Attracting Economics Majors

Abstract

A disturbing concern that has been expressed by academic economists is the low interest in economics as a major, as evidenced by the declining enrollment in most of the economics departments in American colleges and universities. Though some college and university economics departments are experiencing or had experienced a decline in their majors enrollment, others, in fact, have experienced an increase. The main purpose of this paper is to suggest innovative actions that economics departments experiencing declining enrollment can take in an effort to reverse the trend. The ideas presented in this paper can also benefit economics departments that have not experienced a decline in enrollment.