Last updated: July 10, 2024 @ 03:23PM

Economics

Chair
Lester Kwong

Professors Emeriti
Mohammed Dore, Zisimos Koustas, Felice Martinello, Roberta E. Robb

Professors
Robert W. Dimand, Diane P. Dupont, Joseph Kushner, Tomson Ogwang

Associate Professors
Xue Bai, Cornelius Christian, Andrew Dickens, Katerina Koka, Lester Kwong, Jean-Francois Lamarche, Ivan Medovikov, Andreas Marcel Oestreich, Ling Sun

Assistant Professors
Miguel Cardoso, Qian Liu, Teegawende Zeida, Taylor Wright

Lecturers

General Information

Administrative Assistant
Kelly Guembel

brocku.ca/economics

Economics is divided into two parts: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Microeconomics focuses on the operation of the market system under alternative scenarios about competition. It studies the economic decisions of individuals, households and firms and shows how those decisions interact to produce market outcomes. Microeconomics then examines the efficiency of the market outcomes and the extent to which they benefit society. Macroeconomics examines the functioning of the broader economy and some of its key sectors. Its main focus is on economic performance as measured by employment, unemployment, and the gap between aggregate economic activity and its potential. Through this analysis, macroeconomics identifies factors that help an economy achieve sustained increases in its standard of living. Macroeconomics also pays special attention to monetary phenomena, inflation, interest rates, and the exchange rate.

The analytical tools developed in micro and macro economics are applied to many different subject areas within economics such as industrial organization, labour economics, international trade, economic development, taxation, and government expenditure. Other fields, such as money and banking and international payments, apply economic tools to the study of financial markets. The analyses yield insights and predictions that are used to develop public policy on a wide range of issues.

The Economics (Honours) program provides a rigorous examination of economics. It prepares students for positions in all sectors of the economy and it is the recommended program for students considering graduate studies in economics. The Bachelor of Arts (BA) with Major Economics program also provides an in-depth study of economics, but it allows for more choice and breadth since it does not require some of the more technical senior level Economics courses. The pass Economics program covers the core topics in economics and allows students to complete a BA after completing only 15 credits.