Learning Goals

Program (BA) Student Learning Goals and Outcomes

Economics majors will graduate with a breadth of skills and knowledge in the following areas:

  • Theory: Economics graduates will be able to explain, graph, and analyze key economics models.
  • Institutional Context: Economics graduates will be able to analyze the economics and institutional arrangements of specific regions, countries, organizations, localities, industries or firms.
  • Data Analysis: Economics graduates will be able to generate and interpret summary statistics and regression models; and identify data sources, describe appropriate empirical tools, and perform research on data they retrieve from original surveys, or official and industry sources.
  • Critical Thinking: Economics graduates will be able evaluate economic issues and public policy by using economic models or data analysis while identifying underlying assumptions of the model(s) and limitations
  • Communication: Economics graduates will be able effectively communicate economic ideas.
  • Economic Citizenship: Economics graduates will be able formulate informed opinions on policy issues and recognize the validity of opposing viewpoints.

To ensure we are providing an education that meets our stated goals, the department engages in an annual, systematic evaluation of our undergraduate program (BA). See our most recent reports.

Undergraduate Outcomes Assessment Annual Report 2018-2019
Undergraduate Outcomes Assessment Annual Report 2019-2020
Undergraduate Outcomes Assessment Annual Report 2020-2021
Undergraduate Outcomes Assessment Annual Report 2021-2022

General Education Essential Learning Goals and Skills

ECON 2110: Macroeconomics Principles and ECON 2120: Microeconomics Principles satisfyUNM General Education Curriculum: Social and Behavioral Sciences requirements. These courses are also a part ofNMHED’s Common Course Numbering System.

ECON 2110: Macroeconomic Principles Essential Learning Goals and Skills

  1. Essential Skills: Communication, Social and Personal Responsibility, and Critical Thinking
  2. Determinants of Economic Growth: Identify the causes of prosperity, growth, and economic change over time and explain the mechanisms through which these causes operate in the economy.
  3. Policy Trade-Offs: Describe the policy implications that must be weighed in the formulation of economic policy. Identify differential effects of policy in the short and long run.
  4. Role of Price Mechanism: Explain the chain of events that occur when equilibrium is disturbed, with emphasis on the allocative roles of price. Apply that model to predict the economic impact of real-world events
  5. Application of Macro Principles to Social Issues: Describe how macroeconomic policy choices affect the distribution of income, employment, consumption and other measures of well-being.

ECON 2120: Microeconomic Principles Essential Learning Goals and Skills

  1. Essential Skills: Communication, Social and Personal Responsibility, and Critical Thinking
  2. Trade-Offs & Comparative Advantage: Describe how voluntary market interactions and trade, in the face of scarcity, benefit both parties to a transaction.
  3. Role of Price Mechanism: Explain the chain of events that occur when equilibrium is disturbed, with emphasis on the allocative roles of price. Apply that model to predict the economic impact of real-world events
  4. Application of Micro Principles to Social Issues: Use microeconomic models to describe wage inequality, environmental protection and other policy issues.
  5. Market Failures: State the conditions under which a market will not produce an efficient result and describe how these “market failures” affect economic outcomes.
  6. Microeconomic Decision-Making: Use graphical analysis and/or logic to demonstrate the economic “rule” that marginal decision-making leads to an efficient outcome.

If you have any questions about UNM’s Department of Economics Assessment, please contact Dr. Cristina Reiser at creiser@unm.edu.