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

• 
  Professor Koleman Strumpf Featured in Harper’s Magazine
  Professor Koleman Strumpf co-authored a letter featured in the November 2026 issue of Harper’s Magazine, responding to a recent article on prediction markets. Drawing on their research into historical election betting markets, Strumpf and co-author Paul Rhode discuss the long history of prediction markets and their accuracy in forecasting election outcomes. Full Article
• 
  Professor Koleman Strumpf Featured in The Wall Street Journal
  Professor Koleman Strumpf recently co-authored an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal titled “Regulate Polls, Not Prediction Markets.” Drawing on his extensive research into political betting markets, Strumpf and co-author Harry Crane discuss why prediction markets may be more reliable than traditional polling and raise concerns about misleading election surveys. Read […]
• 
  WFU Professor Fred Chen Explores the Economics Behind Art Heist
  Economics Professor Dr. Fred Chen is taking a closer look at the surprising economics behind art theft. In research published in the Journal of Cultural Economics, Chen and co-author Rebecca Regan use game theory to examine how museum security, law enforcement and the black market interact — and why stronger policing can sometimes have the […]

EVENTS