Economics Department
The economics major provides a unique perspective and a broad range of career possibilities. Economics is a social science that studies the decision-making of individuals, firms, and governments in both local and global environments. Microeconomics focuses on the behavior of consumers and firms; macroeconomics on the performance of the nation's overall economy. Northern’s Economics Department offers a variety of courses that allow students to apply the economic way of thinking to fields such as banking, law, labor, politics, regulation, and the environment, and emphasizes its relevance to current regional, national, and international issues.
Experience Learning
At Northern, we strongly believe in learning by doing. With guidance from caring, engaged instructors, you will be challenged to “think on your feet,” developing strong critical thinking skills such as problem solving, analyzing data, adapting ideas and recognizing relevant connections. You will also strengthen your research, writing and oral communication skills—all critical tools for a 21st century global citizen.The demand for employees with a knowledge of economics is projected to grow faster than the average of other occupations.
Career Excellence
Economics graduates acquire the analytical tools to pursue a wide a variety of careers such as, banking, business, finance, foreign affairs, government, health administration, labor relations, law, marketing, media, politics, public administration, real estate, research analysis, sales and more. Students that want to pursue graduate studies in Economics should take advantage as much as possible of the variety of upper level courses the department offers as well as advanced courses in mathematics and statistics.
Did You Know...?
Economics students are increasingly enrolling in law school. Among the six disciplines with more than 2,000 students taking the LSAT, the 2,468 economics majors received the highest average score (from the American Economic Association website, click here).
Economics: Good choice of major for future CEOs. When adjusting for size of the pool of graduates, those with undergraduate degrees in economics are shown to have had a greater likelihood of being an S&P 500* CEO than any other major (from The American Economist, Vol. 55, No. 1, Spring 2010).
To find out more about career paths for economic graduates, contact our faculty members.
* Top 500 corporations
Recent Grad Survey
Northern Michigan University is looking for your input, alumni! We would love for you to tell us about what you're doing now, your NMU experiences, and how we can support you. Your feedback is valuable to help make NMU even better and to support our efforts to attract future Wildcats! Alumni who graduated between May 2018 and August 2020 are eligible to take the survey. The project front-door website is located here.
Degrees Offered
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What you'll do at NMU
As an NMU student, your opportunities to get involved on campus and in the community are boundless. Economics students play an active role in the work of the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, including researching and working with K-12 schools. They also assist the Sam M. Cohodas Professor for economic development in the Upper Peninsula and do rural studies research. Students are encouraged to attend and present at regional and national professional conferences. The Economics Department brings national economic expert speakers to campus. Join the NMU Economics Student Association and organize campus wide forums and presentations or tutor area youth in economics, personal finance, and entrepreneurship concepts.