At Kenyon, economics is taught as the scientific study of those aspects of social behavior concerned with choosing how best to use technology and limited resources so as to maximize individual or social welfare. Economic analysis involves working simultaneously with analytical models, data, quantitative research methods, and social norms such as allocative efficiency and macroeconomic stability.

The Department of Economics serves two distinct groups of students: majors and non-majors who take economics courses. Most of the non-majors take our economics principles sequence as part of their general education courses. In addition, some non-majors take economics courses as part of their International Studies majors or in the Public Policy or Environmental Studies concentrations.

The Department of Economics faculty strives to help our majors acquire the ability to

  1. understand and use economic models;
  2. appreciate the power and limitations of theoretical economic models;
  3. apply economic analysis, particularly to public policy issues;
  4. understand the principal features and institutions of a market economy;
  5. understand and interpret economic data;
  6. communicate economic reasoning in clear written and oral form;
  7. effectively carry out a research project; and
  8. work collaboratively with others.

The Department of Economics faculty also strives to help non-majors acquire the ability to

  1. understand and use economic models;
  2. apply economic analysis, particularly to public policy issues;
  3. understand the principal features and institutions of a market economy;
  4. understand and interpret economic data; and,
  5. communicate economic reasoning in clear written and oral form.