Course of Study


New Undergraduate Course Designations as of Fall 2023:

Economics is an extraordinarily broad discipline that has something to say on virtually all topics that involve human decision making, not just those involving the financial sector. ECON courses are courses that explore this rich landscape outside the area of financial economics.

FECON courses are financial economics courses – i.e., courses that emphasize the use of economic analysis to explore the financial sector of the economy and its interaction with the larger economy. Such courses often explore larger societal questions as opposed to narrower questions of interest primarily to professionals within finance firms. They may also focus on exploring methodological issues, particularly as these relate to financial and time-series econometrics, that are important for the field of financial economics.

FMKT (financial markets) courses complement the economics department’s offerings for students interested in more practical applications related to finance. These courses focus on the development of specific skills relevant for professionals within certain areas of the financial sector, the exposure of students to practitioners in the financial sector, and/or the description of particular institutional features of the financial sector. Questions ordinarily center more on how professionals within financial markets make decisions to advance the goals of their firms and/or clients and less on how the workings of various aspects of the financial market impact the larger market as a whole and/or people outside the financial market. 

Effective Fall 2023, incoming students will be required to take Economics 101. The Economics Department will no longer accept AP, IPC, or transfer credit to fulfill this requirement for newly matriculated students.  For students who matriculated before Fall 2023, please refer to the undergraduate bulletin from the appropriate year for placement regulations. 

There are two courses that incoming freshmen may be eligible to take at Duke.

ECON 101: Economic Principles

This is an introductory economics course that covers basic concepts in both microeconomics and macroeconomics. ECON 101 is taught at a level that assumes no prior coursework in economics. All Duke students are eligible to take this course.

ECON 104D: Statistical Foundations of Econometrics and Data Science

This course is a rigorous introduction to statistical concepts that underpin econometrics, emphasizing conceptual understanding, uses mathematics to illustrate ideas, and applies ideas to examples from economics broadly construed. Students analyze data to reinforce understanding. Topics include experimental and non-experimental research designs; modern approaches to summarizing data; random variables, probability, expectations, density and distribution functions; sampling; estimation; inference and hypothesis testing; introduction to linear regression. First course in two-semester econometrics sequence.

Prerequisites:

  • MATH 21 (AP Math) or higher level MATH (106L,111L, 112L, 121, 122, 122L, 202, 202D, 212, or 222.)
    • Credit for MATH 21 is determined by the Department of Mathematics' AP guidelines.

How to Begin

Effective Fall 2023, incoming students will be required to take Economics 101. The Economics Department will no longer accept AP, IPC, or transfer credit to fulfill this requirement for newly matriculated students.  For students who matriculated before Fall 2023, please refer to the undergraduate bulletin from the appropriate year for placement regulations. 

We advise students to begin economics courses as first-semester freshmen in order to allow for the broadest possible upper-level course selection and access to junior and senior research experiences. Core courses are sequenced as follows:

  • ECON 101D Economic Principles
  • ECON 104D Statistical Foundations of Econometrics and Data Science
  • ECON 201D Intermediate Microeconomics I
  • ECON 205D Intermediate Microeconomics II
  • ECON 204D (Old number ECON 208) Econometrics and Data Science
  • ECON 210D Intermediate Macroeconomics

Please note: These courses do not need to be taken in sequence as long as the prerequisites have been met.

Students may take ECON 205D and 210D concurrently; ECON 204D (old number ECON 208) must be taken before senior year but preferably as soon as possible. By the end of sophomore year, economics students should have completed the mathematics and statistics prerequisites to the major.

Class Sizes

With class sizes of 300-400 students, ECON 101, ECON 104 and ECON 201D are the largest courses economics majors take. Lectures are supported by discussion sections, which are broken in to groups of 15-20 students. In each of the remaining core courses, class sizes are typically 100-200 students, with similarly small supporting discussion sections. Consolidating the core in this way translates to consistency in preparation for all majors, as well as enabling our faculty to teach a wider variety of upper-level electives.

The EcoTeach Center is responsible for reporting to the Deans of Trinity College and the School of Engineering the status of economics students' fulfillment of degree requirements. Progress Reports issued during open advising hours each term are a graduating student's best resource for determining their requirements status in regard to the economics major or minor. The EcoTeach Center will also contact graduating seniors via email regarding clearance of economics degree requirements. Students will first be contacted prior to the end of the drop/add period of their final semester at Duke (e.g. spring graduates will receive the first email after fall grades have posted and by the first day of spring classes). A second email serving as final notification will be sent about six weeks after the drop/add period. For questions related to graduation certifications, please email ecoteach@econ.duke.edu.