1. Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at SFSU
Sneak Preview, April 2018
Presenting:
Michael Bar (Economics faculty)
Aditi Grossman (MA Economics)
Jeremy Ling (BA Economics, BS Statistics)

2. Overview What is Economics? About the Economics Major at SFSU.
What can you do with economics degree?
Salaries of economists and other majors.
Questions

3. What is Economics? Myth: Economics is about Money
Truth: Economics is about people, and how people (individuals, firms and societies) make decisions about scarce resources.
Money is technology that helps people trade with each other.
Money and monetary policy is only one of many areas that economists study.

4. What is Economics? “Traditional” topics of economics:
Economic recessions and booms
Economic growth
Government policy (taxes, budget, debt)
Monetary policy (inflation, interest rates)
Financial Economics (stock market)
International economics (trade, tariffs, exchange rates)

6. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Health Economics

7. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
War and peace
Llussá, F. and Tavares, J., The economics of terrorism: a (simple) taxonomy of the literature. Defence and Peace Economics, 22(2), pp

8. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Sports

9. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Education
Webber, Douglas A. Are college costs worth it? How ability, major, and debt affect the returns to schooling. Economics of Education Review 53 (2016):

10. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Education
Baird, Matthew, Moshe Buchinsky, and Veronica Sovero. "Decomposing the Racial Gap in STEM Major Attrition: A Course-Level Investigation.“ (under review).

11. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Crime, Racial Discrimination
Fryer Jr, Roland G. An empirical analysis of racial differences in police use of force, forthcoming in Journal of Political Economy, 2018.
Kukharskyy, Bohdan, and Sebastian Seiffert. Gun violence in the US: Correlates and causes. No. 94. University of Tübingen Working Papers in Economics and Finance, 2017.
ECON 515 Economics of Crime and Justice (Units: 3)

12. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Family, marriage, divorce
Greenwood, Jeremy, and Nezih Guner. Marriage and divorce since World War II: analyzing the role of technological progress on the formation of households. NBER Macroeconomics Annual 23, no. 1 (2008):
Basic idea: labor-saving technology makes it easier for singles to maintain their own home.

13. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Abortion
Donohue, John J., and Steven D. Levitt. The impact of legalized abortion on crime The Quarterly Journal of Economics 116, no. 2 (2001):
Basic idea:
Legalized abortion leads to fewer "unwanted" babies being born, and
Unwanted babies are more likely to suffer abuse and neglect and are therefore at an increased risk for criminal involvement later in life.

14. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Addiction
Becker, G.S. and Murphy, K.M., A theory of rational addiction. Journal of political Economy, 96(4), pp

15. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Suicide
Hamermesh, D.S. and Soss, N.M., An economic theory of suicide. Journal of Political Economy, 82(1), pp

16. What is Economics?
Areas you probably didn’t think that economists study
Environment

17. What is Economics?

18. About the Economics Major at SFSU.
Rigorous major, with emphasis on quantitative and marketable skills.
Dedicated faculty, that is involved in advising, and follows the market trends.
Students who are willing to work hard, not afraid of math and stats, curious about the world we live in, and open minded, will find our major a great fit for them.

19. What can you do with economics degree?
Government jobs
FDIC
IMF
PPIC
Federal Reserve System

20. What can you do with economics degree?
Private business
Actuarial Assistant at BCBS
Credit Analyst at US Capital Partners
Research Analyst at North Berkeley Investment Partners
Financial Analyst at FORD OTOSAN
Data Scientist at Search Discovery
Vice President of Planning at Hot Topic
Director at Brick Capital LLC
System Analyst at Wellington Management
Sr. Financial Analyst at MedAssets
Compliance Analyst, Bank of the West
Compliance Consultant, Wells Fargo
Data Analyst at Genentech
Data analyst at PG&E

21. What can you do with economics degree?
Graduate programs
MBA
MA in economics
Data Science (analytics)
Law school

22. Salaries of economists and other majors.
Majors That Pay You Back

23. Economics Helps You See Things
“Over a thousand Americans are working today because we stopped a surge in Chinese tires.“
Barack Obama 2012, State of the Union Address, Quote about tariff increase on Chinese tires imports
Estimated jobs saved by the tariff: 1,200.
Cost to consumers (who spend more on tires): 1.1 billion in 2011 alone.
Cost per job save in tire industry: $900,000 per job.
Without the tariff, the 1.1 billion could be spent on other goods and services, and create 11,000 jobs (at 100k).