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Honors Program

Departmental Honors

Qualified students may apply to graduate with honors in economics. Two requirements must be met:

  1. Completion of upper-division economics courses with at least a 3.50 grade point average.
  2. Completion of a research paper, written under the guidance of an economics faculty member, for 4 credits in Research (EC 401). Both electronic and hard copy versions of the completed paper must be approved and signed by the faculty adviser and must be presented to the undergraduate department’s main office (PLC 736) no later than 4:00pm on Friday of the week before final examinations during the term the student plans to graduate.

Students who intend to satisfy these requirements should notify the economics undergraduate coordinator early in the term in which they intend to graduate.

The only department approved exception for the EC 401 research paper is if the student has successfully completed EC 418-419 sequence in community economics.

About Economics 418-419

Economic Analysis of Community Issues is a research class where students do hands-on applied economic analysis either for local community groups or on a topic of community interest. The objective of the course is to have students complete a research paper that provides them with some practical experience applying skills in economics and statistics and give the local community or State a finished research project that provides them useful answers to questions that matter for their decision-making.

The completed projects are intended to satisfy the research component of the department’s requirements for graduating with honors. The class is small and involves intensive interaction with UO economics professors. This course is designed as a capstone for students who want to graduate with honors and enrollment is therefore by permission only.

The course begins winter quarter, when invited community speakers give talks about their potential projects, and the instructors discuss research methods and relevant aspects of benefit-cost analysis and econometrics. Students start their projects at the end of winter, and can expect to devote considerable time during spring quarter to data collection, analysis, and writing. The finished project includes delivery of a finished paper, and a presentation to interested community members.