Economics Courses and Program at USF St. Petersburg

At the upper-division level, an Economics major needs to take 2 required courses and 5 Economics electives.  There are eight upper-division Economics courses we plan to regularly offer at USFSP.  Nothing's in stone, of course, but these are our plans as of today.  The eight courses are:

ECP 3703        Managerial Economics (old number, ECO 3100)

ECO 3203       Intermediate Macroeconomics

ECO 3703       International Economics

ECO 4713       International Macroeconomics

ECO 4723       International Trade and Policy

ECP 3201        Economics of Women and Work

ECP 3302        Environmental Economics

ECP 3530        Economics of Health

Each of these eight courses plays an important role in the major.  The first two are required courses for Economics majors (ECO 3101 can substitute for Managerial Econ).  The analysis and logic used in these courses are the basis of Economic thought.  They are valuable not only to Economics students, but are also particularly useful for pre-law and pre-MBA students.  Our plan, again not written in stone, is to offer both of these at least once a year.  This year, 2007/2008, Intermediate Macroeconomics is in spring and Managerial Economics is in both fall and spring.

The next three courses on the list are all international courses. ECO 3703 and ECO 4723 lean toward the microeconomic side.  ECO 3703 gives the basics and should logically be taken before ECO 4723.  Each of these three also count toward an International Business (IB) minor for COB students.  If you take these three, and add one more IB course (see the catalogue for your choices), you'll get an IB minor at a pretty low cost.  That might look good on your resume.  The rules, however, are different for CAS majors—see your advisor for specifics.  We've been offering ECO 3703 every spring and fall semester and plan to continue.  ECO 4723 was offered in Spring 2008 and ECO 4713 will follow in Fall 2008. 

ECP 3201 and ECP 3530 are each particularly important in the job market.  In Florida, the health care industry is very big, so Economics of Health may give you a leg up in job interviews.  The way Rick Smith teaches it makes it especially relevant.  Economics of Women and Work, as the name implies, deals with many important workplace issues.  Environmental Economics, is not only important for ESP majors, but is also increasingly important as environmentally awareness grows.  This course matters more and more in both the business and governmental job markets.  Our plan is to offer Environmental Econ and Health Econ next spring—Spring 2009.  Economics of Women and Work shows up this fall—Fall 2008.  We plan to offer these three courses about once every two to four semesters.   

Finally, note that three of the eight courses can count as exit requirements (ECO 3703, ECP 3201, and ECP 3302).  If you have any questions about any of these courses or the Economics major, feel free to talk to the instructor involved or me, Tom Carter, Economics Coordinator (cartert@stpt.usf.edu, 873-4893).