IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/amerec/v70y2025i2p284-294.html

How Should We Think About the Intermediate Microeconomics Course in Light of Recent Trends in the Economics Major?

Author

Listed:
  • Gail M. Hoyt
  • Emily C. Marshall
  • Roisin O’Sullivan
  • Darshak Patel
  • Anthony Underwood

Abstract

Recently, the number of undergraduate economics bachelor’s degrees conferred has declined as has the percentage of total degrees conferred to economics majors (IPEDS). Simultaneously, the fraction of economics degrees conferred to econometrics and quantitative economics (STEM-designated) has been rising (IPEDS; Marshall and Underwood 2020). These concurrent trends, alongside a perpetual underrepresentation of females and other minorities in economics, motivate an examination of the core economics curriculum components. This paper discusses aspects of intermediate microeconomics, a foundational and almost universally required course in the economics major and explores how this course may play a role in these trends.

Suggested Citation

  • Gail M. Hoyt & Emily C. Marshall & Roisin O’Sullivan & Darshak Patel & Anthony Underwood, 2025. "How Should We Think About the Intermediate Microeconomics Course in Light of Recent Trends in the Economics Major?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 70(2), pages 284-294, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:amerec:v:70:y:2025:i:2:p:284-294
    DOI: 10.1177/05694345251353199
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/05694345251353199
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/05694345251353199?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emily C. Marshall & Anthony Underwood, 2022. "Is economics STEM? Process of (re)classification, requirements, and quantitative rigor," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 250-258, June.
    2. Amanda Bayer & David W. Wilcox, 2019. "The unequal distribution of economic education: A report on the race, ethnicity, and gender of economics majors at U.S. colleges and universities," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(3), pages 299-320, July.
    3. Laura J. Ahlstrom & Carlos J. Asarta, 2019. "The Gender Gap in Undergraduate Economics Course Persistence and Degree Selection," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 255-260, May.
    4. Daniel S. Hamermesh, 2013. "Six Decades of Top Economics Publishing: Who and How?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(1), pages 162-172, March.
    5. John J. Siegfried & William B. Walstad, 2014. "Undergraduate Coursework in Economics: A Survey Perspective," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 147-158, June.
    6. Marie Petkus & John J. Perry & Bruce K. Johnson, 2014. "Core Requirements for the Economics Major," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(1), pages 56-62, March.
    7. Cynthia Harter & Carlos J. Asarta, 2022. "Teaching Methods in Undergraduate Intermediate Theory, Statistics and Econometrics, and Other Upper-Division Economics Courses: Results From a Sixth National Quinquennial Survey," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 67(1), pages 132-146, March.
    8. David M. N. Mahon & Carlos J. Asarta, 2024. "Why are Schools Reclassifying Their Economics Major?," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 103-116, January.
    9. Laura J. Ahlstrom & David M. Switzer, 2024. "Gender and Intermediate Microeconomics Course Performance: Does Course Type Matter?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 69(1), pages 88-107, March.
    10. Peter von Allmen & George Brower, 1998. "Calculus and the Teaching of Intermediate Microeconomics: Results from a Survey," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 277-284, September.
    11. Abdullah Al-Bahrani, 2022. "Classroom management and student interaction interventions: Fostering diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the undergraduate economics classroom," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(3), pages 259-272, June.
    12. Amanda Page-Hoongrajok & Sai Madhurika Mamunuru, 2023. "Approaches to Intermediate Microeconomics," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 368-390, June.
    13. Amanda Bayer & Syon P. Bhanot & Erin T. Bronchetti & Stephen A. O'Connell, 2020. "Diagnosing the Learning Environment for Diverse Students in Introductory Economics: An Analysis of Relevance, Belonging, and Growth Mindsets," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 110, pages 294-298, May.
    14. John J. Siegfried, 2024. "Trends in undergraduate economics degrees, 2001–23," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 328-332, July.
    15. Emily C. Marshall & Anthony Underwood & Abigail Hyde, 2024. "Requirements of the undergraduate economics major: An update and comparison," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(3), pages 320-327, July.
    16. Tisha L. N. Emerson & KimMarie McGoldrick, 2024. "Failure, withdrawals, and retakes in intermediate microeconomics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(4), pages 333-349, October.
    17. Emily C. Marshall & Anthony Underwood, 2020. "Is economics STEM? Trends in the discipline from 1997 to 2018," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(2), pages 167-174, April.
    18. Shelly Lundberg & Jenna Stearns, 2019. "Women in Economics: Stalled Progress," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 33(1), pages 3-22, Winter.
    19. Amanda Bayer & Syon P. Bhanot & Fernando Lozano, 2019. "Does Simple Information Provision Lead to More Diverse Classrooms? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Undergraduate Economics," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 109, pages 110-114, May.
