The tools of economics are used to analyze interactions among consumers, firms, and governments, particularly as they relate to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. This framework is integral to the study of competition, government behavior, globalization, poverty, discrimination, the environment, and other issues of public and private life. Indeed, John Maynard Keynes described economics as “a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique of thinking, which helps its possessors to draw correct conclusions." more...
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 Assistant Professor of Economics Phil Brown frequently travels to China to conduct research on poverty, inequality, and microeconomic institutions. With substantial support from the National Science Foundation, he is currently surveying rural households that will be dislocated to make way for new hydropower projects in order to better understand the socioeconomic implications of dam construction. Other recent projects focus on whether the income distribution changes the motivation to "keep up with the Joneses," on the interplay between ethnicity and inequality, on willingness to pay for health insurance, and on the relationship between religion and subjective wellbeing.
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Students in economics learn a systematic approach to studying social phenomena. Classes emphasize theoretical modeling, empirical analysis, and critical thinking. In addition to completing the core courses in microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, students choose from a wide variety of electives, including international trade and finance, comparative economic systems, labor economics, industrial organization, economic development, economic history, money and banking, public economics, mathematical economics and game theory, and econometrics. Economics majors also complete a senior seminar and conduct research projects on topics of their own choosing.
 Within the major, students may elect concentrations in financial markets, international economics, public policy, and mathematical economics. Graduates of the program pursue careers in a wide variety of fields, including finance, banking, government, consulting, business, health administration, teaching, advocacy, and non-profit administration. The major also provides an excellent foundation for graduate study in economics, law, public policy, business administration, and other fields.
The Department of Economics actively contributes to interdisciplinary programs at Colby, including American Studies; East Asian Studies; Environmental Studies; International Studies; Latin American Studies; Science, Technology, and Society; and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Department of Economics faculty members regularly publish articles in prestigious academic journals, write leading textbooks in the discipline, and contribute to scholarly edited volumes. Department members also serve as economic advisers to the state, national, and foreign governments as well as to industry. They present their research at conferences and seminars around the world, including in the Department of Economics Research Seminar Series at Colby.
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"Identifying the Role of Risk Shocks in the Business Cycle using Stock Price Data"
Sami Alpanda
Amherst College
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"Mortgage Default"
Jane Dokko
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
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TBA
Jamie Brown
College of Business
Iowa State University
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