chair: Erasmus Kersting, Ph.D.
Associate Chair: Mary Kelly, Ph.D.
Office Location: 2014 Bartley Hall
Telephone: 610-519-4370
Website

About

Economics is the science that studies the behavior of social systems – such as markets, legislatures, corporations, and families – in allocating scarce resources. It is a discipline which brings together the diverse worlds of business, social science, and public policy. The study of economics is an excellent preparation leading to many career options. Economics majors are well positioned to be the future managers and leaders in both the private and public sectors. The study of economics at the undergraduate level provides a solid basis for graduate study in the social sciences and for professional study in business administration, law, public administration, and in the health sciences.

Programs

Courses

ECO 1001: Intro to Micro

Program
Credits 3

The price system; demand and supply analysis; the production process; analysis of market structures.

Last Offered
Fall 2025, Summer 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024
Effective Term
200820

ECO 1002: Intro to Macro

Program
Credits 3

The economic system and it fundamental principles. The economic functions of government, monetary and fiscal policy, and international trade.

Last Offered
Fall 2025, Summer 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024
Effective Term
200820

ECO 2101: Macroeconomic Theory

Program
Credits 3

The components of aggregate economic growth. Theories underlying public policies which attempt to achieve the objectives of price stability, full employment and economic growth in the United States.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and (ECO 1002) and (MAT 1310 or MAT 1312 or MAT 1320 or MAT 1330 or MAT 1400 or MAT 1500)

Last Offered
Fall 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Effective Term
202230

ECO 2102: Microeconomic Theory

Program
Credits 3

Economic and mathematical analysis of the equilibrium conditions of the household, the firm, and industry, in various market structures, together with a brief examination of the general equilibrium of the economy; emphasis upon developing a working knowledge of elementary mathematical analysis as it applies to present economic theory.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002 and (MAT 1310 or MAT 1312 or MAT 1320 or MAT 1330 or MAT 1400 or MAT 1500)

Last Offered
Fall 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Effective Term
202230

ECO 2130: Intro to R Prog for Econ & Fin

Program
Credits 1

Fast paced coverage of R. Topics include libraries, tidyverse, IO, data types and storage, data analysis and display, function writing, higher order functions vs loops, and performance.

Prerequisites

MAT 1400 or MAT 1500 and (MAT 1235 or MAT 1430 or STAT 1235 or STAT 1430) and MIS 2020 or CSC 1010

Last Offered
Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019
Effective Term
202020

ECO 2993: Internship

Program
Credits 3

Fulfills 3.0 economic elective credits.

Last Offered
Fall 2025, Summer 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024
Effective Term
200820

ECO 2996: Internship

Program
Credits 6

Fulfills 6.0 economic elective credits.

Last Offered
Summer 2024, Summer 2023, Summer 2022, Summer 2021
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3106: Econ of Money & Banking

Program
Credits 3

Principles of money, banking and financial markets; the relationship of the monetary and banking system to the functioning of the economy; the theory and practice of monetary policy; the function of money in international payments.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3107: FED Challenge

Program
Credits 3

Competition style course structured to combine concepts of Federal Reserve monetary policy and advanced macroeconomic analysis with enhanced presentation skills. Students will be selected from the class to represent Villanova in an intercollegiate Fed Challenge Competition.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002 and (ECO 2101 or ECO 3106)

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Effective Term
202030

ECO 3108: Global Political Econ

Program
Credits 3

Socio-economic conditions, political history, and government policy and the global impact on international trade and monetary relations; regional integration; stability of international economic systems; economic development and transition strategies; role of multinational corporations in the global world.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Summer 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024
Effective Term
200920

ECO 3109: International Economics

Program
Credits 3

Comparative advantage; gains from foreign trade; Heckscher-Ohlin doctrine; technology and product cycles; tariff theory and policy; Other protection measures; economic integration; foreign exchange rates; fixed and flexible rates; balance of payments; multinational corporations.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2025, Spring 2022, Fall 2020, Spring 2019
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3111: Hist of Economic Thought

Program
Credits 3

The evolution of economic analysis within the context of contemporary economic institutions and associated social, ethical, and political thought.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Summer 2025, Summer 2023, Summer 2022, Summer 2021
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3112: Public Sector Economics

Program
Credits 3

The economic roles of various levels of government and the theory and practice of public expenditure and taxation. Government's impact on the allocation of resources and the distribution of income in a mixed economy.

Prerequisites

ECO 1001 or SBI 2005

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020
Effective Term
200930

ECO 3114: Environmental Economics

Program
Credits 3

Through the evaluation of practical applications, social norms, and environmental laws and policies, this course provides a critical analysis of the economic impact of environmental challenges including resource depletion, climate change, and ecosystem services across temporal, spatial, and political boundaries.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Spring 2025
Effective Term
202520

ECO 3118: Women in the Economy

Program
Credits 3

The role of women in the economy and its implications. Economics of the household, marriage, fertility, divorce unemployment, earnings of women and occupational choice. International comparisons and current public policy issues.

Prerequisites

ECO 1001 or SBI 2005

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
Effective Term
202230

ECO 3120: Financial Economics

Program
Credits 3

This course covers corporate finance. Topics include Time Value of Money, Interest Rates, Stocks and Bonds, Firm Valuation, Investment Risk and Return, Capital Structure, Financial Modeling and Forecasting, Options, and Mergers and Acquisitions.

Prerequisites

ECO 1001 and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Effective Term
202010

ECO 3123: Labor Economics

Program
Credits 3

Economic theories concerning the employer's labor demand, the individual's labor supply, educational/occupational choices, labor unions, on-the-job training, discrimination, labor market mechanisms and wage determination. Public policies which affect the market.

