This course functions as an introduction to academic writing at Amherst College. As an intensive
writing course, the main topic of the course is writing itself. In this class, students will examine
the way that journalists present the written word in print and digital spaces to inform, analyze,
and present opinions–as we do the same in our own writing. We will pay close attention to the
way that reporter teams explicitly and implicitly build arguments, use evidence, organize texts,

The senior departmental honors seminar is a workshop that supports the first half of senior thesis work in economics. Students learn research methods and engage with economic research via close reading, structured writing, empirical analysis, theoretical reasoning, and active participation in discussion. Students develop and refine their own research proposals, so that by the end of the semester each student’s proposal clearly states a research question, places that question into context, and outlines a feasible approach.

Independent reading course. Half course.

Admission with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters.The Department.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: TBD based on student plan with faculty advisor(s).

Independent reading course. Full course.

Admission with consent of the instructor. Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: TBD based on student plan with faculty advisor(s).

Many challenges arise from the interaction between human desires and what is available. Economics is the study of these challenges. In this course, we will examine the many ways in which human beings have articulated this interaction and the responses that they have provided. We will examine the intellectual history of how humans have conceived and managed scarcity on personal (microeconomic) and societal (macroeconomic) levels.

Requisite: ECON 300 or 301 and 330 or 331. Limited to 15 students. Fall Semester. Professor Barbezat.

This course explores the economic importance of entrepreneurship, with a focus on recent empirical findings. We will study the roles entrepreneurs play in innovation, economic growth, and rising living standards, as well as determinants of entrepreneurial success such as finance, geography, and entrepreneur characteristics. The course will also cover implications for policy and explore recent patterns in entrepreneurial activity in the United States.

A seminar in international macroeconomics, with an emphasis on emerging market economies. We will read and discuss empirical research papers. Topics covered will include financial globalization, banking and currency crises, exchange rate regimes, dollarization, and institutions and governance.

Requisite: ECON 330/331, or ECON 235/237 with consent of the instructor. Limited to 30 students. Fall and Spring semester. Professor Honig.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference is given to senior and junior economics majors.

This course explores—empirically, historically, comparatively, and theoretically—the changing significance, timing, and meaning of work, career, dating, cohabiting, marriage, family, and other personal economic decisions. Readings and assignments will emphasize empirical, quantitative, and theoretical analysis of these topics as well as important underlying mechanisms, such as contraceptive access and social norms, in shaping economic decisions.

(Offered as ECON 416, BLST 416 and SWAG 416) Economics is fundamentally about both efficiency and equity.  It is about allocation, welfare, and well-being.  How, then, can we use this disciplinary perspective to understand hierarchy, power, inequity, discrimination, and injustice?  What does economics have to offer?

A special topics course focused on core economic theory. Intended for students who have, in the past, received a D in a core theory course in economics and who therefore need to take a special topics course focused on that area of core theory to satisfy the major requirements.

Fall and spring semesters. The Department.

How to handle overenrollment: null