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

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  Professor Alex Yu featured in WalletHub
  Is it fair for car insurance companies to consider gender or age when setting premiums? Is it fair for car insurance companies to consider a driver’s occupation when setting premiums? Full Article
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  Former Coal Towns Get Money for Clean-Energy Factories
  “In places like Texas or in the middle of the country where there’s a lot of solar and wind, fossil fuel communities are relatively well positioned to take advantage of renewables,” Mr. Curtis said. “Coal communities generally don’t have that, especially when you think about Appalachia.” Full Article
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  Trading startup sues regulator in effort to launch election-betting market
  Online-trading startup Kalshi sued the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, arguing the regulator wrongfully denied its application to launch a market for derivatives tied to results of congressional elections. Several states outlaw gambling on elections—a fact that was key to the CFTC’s rejection of Kalshi’s plan. But demand could be high. One overseas platform, Betfair.com, handled … Read more
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  Dirty Job to Clean Jobs
  In a busy world with our busy lives, trends can slip by us easily until they’re finally right there and too obvious to ignore. For some, that’s what’s going on with our transition from “dirty jobs” to “cleaner jobs.” Wake Forest University professor Mark Curtis keeps an eye on those things for us and says … Read more

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