Contact Information

Website: arts.ucalgary.ca/economics

For Program Advice

Students should consult an undergraduate program advisor in the Arts Students’ Centre for information and advice on their overall program requirements. Advising contact information can be found online:  arts.ucalgary.ca/advising

The Department of Economics offers instruction in the Field of Economics. The BA Honours program is recommended for students planning to pursue a graduate degree in economics and for those who seek an enriched understanding of the subject at the undergraduate level.

Introduction

Economics is the systematic study of the logic of choice and human action under conditions of scarcity. Its concern is with how economic activity—the production, consumption, and trade of goods and services—is organized when resources are scarce. It seeks to develop an understanding of how individuals should, and do, make decisions, how societies structure economic activity, and the relative effectiveness of different institutions in relaxing, or mitigating, scarcity constraints. There are two primary focuses of economic inquiry: (i) understanding the strengths and limitations of markets relative to alternative institutions and (ii) understanding demand for the use of the government’s monopoly on the legal use of coercion and the potential effects of its exercise.