Want to understand how the world works? In economics, we build models and analyze data in order to understand how people make choices and how economies function.

The many subfields of economics cover a wide variety of topics, and decision makers in governments as well as in business and other organizations use the tools of economics to inform their choices. Develop models that explain the world around you and use data and statistical analysis to test which ideas are likely right and wrong. Along the way, you will gain many useful technical skills in a program with a STEM designation. 

Portrait of Giacomo Bocanegra on Main Hall Green.

Student Perspective

“The economics program is extremely well-managed. Mixing the liberal arts education with economics, how they teach, helps a lot. You learn a whole new way to learn, which is extremely helpful in the long term.”

Giacomo Bocanegra ’25
Economics
Trujillo, Peru 

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Explore courses

From theory to analytical techniques, economics courses cover a broad range of topics.

Economics Courses

See major requirements

The economics program is an interdisciplinary area with options for both a major and minor.

Requirements

Meet the faculty

Learn more about the varied perspectives of the economics faculty.

Our faculty
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Not just numbers

Typical economics coursework at Lawrence will extend beyond crunching numbers and include engaging methods like simulations, course projects, experiments, and gamification.

Discover Economics Courses
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The World Awaits

Explore economics outside of the classroom with one of Lawrence's many study abroad opportunities. From living and learning in economic powerhouses like London and Shanghai to exploring sustainable development in Costa Rica, you have an array of options.

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Plays Well with Others

Interested in being an entrepreneur? Or want to dive deep into complex data? Economics at Lawrence is designed to pair well with a variety of majors, minors, and concentrations.

Explore the Business & Entrepreneurship major
Learn more about Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Discover Statistics and Data Science

The Chandler Senior Experience

Your Senior Experience will have two options. The first is a seminar built around the work of a formidable economist or a topic of central interest to economists. Seminar participants meet to discuss the work and produce a paper in reaction to the reading, integrating theories and applications from economics coursework. 

The second option is to work with a faculty member and produce a research paper, building on a paper you have already submitted in one of your upper-division courses. Both options are truly culminations of content and tools developed in pursuit of the economics major.

Recent Senior Experience projects include:

  • Why Forests Fail: Exploring the Relationship between Institutions and Forest Management Practices in Haiti and the Dominican Republic (Research)
  • Highway to Heaven: Marrying the Public and Private Sectors Through More Favorable Legislation to Fix Illinois’ Crumbling Infrastructure  (Seminar)
  • A Royal Problem: Planning Induced Housing Supply Constraints in London (Research)
  • Give Me Liberty and Give Me Death? The American Experience with Smallpox and Typhoid in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries (Seminar)
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Economics Outcomes

Economics graduates build on their foundation from Lawrence to become future leaders in a variety of fields of business and advanced study.

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On Any Given Day...

...discover an array of opportunities that await you at Lawrence University.
Academics

The Pitch | This is Lawrence

Students in Lawrence’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship program collaborate across disciplines to develop and pitch revolutionary new ideas.

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Course

Globalization, Poverty, and Development 

Explore how economic globalization shapes growth, development, and poverty outcomes in non-rich countries through careful reading and discussion of contemporary development research. Use real-world data to compare recent trends with theoretical predictions.

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