Your First Year
The first-year economics curriculum allows you to jump into meaty questions. You will learn how economists structure models, play with
By the end of the first year, you should be able to apply basic microeconomic and macroeconomic models to assess and explain business, government, and individual decisions. For example:
- Are consumers worse off when Uber is taxed for surge pricing?
- Does taxing immigrant workers make society better off?
- Why do some economies grow and others don't?
Our principles courses are not calculus based. As you pursue them, you will also tool up with the mathematics and statistics courses that you need to advance in the curriculum.
First Year Highlights
Economics BaseCamp
Economics BaseCamp launches you into the CMU economic intellectual space — and gets you thinking like an economist. Presentations by our own research economists provide you with opportunities to learn, discuss, and debate.
Explore Economics BaseCamp
Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics
Experience CMU's innovative and data-informed approach to the foundations of economics. You will begin with our Principles of Economics core. This core will introduce you to the building blocks of economics and will get you thinking like an economist. It integrates foundational economic theory, model building,
Global Challenges Competition: 24 Hour Hackathon-Style Event
The CMU Global Challenges competition is a new annual initiative organized by CMU's economics program that gives students the opportunity to learn about and tackle society's most pressing issues. During the 24-hour hackathon-style competition, small teams of students work intensively on a common and narrowly defined global problem that integrates economic reasoning and data analytics. The 2019 challenge was to design a policy that will enable the planet to maintain the 2 C temperature target of the Paris Agreement.
Find out More About The Global Challenges Competition