Prerequisites

ECO 1001 or SBI 2005

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3124: Economics of Sports

Program
Credits 3

Key economic concepts and theories of Industrial Organization and Public Policy, Public Finance, and Labor Economics, discussed in the context of the sports industry. An in-depth look at related econometric research of sports economists.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Fall 2023
Effective Term
201910

ECO 3125: Industr Org & Public Pol

Program
Credits 3

Economics of American industrial organization; market structure, conduct, and performance; the workability of competition in selected industries; the application of public policy and anti-trust law.

Prerequisites

ECO 1001 or SBI 2005

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3126: Amer Econ Development

Program
Credits 3

Growth of the American economy in terms of its various sectors and their interrelations; the evolution of important economic institutions and ideas and of the role of the entrepreneurs.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2021, Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3127: Development Economics

Program
Credits 3

Structural change in the process of development; growth patterns and income distribution; determinants and role of saving, investment, technological change; strategy and methods of development planning; the role of government; social institutions.

Prerequisites

ECO 1001 or SBI 2005

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Fall 2022
Effective Term
202230

ECO 3130: Programming for Econ & Fin

Program
Credits 3

Programming in R for economics and finance applications. Topics include libraries, tidyverse, IO, data types and storage, indexing/slicing, data wrangling, regression, display, function writing, control structures, loops, higher order functions, performance, functional and objected oriented design.

Prerequisites

MAT 1400 or MAT 1500 and (MAT 1235 or MAT 1430 or STAT 1235 or STAT 1430)

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2025, Spring 2024
Effective Term
202020

ECO 3133: Economics of Healthcare

Program
Credits 3

Examination of health as a durable good and specific markets for services to enhance health, including physician, nursing, hospital, and private insurance. The role of government and comparison to health care systems and outcomes in other countries are all studied.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Spring 2021, Spring 2020
Effective Term
201910

ECO 3137: Intro to Econometrics

Program
Credits 3

Intermediate course in stochastic methods with emphasis on applications; estimation, hypotheses testing, regression analysis, economic forecasting, time series analysis and probabilistic formulation of economic relationships such as consumption and production functions.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002 and (STAT 1235 or STAT 1313 or STAT 1430 or STAT 4310 or VSB 2005)

Last Offered
Fall 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3138: Game Theory

Program
Credits 3

Basic game theoretic framework, concepts and applications; mathematical models to understand the behavior of humans in strategic situations.

Prerequisites

ECO 1001 or SBI 2005

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Effective Term
200820

ECO 3139: Behavioral Economics

Program
Credits 3

Examine cutting edge theories of how cognitive, psychological , social, and emotional factors affect economic decisions. Evidence from lab and field experiments is presented to support these behavioral models.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002 and (MAT 1310 or MAT 1320 or MAT 1400 or MAT 1500)

Last Offered
Fall 2025
Effective Term
202120

ECO 3140: Urban Economics

Program
Credits 3

Utilizes economic theory to examine the major contemporary issues confronting urban areas; explores economic solutions to the problems of housing, transportation, education, poverty, crime, growth, employment, taxes and redevelopment.

Prerequisites

(ECO 1001 or SBI 2005) and ECO 1002

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Spring 2025, Spring 2019, Fall 2017

ECO 4132: Seminar in Economics

Program
Credits 3

Capstone course requiring students to utilize the tools of analysis and expression, including not only economic theory and applications, but also writing, speaking and mathematics. Computer skills expanded.

Prerequisites

ECO 2101 and ECO 2102 and (ECO 3132 or ECO 3137)

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019
Effective Term
200820

ECO 4201: Dynamic Macroeconomic Theory

Program
Credits 3

Modern methods used in macroeconomic research based on microeconomic principles; dynamic processes of economic growth and business cycles; impact of rational expectations on fiscal and monetary policies; mathematical tools for dynamic economic models.

Prerequisites

ECO 2101 and ECO 2102

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2021, Spring 2020
Effective Term
202020

ECO 4203: Pol Eco of Intl Financial Inst

Program
Credits 3

This course examines foreign aid using a variety of economic tools including growth models, a public choice approach, principal-agent theory, and econometrics. A recurring theme is how the objectives of aid donors and recipients influence the development effectiveness of aid.

Prerequisites

(ECO 2102 and ECO 3137)

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Effective Term
201520

ECO 4207: Economics of Risk&Uncertainty

Program
Credits 3

Capstone course. Analyze microeconomic and macroeconomic situations involving risk, uncertainty, and ambiguity. Applications of expected utility theory and mean-variance theory in insurance, behavioral economics, and finance. Applications of empirically measuring and quantitatively modeling time-varying volatility in macroeconomics.

Prerequisites

ECO 2102 and ECO 2101 and ECO 3137

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
Effective Term
202120

ECO 4209: International Macroeconomics

Program
Credits 3

Capstone course. Open economy macroeconomic theory, monetary and asset-based exchange rate models; flexible vs. fixed exchange rate regimes; gains from financial globalization; financial and currency crisis; currency unions.

Prerequisites

ECO 2102 and ECO 2101 and ECO 3137

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
Effective Term
202120

ECO 4210: Experimental Economics

Program
Credits 3

Capstone course. Read seminal papers that use experiments to test economic theories. Learn how to properly design and conduct experiments.

Prerequisites

ECO 2102 and ECO 2101 and ECO 3137

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Spring 2021
Effective Term
202120

ECO 4500: Independent Study in Eco

Program
Credits 3

Students with specific interests work on a tutorial basis with faculty. A departmental independent Research Proposal form must be approved by the directing faculty member and the department chairman prior to registration.

Prerequisites

ECO 2101 and ECO 2102

Prerequisite Courses
Last Offered
Fall 2025, Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024
Effective Term
200820