Econ Revises Course Load

The Economics Department revised its concentration requirements for incoming students this past month, increasing the number of required courses and emphasizing a stronger foundation in mathematics.

The revised curriculum adds Mathematics 1a as the basic mathematics requirement for all concentrators, with Mathematics 21a required of students seeking honors eligibility.

The changes, which were published on the department’s website, do not affect current economics concentrators but will take effect for the Class of 2014.

Before the changes were implemented, all economics concentrators were required to take a total of 10 courses, with 12 for those on the honors track.

“As of this year, all freshmen are subject to a new official set of requirements which is 11 for the basic track and 15 for the honors track, which puts us very much in the middle of the pack in terms of requirements,” Economics Director of Undergraduate Studies Jeffrey A. Miron said yesterday.

Students in either track who have the appropriate high school equivalents or Harvard placement test scores can place out of the new requirements without having to take any math courses.

It is unclear how many economics concentrators will actually need to take additional classes. Mathematics 1a or its equivalent is currently a prerequisite for Economics 1010a, a required course in the economics concentration.

“I think the vast majority of kids already know 1a,” said Robert J. Kindman ’14, who plans to be an economics concentrator. “The 21a requirement may affect a lot more kids.”

Other undergraduates said that the revisions would not have an impact on them personally.

“I’m doing economics that requires a lot of math, especially math beyond 1a, so the changes don’t affect me much,” said Trent L. Kim ’13. “However, usually you have to take linear algebra as a prerequisite to take any of the more ‘mathematical’ economics classes, so the addition does seem a bit awkward.”

Harvard freshmen currently enrolled in Economics 10: “Principles of Economics,” expressed mixed feelings about the departmental revisions.

“The new requirements add to Harvard’s liberal arts program and its commitment to complementing the humanities side of economics with a more mathematical approach,” said Sarah R. Siskind ’14.  “If I were concentrating in economics, I’d probably take the math as soon possible and get it over with as quickly as possible.”

Others were more positive about the mathematical bent of the new requirements.

“I think it’s great the economics department is pushing kids to take quantitative courses,” Kindman said. “Forcing everyone to really have a solid background in math will enable them to do things that they maybe wouldn’t have been able to do before.”

—Staff writer Zachary Hamed can be reached at zhamed@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Kevin J. Wu can be reached at kwu@college.harvard.edu.