Bachelor of Arts in Economics

Our Focus

Human action in the valuation, making and distributing of goods, services, and productive assets.

Your Talents

You’ll flourish in the Abbey’s Economics Program if you look to develop your aptitudes of:

• quantitative reasoning characteristic of the social sciences.
• systematic, disciplined, analyses.
• reading the “signs of the times” to help resolve contemporary challenges.
• superior economics by further cultivating the mind philosophically, historically, and empirically.

Our Approach

• teach you to understand economic data and interpret financial trends
• teach from published economists who have an understanding of the World Economy and how it affects businesses and governments in the 21st century

Economics affects virtually every profession in modern life and as a student, it develops analytical reasoning through formal modeling and historical interpretation. Economics majors receive strong preparation for graduate study in Economics, law school, or MBA programs.

Your Purpose

With an Economics degree from Belmont Abbey College, you will be able to pursue a variety of opportunities, including:

• Banker
• Stockbroker
• Financier
• Economics researcher/teacher
• Marketing and sales
• Graduate/law school
• Domestic and international trade analyst

The Abbey Difference

Abbey Economics aims to cultivate in students a comprehensive understanding of economic theory, causal discovery, and its application across industries and contemporary issues. The department strives to develop student's analytical reasoning, empirical testing, effective communication, and problem-solving.

The Economics faculty is committed to modeling and encouraging the development of honesty, integrity, and virtue in our students. Our hope is to provide an atmosphere of learning and study that will, in keeping with the highest values of Catholic and Benedictine education, enable young men and women to be both successful and virtuous and to make the world more just and prosperous. First, a student of philosophy and math, pioneering Cambridge economist, Alfred Marshall, wrote that “The increasing urgency of economic studies as a means towards human well-being grew upon me.”

At the Abbey, the study of economics addresses such central societal issues as income compensations, business, and financial cycles, employment, institutions of law and commercial culture, political economy, efficiency, and growth. You will learn from published economists who have an understanding of the Global Economy and how it affects businesses and governments in the 21st century. A degree in economics prepares you for a career in finance, insurance, government agencies overseeing banking, trade, environment, and data-collection; scientific research and development, management and consulting, and state and local government. Economics majors typically secure some of the higher-paid professional careers.

Program Requirements

B.A. in Economics

Required Courses:

• EC 201: Introductory Economics I
• EC 202: Introductory Economics II
• MA 210: Mathematics for Economics and Finance
• EC/BU 306: Quantitative Analysis  OR  MA 208: Statistics
• EC 316: Intermediate Macro
• EC 317: Intermediate Micro
• EC/TH 352: Business Economy & Catholic Social Thought
• EC 408W: Economics Seminar

Elective Courses*:

• EC 305: Data Analytics for Economics and Finance
• EC 307: Money and Banking
• EC 355: Political Economy
• EC 400: History of Economic Thought
• EC 401: Economic History
• EC 410: Business and Society
• EC 424: Public Finance
• EC 440: International Economics and Finance
• BU 453: Internship
• EC 490: Senior Thesis
• BU 310: Finance
• BU 311: Financial Management
• BU 335: Personal Finance and Investments
• BU 411: Financial Investments
• ET 303: Financing New Ventures
• ET 300: The Entrepreneur
• BU 402: Labor Economics and Compensation
• PH 301: Ethics
• MA 205: Calculus for Managerial and Social Sciences OR MA 201: Calculus I
• MA 305: Advanced Statistics

*Must complete four elective courses.

To graduate with a degree in Economics, majors must have at least a minimum cumulative average of 2.0 across all major coursework.

Home to more than 1,400 students

Belmont Abbey College is a small, Catholic, Benedictine liberal arts institution. We find our center in Jesus Christ and believe in the development of the whole person—in mind, body, and spirit.

Our mission is to provide an education that will enable our students to lead lives of integrity, succeed professionally, become responsible citizens, and be a blessing to themselves and others.

A 1,500 year old tradition

Founded in 1876 by Benedictine monks we continue to celebrate the 1,500-year-old Benedictine monastic tradition of prayer and learning. Though we are founded on our Catholic, Benedictine traditions we welcome a diverse body of students regardless of religious affiliation.

Experience Southern hospitality

Located just 10 miles west of Charlotte, NC, Belmont Abbey College is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Abbey is the only Catholic college between northern Virginia and Florida.

We invite you to explore our website, visit our campus and join the Belmont Abbey College family.

2020 Best Southeastern colleges - the Princeton Review

The Cardinal Newman Society calls Belmont Abbey College one of the top Catholic colleges in America for faithfulness and affordability, and First Things Magazine recently named the Abbey America’s #1 “School on the Rise, Filled with Excitement.” In addition, we have received a “Top-Tier Ranking” by U.S. News and World Report and recently named “A best Southeastern College” by The Princeton Review.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to educate students in the liberal arts and sciences so that in all things God may be glorified. In this endeavor, we are guided by the Catholic intellectual tradition, the Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae , and the Benedictine spirit of prayer and learning. Exemplifying Benedictine hospitality, we welcome a diverse body of students and provide them with an education that will enable them to lead lives of integrity, to succeed professionally, to become responsible citizens, and to be a blessing to themselves and to others.

Vision Statement

Belmont Abbey College finds its center in Jesus Christ. By his light, we grasp the true image and likeness of God which every human person is called to live out. We aim to renew that likeness in all dimensions of life for our students and members of our community through curricular and co-curricular programs of excellence and virtue-based in the liberal arts as practiced in the Catholic and Benedictine intellectual traditions.

By excellence and virtue, we mean the skills, attitudes, and stable dispositions of character that make possible the consistent practice of the good throughout the full range of human pursuits (scholarly, professional, community, personal). Recognizing that each field has its own standards of excellence, we strive to achieve them, led by St. Benedict’s desire “that in all things God may be glorified.”

As a Benedictine institution, we find this glory especially revealed in the development of the whole person, guided by the liberal arts, as a responsible steward of the true, the beautiful, and the good. We welcome the talents of everyone, from any background and tradition, who are committed to fostering that development and contributing to the mission of the college. To the members of the Belmont Abbey College community, we offer an environment and community animated by this vision where they may work towards their own full potential.