The Bachelor of Arts in economics within Rockhurst University’s prestigious Helzberg School of Management covers everything from international trade to environmental sustainability to global development and justice.
Program Overview
Our economics major explores the intersection of law and economics, preparing students to analyze and formulate policy and setting them up for success in any number of dynamic jobs in the growing economics field.
This is done not by simply studying theories but by examining the living context of different government administrations, geopolitical events and business cycles.
Our economics degree students graduate ready to propose effective, integrated solutions that can change the world.
Learning Outcomes
- Ability to formulate and argue policies that impact the economic environment, reflect on the impact of those policies upon oneself and one’s community in order to potentially affect beneficial public policy.
- Distinguish and apply both positive and normative economic tools to define and debate economic issues and policy.
- Recognize and analyze issues relating to ethics and social justice to propose and defend courses of action to create a more just world.
- Define, describe, demonstrate and apply intermediate-level economic theory.
- Apply scientific method to develop new knowledge.
- Integrate relevant cultural, social, political, historical, geographic and environmental factors into the analysis and debate of economic issues and courses of action.
- Identify, access and analyze relevant quantitative and qualitative information to evaluate economic issues/problems, to develop forecasts, and to select and evaluate appropriate courses of action.
- Produce and deliver effective written and oral communications in a variety of contexts using appropriate technologies.
Program Outcomes
What Is Economics?
Economics is the social science that studies how people interact with value. This extends to goods and services as well as physical and digital monetary variables. Microeconomics is concerned with applications of the basic elements and individual agents, while macroeconomics takes a look at how countries and the world economy interact.
Is An Economics Degree Worth It?
Yes, because it gives you the opportunity to make a lasting impact on society.
What Can You Do With An Economics Degree?
Here are a few examples of jobs for economics majors that some of our graduates have obtained:
- Tess Hart, ’13, International Development Fellow, Catholic Relief Services, Niger
- Guy Kirby Montgomery, ’09, Director of Product and Design, MSTS, and Co-Founder, TheraWe Connect, Kansas City, Missouri
- Rachel Franklin, ’16, Analyst, Data and Analytics Group at The Advisory Company, Washington, D.C.
- Danielle Naven, ’09, Community Partnerships Manager, goTenna, New York, New York
- Phillip Steiner, ’13, Social Science Research Analyst, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Baltimore, Maryland
- Maria Butz, ’10, CEO, TheraWe Connect, and Branch Lead, Crawford-Butz Insurance, Kansas City, Missouri
- Grant Otte, ’18, Strategy and Innovation Team, Amigos for Christ, Nicaragua
- Reece Clark, ’11, Technology Transactions & Data Privacy Associate, Polsinelli Law Firm, Kansas City, Missouri
- Nickolas Spelger, ’16, Senior Analyst, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
- Tim Opitz, ’09, General Counsel, Renew Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
- Trey Malone, ’10, Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Course Map
Degree and class descriptions and requirements can be found by clicking on the course catalog listings below:
Popular Courses
This course helps students in developing a scientific approach to studying economic systems such as modern capitalism. Students investigate the structure of market behavior, performance in the marketplace and optimizing behavior regarding consumer demand, revenues, costs and profits.
Students will be able to identify business use cases for predictive analytics, apply and interpret Exploratory Data Analysis output; identify basics of inferential statistics for business problems, use regression as a predictive modeling tool, use other forecasting tools and models to solve business problems, extract data from external sources, apply time series methods and modern analytics programs such as R, and communicate results of data analysis.
As an extension of the foundation built in Principles of Macroeconomics, critical economic factors and issues such as technology, the labor force, the capital stock and government policies are investigated. Students gain an understanding of the competing economic analyses explaining macroeconomic problems and the variety of possible alternatives for fiscal, monetary, investment, and labor force policies.
In this discussion-based course, students will engage in critical reflection of the criteria for comparing economic systems, apply criteria to a self-determined research of a particular economy, and examine the different types of economic systems. Particular topics include the role of culture in understanding systems, transitioning systems in Eastern Europe, the emerging role of Islam and issues particular to developing countries.
Degree Info
- Internships: Rockhurst University’s Career Services helps students search for internships consistent with their economics major interests. Examples of internships economics students have secured include those with corporate entities, nonprofit organizations, and government or quasi-government bodies.
- Networking: Students within the bachelor of economics program have endless opportunities to network with prospective employers through events such as Leadership and Ethics Day, Dinner with the Industry, and Meet the Firms.
- Magis Leaders Program: Economics degree students have the opportunity to apply for a year-long, enhanced professional readiness program. With their mentor from the community, each student in the program will assess and adjust their personal and professional skills to enhance their performance in organizational settings.
- Economics Club: A student-driven club mentored by faculty, the Economics Club provides opportunities for student leadership, the examination of current events and their economic impacts, book discussions, and social and networking opportunities for those interested in economics.
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