Wake Forest Economics Department

Economics is about understanding the behavior of people. In particular, economics seeks to address how the world can be understood based on the incentives that various economic agents face. In practice, the study of economics involves using both conceptual and empirical tools to examine how people make choices. This theoretical and data work is, in turn, crucial in informing policymakers how to make their decisions.

Our majors gain strong quantitative skills through their courses and end up working in a vast array of professions: consulting, healthcare, banking, finance, pharmaceuticals, and real estate, to name a few, while others find careers in non-profit and public sectors. We also send our students to graduate school in law, business, economics, or public policy to name a few. 

Our majors also tend to have substantial earning power based on their economics degree. According to the Wall Street Journal’s “Degrees That Pay You Back” data, economics majors have the highest mid-career median salary of any non-engineering major.

So, please come visit us in the department and talk to our many faculty about your future major in economics!

NEWS

• 
  Raising vaping taxes reduces teen nicotine use – for some
  New research from ECN Professor, Erik Nesson, explores how vaping taxes impact teen nicotine use—and the results are more nuanced than you might expect. The study finds that higher e-cigarette taxes can reduce vaping among some groups of teens, with measurable declines in use following tax increases. Read more
• 
  Professor Aeimit Lakdawala spoked with Raleigh ABC News about rising energy costs.
  ABC11 recently reported that inflation rose to 3.3% in March, driven largely by increasing energy costs impacting consumers across North Carolina. Aeimit Lakdawala, Associate Professor of Economics at Wake Forest University, provided insight in the segment, noting that while energy prices are pushing inflation higher in the short term, underlying trends remain relatively stable.
• 
  Fox 8 segment on ECN 345: Prediction Markets
  ECN Professor, Koleman Strumpf’s ECN 345 course on Prediction Markets was recently featured on Fox 8 News, highlighting the innovative ways students are engaging with current events through economics. The segment included footage from the class along with an interview featuring student Benton Phillips, offering a glimpse into how prediction markets can be used as […]

EVENTS