Department of Economics

Economics at PLU

Are you curious about how the world works? Do you want to be a more productive and informed citizen? Would you like to participate in making society better? As abundant as our resources may be, they are not unlimited; we all must make choices about how best to use them. Economics students at PLU study how people, both individually and collectively, make such choices. In your classes, you will investigate the individual choices, institutional arrangements, and public policies that determine what kinds of goods and services are produced and who receives them. You will also consider how these policies and institutions might be redesigned to improve human welfare. Studying economics allows you to understand the world around you, both how it is and how it might be made better. While developing a set of analytical tools along with reasoning and communication skills, your studies in economics will address issues such as health care, immigration, international trade and development, natural resource management, economic growth, and poverty. As a major, you will also have an opportunity to work closely with individual faculty members to produce original research on topics of your choice.

Many scholarship opportunities are available to economics students, including awards for study away and for excellence in scholarship. There is an active Economics Club and PLU chapter of Omicron Delta Epsilon, the international honor society in economics. Many of our majors have completed internships at prestigious organizations such as the Russell Investment Group, Boeing, World Trade Center Tacoma, and Earth Economics. Our students have graduated into a wide variety of successful careers in banking, public service, health care administration, economic analysis and research, and financial management to name but a few. In addition, PLU economics majors are extraordinarily well prepared for graduate studies in economics, law, public policy, and business.