Minor in Economics

In general, picking up a minor may show potential employers that you're willing to do a little bit extra to get ahead. Picking up an Economics minor may show that you capable of the type of logical analysis Economists use. For pre-law students and those planning on getting an MBA, good exposure to this analysis is especially valuable.

What do you need for a minor in Economics? First, you should look at the catalogue or talk to your advisor to be sure you've got complete and up-to-date information (that's the disclaimer portion of this note). But basically, you need 18 hours (six courses) in Economics. If you're in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), this would include ECO 2013 and ECO 2023 (Principles of Macroeconomics and Microeconomics) and four upper-division Economics courses. If you're in the College of Business (COB), you already have to take ECO 2013, ECO 2023, and QMB 3200 (which counts as an Econ course for the minor). That means you have just three more upper-division Economics courses to take. For both CAS and COB students, exit requirement courses from Economics can double-count toward your minor too.

How should your minor be set up? What courses should you include? It depends on your interests and plans. Each of the upper-division courses we regularly offer has something that might be valuable to an Economics minor. Here are our eight regularly-offered upper-division courses:

1. Managerial Economics (old number, ECO 3100, new number, ECP 3703)

2. Intermediate Macroeconomics (ECO 3203)

3. International Economics (ECO 3703)

4. International Macroeconomics (ECO 4713)

5. International Trade and Policy (ECO 4723)

6. Economics of Women and Work (ECP 3201)

7. Environmental Economics (ECP 3302)

8. Economics of Health (ECP 3530)

The analysis and logic used in courses #1 and #2 on the list are particularly useful for pre-law and pre-MBA students. Note that Managerial is a prerequisite for Intermediate Macro.

The next three (#3, #4, and #5) are all on the international side, important for those with an international interest or who might work in that growing field. One thing some COB students do is to take these three courses plus an International course from their major (International Marketing, for example). That actually gets you 2 minors for the price of 1. The three Econ courses finish the Econ minor and the group of four courses gets you the International Business minor. This is more complicated for CAS students (for ECO 4713 and 4723, and ECP 3530 below, the prerequisites are different from those shown in the catalogue, ask your USFSP advisor for details).

Another good way to double-count courses and efficiently pick up the minor is to use exit requirements. #3, #6, and #7 on the list are all exit requirements. If you want the quickest and cheapest minor, take two of those as your exit requirement and add one more (CAS students have to add 2 plus ECO 2013+2023).

#6 and #8 are particularly important for 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. Economics of Women and Work, as the name implies, deals with many important workplace issues. #7, Environmental Economics, is not only important for ESP majors, but is also increasingly important as environmentally awareness grows. This subject matters more and more in the both the business and governmental job markets.

If you have any questions about any of these courses or the Economics major or minor, feel free to contact Dr. Tom Carter, Economics Coordinator (cartert@stpt.usf.edu, 873-4893).