19 courses with the subject ECON, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
ECON 157PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS4
Microeconomics centers on alternative ways in which individual consumers and firms address scarce resources. The course also examines how prices of goods and resources are determined under different market structures and the impact that alternative market structures bear on the welfare opportunities confronting society. This course introduces students to the logic behind standard microeconomic models and helps students develop a critical assessment of these models’ premises and basic conclusions. Finally, the course explores the premises and logic behind comparative advantage international trade. Open to first-year students. No prerequisite. Offered both terms. (o, GLO, MOD)
This course covers the basic principles of macroeconomics and their applications. Among the topics covered are national income, unemployment, inflation, the workings and effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy, and international economics. Open to first-year students. No prerequisite. Offered both terms. (MOD)
An overview of the elementary statistical methodology used in economic analysis. It covers descriptive statistics and introduces probability and probability distributions, sampling theory, hypotheses testing, correlation, and regression analysis. The focus will be on applying statistical methods to economic research. Open to first-year students. Prerequisite: ECON 157 or ECON 158. Offered term 2. (o, r, MOD)
This course introduces students to conventional and unconventional views behind the interplay between the economizing problem and nature’s household. Emphasis is placed on the management of natural resources from an economic standpoint. The course explores general and most urgent natural resources and environmental problems facing humanity, including energy sources, water, agriculture, fisheries, and industrial pollution. The course addresses these environmental problems from the standard economic approach to environmental distress and the more avant-garde ecological economic approach to nature’s household. Also listed and described as ES 230. Open to first-year students. Prerequisite: ECON 157. (o, r, GLO, MOD)
This course evaluates the health care industry and looks at public policies that are designed to achieve efficiency and equity. Topics include medical cost inflation, Medicare, Medicaid, HMOs, Hollins University 2026–27 Undergraduate Catalog Page 206
This course addresses modern international economic relations by paying special attention to the origins of economics through contemporary economic discourses. Students will be introduced to the history of economic thought as they survey classical political economy through the legacy of Karl Marx on the instability of capitalism. Students will examine the nature of private and common goods and the idyllic, yet problematic notion of how the pursuit of self-interest may be guided objectively towards satisfactory social outcomes. Also listed and described as INTL 259. Prerequisites: q and ECON 157 or ECON 158. Offered Term 1. (o, r,
An examination of the government’s role in the economy and how public policies (taxation, expenditures, and transfer programs) affect the allocation of resources, relative prices, and welfare. Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps, medical care finance, tax reform, and intergovernmental relations are among the covered topics. Open to first-year students. Prerequisites: q and ECON 157. (r, MOD)
This course addresses critical issues such as the pure theory of trade, protectionism, resource mobility, the foreign exchange market, and balance of payments disequilibria, as well as the roles played by major multilateral organizations, including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization, in crafting policies aimed at promoting unrestrained trade in goods and international financial flows. These policies, however, produced mixed results in improving national welfare, and students are exposed to views challenging these policies. Also listed and described as BUS 265. Prerequisite: ECON 157. Offered term 1. (o, r, GLO, MOD)
An investigation of U.S. financial markets and the factors that determine credit conditions. The conduct of the Federal Reserve in implementing various monetary policies and the effect of those policies on the U.S. economy will be assessed. Hollins University 2026–27 Undergraduate Catalog Page 207
Independent study below the advanced level that may count toward the economics major or minor only if the student receives approval, prior to registering the course, from the course instructor and the department chair. The course instructor must be a full-time faculty member of the department. Offered any term.
ECON 312ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT AND GLOBALIZATION4
Development economics is concerned with increasing the material prosperity of middle- and low-income countries and of expanding the capabilities of people in the global South. Globalization is a multidimensional process characterized by the rise of information technologies that have made possible the emergence of social relations that transcend national boundaries and are increasingly independent of geographical distance. This course will explore the ways in which globalization has affected economic and political conceptions of development.
Different theories of the determination of macroeconomic variables such as national income, unemployment, inflation, and interest rates. Special focus on major current policy issues, including the government budget, the national debt, the relationship between unemployment and inflation, and the effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy, particularly in the international context.
ECON 350SPECIAL TOPICS: INTRODUCTION TO ECONOMETRICS4
An introductory course in econometrics, combining theory and application. Topics include properties and inference in linear regression, panel data models including fixed effects, discrete dependent variable methods such as logistic and Poisson regression, and other applications of ordinary least squares as time permits. Also listed and described as BUS 350. Prerequisites: STAT 140, STAT 251, ECON 211 or by permission. Offered Term 2.
ECON 353DECISION MAKING AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT4
This course is divided into three sections: decision-making, human resource development, and organizational development. Topics covered under decision making include labor’s role in market-related decisions. Human resource development focuses on human capital in economic Hollins University 2026–27 Undergraduate Catalog Page 208
The objective of this course is to familiarize students with basic and intermediate techniques used in the standard (neoclassical) economic approach to the study of human behavior and to introduce various analytical problems to help make more informed decisions in and beyond college. Topics covered in this course include the theory of consumer behavior, decisions under risk and uncertainty, theories of the firm, the structure of markets, and an introduction to game theory. This course also examines the major limitations and criticisms behind the theory of rational choice.
An advanced level independent study that may count toward the economics major or minor only if the student receives approval, prior to registering for the course, from the course instructor and the department chair. The course instructor must be a full-time faculty member of the department. Offered any term. 120
Does not count toward the economics major or minor and is graded on a pass/fail basis only. Application must be made with course instructor prior to registration. The department must certify that the internship is economics related. The course instructor, who serves as the faculty sponsor for the internship, must be a full-time faculty member of the department. The course instructor will also specify the academic component to the internship. May be proposed in any term.
This capstone seminar deals with inquiry processes and application of research methods in economics. Students will develop an individual research project that underscores appropriate theories and empirical research methods in examining a chosen economic problem. Limited to senior economics majors. The course instructor, who serves as the first reader, must be a full-time faculty member of the department. Prerequisites: senior standing and course instructor permission. Offered Term 1.
Students who have completed and earned an appropriate grade in ECON 480 may be allowed to take the Senior Honors Seminar in Economics, which must be completed during the spring term. The Senior Honors Seminar in Economics should be viewed as a more rigorous extension Hollins University 2026–27 Undergraduate Catalog Page 209