    20. Richard H. Thaler, 2016. "Behavioral Economics: Past, Present, and Future," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(7), pages 1577-1600, July.
    21. Simon D. Halliday & Sai Madhurika Mamunuru, 2025. "Updating Our Approach to Intermediate Microeconomics," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 70(2), pages 295-314, October.
    22. William Bosshardt & Michael Watts & William E. Becker, 2013. "Course Requirements for Bachelor's Degrees in Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 643-647, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. George Orlov, 2025. "Changing the Nature of the Intermediate Microeconomics Course," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 70(2), pages 334-339, October.
    2. Diego Mendez-Carbajo, 2025. "Editorial Updates, Issue Review, and Teaching Intermediate Microeconomics Symposium," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 70(2), pages 191-192, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Parama Chaudhury & Gail Hoyt, 2025. "Symposium: A Fresh Look at the Future of the Intermediate Microeconomics Course – Challenges and Opportunities," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 70(2), pages 280-283, October.
    2. Laura J. Ahlstrom & David M. Switzer, 2024. "Gender and Intermediate Microeconomics Course Performance: Does Course Type Matter?," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 69(1), pages 88-107, March.
    3. David M. N. Mahon & Carlos J. Asarta, 2024. "Why are Schools Reclassifying Their Economics Major?," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 50(1), pages 103-116, January.
    4. Murray, James M., 2025. "Scholar spotlights! A curricular intervention to enhance students’ perceptions of relevance and belonging in principles of macroeconomics," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    5. Depro, Brooks & Rouse, Kathryn, 2022. "Adapting the case method in an economics capstone research course," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    6. Hu, Shengrong & Winters, John, 2025. "Growing from the STEM? OPT Classification and International Students in Economics," ISU General Staff Papers 202512221706060000, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    7. Ahlstrom, Laura J. & Harter, Cynthia & Asarta, Carlos J., 2023. "Teaching methods and materials in undergraduate economics courses: School, instructor, and department effects," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    8. Amanda Bayer & Gregory Bruich & Raj Chetty & Andrew Housiaux, 2020. "Expanding and diversifying the pool of undergraduates who study economics: Insights from a new introductory course at Harvard," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3-4), pages 364-379, September.
    9. Rebecca Cassells & Leonora Risse & Danielle Wood & Duygu Yengin, 2023. "Lifting Diversity and Inclusion in Economics: How the Australian Women in Economics Network Put the Evidence into Action," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 42(1), pages 1-29, March.
    10. Simon D. Halliday & Sai Madhurika Mamunuru, 2025. "Updating Our Approach to Intermediate Microeconomics," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 70(2), pages 295-314, October.
    11. Todd Pugatch & Elizabeth Schroeder, 2024. "A simple nudge increases socioeconomic diversity in undergraduate Economics," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 287-307, January.
    12. Erin Cottle Hunt, 2026. "Economics is What Economist Do: Exposing Principles of Economics Students to Economic Research and Researchers," Journal of Economics Teaching, Journal of Economics Teaching, vol. 11(1), pages 43-49, January.
    13. Sarah F. Small, 2023. "Infusing Diversity in a History of Economic Thought Course: An Archival Study of Syllabi and Resources for Redesign," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(3), pages 276-311, June.
    14. Halliday, Simon D. & Makler, Christopher & McKee, Douglas & Papadopoulou, Anastasia, 2024. "Improving student comprehension through interactive model visualization," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    15. Brad R. Humphreys & Joshua C. Hall & Hyunwoong Pyun, 2015. "An Inventory of Sports Economics Courses in the US," Working Papers 15-49, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    16. Patnaik, Arpita & Pauley, Gwyn & Venator, Joanna & Wiswall, Matthew, 2024. "The impacts of same and opposite gender alumni speakers on interest in economics," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    17. Ishuan Li & Robert Simonson, 2016. "Capstone senior research course in economics," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(2), pages 161-167, April.
    18. Graziella Bertocchi & Luca Bonacini & Marina Murat, 2021. "Adams and Eves: The Gender Gap in Economics Majors," EIEF Working Papers Series 2115, Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF), revised Dec 2021.
    19. Teresa Perry, 2025. "Marx and the Big Mac: An Empirical Exploration of Marx’s Exploitation Theory for Introductory Economics Courses," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 57(3), pages 403-410, September.
    20. Amarante, Veronica & Zurbrigg, Julieta, 2022. "The marginalization of southern researchers in Development," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:amerec:v:70:y:2025:i:2:p:284-294. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://journals.sagepub.com/home/aex .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.