Economics department enjoys increase in students, focuses on teaching and research
by Karen Saatkamp Gerboth '93

To understand how the world works is to understand economics. “Virtually any political issue has an economic component,” said David Wishart, professor of economics and department chair, and “the internationalization of business makes knowledge of economics even more essential.”

Perhaps that is why the economics major has now become one of the most popular majors at the nation’s best universities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A few years ago, though, students nationwide seemed disinterested in studying economics.

Studies showed that nationally the number of economics majors dropped by approximately one-third in the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, Wishart said. But that trend seems to have reversed, and Wittenberg is benefiting, he added.

“At present, we have more than 30 majors and 15 minors, which is about a 50 percent increase over the last few years,” Wishart said.

Wishart attributes the increase to students becoming more sophisticated with mathematics and less intimidated by economics.“Increasingly our students come with some knowledge of economics from their high school courses.

It used to be that most incoming students had no idea what economics was about other than some vague relationship to money-related issues, which is really a small branch of the field,” he explained.

“We have some extremely bright young people with whom to interact on a regular basis, and they expect excellence in teaching,” Wishart said.

The broad range of courses offered in the department also seems to have proved attractive to students. “The range of courses we offer is really extraordinary for a school our size,” Wishart said.

Currently, the economics curriculum consists of required courses in economic principles, microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, advanced economic theory and econometrics.

Students can then choose from a variety of electives representing the main sub-fields in economics.

These include labor economics, economic history, international trade and finance, the East Asian economies, developmental economics, money and banking, and environmental and natural resource economics.

“Our curriculum is unique in the level of preparation our majors receive in economic theory.

We require one more advanced economic theory course than do most undergraduate programs, and we offer a set of courses on a regular basis that is comparable to what one would find at a major research university,” Wishart said.

“We’ve also been careful in our hiring to maintain a broad range of expertise among our faculty members, and we are flexible enough so that each of us is able to teach in several areas.”

Another change that has taken place in the last 16 years, the time Wishart arrived on campus, is the department’s increased emphasis on research. “Research and teaching are viewed as complementary goods rather than substitutes,” Wishart said, adding that “the research informs and enlivens what we do in the classroom.”

Fred Tiffany, associate professor of economics, and Wishart, for example, are using game theory application to help understand the conflict over water resources in Israel.

Tiffany is also studying how Internet editions of newspapers are priced, and Lawrence Gwinn, associate professor of economics, continues to do research in international trade, focusing especially on the trade relationship between the United States and Canada.

Gwinn is also responsible for teaching an advanced course in econometrics where all of his students are required to undertake a research project and present their results to the class.

Jeff Ankrom, professor of economics, is continuing his research on the statistical value of life. He also serves on the NCAA financial aid committee. In addition, Janet Goulet, professor of economics, continues to research labor relations.

There are also more students now engaged in research with the economics faculty. Wendy Hanson ’02, for example, has been working with Wishart on the economic history of Indian policy in the early 19th century, and Wishart would like the level of student-faculty research to increase even more.

“I think we need to expand the degree to which students are engaged in research with their professors,” Wishart said. “For those students who want to pursue graduate studies, they need to be doing serious research as undergraduates.

There are also many more forums for students to publish their research today compared to when I started.” He also thinks the department needs to keep pace with the changes in information technology.

“I’m interested in developing options for distance learning. I think college faculty will have to move in this direction or face a degree of obsolescence in the future.”

Despite the challenges, Wishart hopes that students take with them a keen understanding of how the world works. When students leave this department, they “should be able to observe and understand, even predict, human behavior based on the incentive structures that exist in a society.

When wasteful or inefficient behavior is observed, I hope that our students can trace this back to flaws in the incentive structure that, once corrected, will lead to less waste and greater efficiency,” Wishart said.

Economics majors can also likely leave the department with more than one job offer. “Our majors can choose so many different career paths that it is hard to go wrong.

The financial and business worlds are obvious career choices for economics majors, but there are great opportunities in law, politics, government, consulting, the non-profit sector and even academia.

There has never been such a good time to get an economics degree,” Wishart said. “I’m always heartened by how well our alumni seem to be doing.”