Undergraduate Academics
Economics
At Sarah Lawrence College, economics is not taught as a set of techniques for working in a static field but, rather, as an evolving discipline. In the liberal-arts tradition, Sarah Lawrence students approach the study of economics by addressing issues in historical, political, and cultural context. Students analyze and evaluate multiple schools of thought as they relate to actual situations—exploring, from an economic perspective, topics such as globalization, growth and social policy, inequality, capitalism, and the environment. Students who have focused on economics have gone on to become union organizers, join the Peace Corps, intern with United Nations agencies, enter law school, and enter graduate programs in public policy and international development.
Economics 2025-2026 Courses
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Intermediate, Seminar—Fall | 5 credits
ECON 3803
Prerequisite: a prior economics course
This course focuses on the intersection of economic development and environmental and natural-resource management. We will focus on the unique environmental and natural-resource challenges in the context of sustainable development, seeking to understand how economic development goals can be achieved without sacrificing the economic and environmental well-being of future generations. We will bring together relevant theoretical and empirical insights obtained from environmental economics, ecological economics, political economy, and development studies. A sample of guiding topics include: how the relationship between economic growth, demographic change, and environmental pollution has evolved; how to approach and deal with climate change in the context of sustainable development; how globalization distributes and redistributes environmental benefits and costs between the Global South and Global North; whether a Global Green New Deal can address both environmental sustainability and economic development; why developing countries suffer from the natural-resource curse; what local communities in developing countries can teach us about sustainable resource management; what property-right regimes work for sustainable development; and what renewable energy policies work for developing countries.
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Intermediate/Advanced, Seminar—Fall | 5 credits
ECON 3508
Prerequisite: a prior economics course; prior econometrics experience in statistics recommended
Data are everywhere, and data contain plenty of valuable hidden information that is waiting to be uncovered. How can we use data properly to help inform policy decisions? In this research workshop, we will learn the essential skills and contemporary methods for conducting applied studies of economic, political, social, and policy issues using data. We will discuss how to properly formulate a research hypothesis, how to select and organize quantitative data, how to construct relevant variables, how to select empirical research methods, and how to present and communicate your research findings. The course will cover a range of contemporary applied research methods that emphasize causal inference, including panel data, fixed effects, difference-in-difference, matching, Regression Discontinuity Design, instrumental variables, and so on. We will start with finding correlations among variables of interest (e.g., How do X and Y relate to each other?) but will focus more on making causal inferences (e.g., Does X cause Y?). We will learn Stata, a relatively advanced statistical package used widely by the social science and science research communities. The ultimate goal of the course will be to help students write a successful applied conference project. But first, do no harm!
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Open, Small Lecture—Year | 10 credits
ECON 2051
This seminar, broadly speaking, will cover introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics from a wide range of theoretical perspectives, including neoclassical, post-Keynesian, Marxian, feminist, and institutional political economy perspectives. The course will enable students to understand the more “technical aspects” of economics (e.g., usage of supply/demand analysis within and outside neoclassical economics), as well as significant economic history and the history of economic thought. Theoretical issues will be applied to contemporary policy debates such as industrial policy, foreign trade, global warming, and inequality.
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Open, Small Lecture—Year | 10 credits
ECON 2035
This course is designed for students interested in the social sciences who wish to understand the methodology and techniques involved in the estimation of structural relationships between variables (i.e., regression analysis). The course is intended for students who wish to be able to carry out empirical work in their particular field, both at Sarah Lawrence College and beyond, and critically engage with empirical work done by academic or professional social scientists. In fall, the course will cover the theoretical and applied statistical principles that underlie Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression techniques. The course will begin with a review of basic statistical and probability theory, as well as relevant mathematical techniques. We will then study the assumptions needed to obtain the Best Linear Unbiased Estimates (BLUE) conditions of a regression equation. Particular emphasis will be placed on the assumptions regarding the distribution of a model’s error term and other BLUE conditions. The course will cover hypothesis testing, sample selection, and the critical role of the t- and F-statistic in determining the statistical significance of an econometric model and its associated slope or “β” parameters. Further, we will address three main problems associated with the violation of a particular BLUE assumption: multicollinearity, serial correlation, and heteroscedasticity. We will learn how to identify, address, and remedy each of these problems. In addition, the course will take a similar approach to understanding and correcting model specification errors. In spring, the course will build on fall learning by introducing advanced econometrics topics. We will study difference-in-difference estimators, autoregressive dependent lag (ARDL) models, co-integration, and error correction models involving nonstationary time series. We will investigate simultaneous equations systems, vector error correction (VEC), and vector autoregressive (VAR) models. The final part of the course will involve the study of panel data, as well as logit and probit models. Students will receive ample exposure to concrete issues while also being encouraged to consider basic methodological questions, including the debates between John Maynard Keynes and Jan Tinbergen regarding the power and limitations of econometric analysis. Spring is particularly relevant to students who wish to pursue graduate studies in a social-science discipline but equally relevant for other types of graduate degrees that involve knowledge of intermediate-level quantitative analysis. The practical “hands-on” approach taken in this course will be useful to those students who wish to do future conference projects, internships, or enter the job market in the social (or natural) sciences with significant empirical content. The goal is for students to be able to analyze questions such as: What is the relationship between slavery and industrialization in the United States? What effects do race, gender, and educational attainment have in the determination of wages? How does the female literacy rate affect the child mortality rate? How can one model the effect of economic growth on carbon-dioxide emissions? What is the relationship among sociopolitical instability, inequality, and economic growth? How do geographic location and state spending affect average public-school teacher salaries? How does one study global inequalities in terms of access to COVID-19 vaccines?
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Open, Seminar—Year | 10 credits
ECON 3041
This seminar will explore the history of the US labor movement from its beginnings in the colonial society of the 1600s to the “globalized” cities of the 2020s. Beginning with the involuntary labor arrangements that structured the continent’s economy from the 1600s to the Civil War, we will focus on the international workers' movement against slavery: abolitionism. The abolitionist struggle will take us from the first rebellions of involuntary workers to the Civil War and the Reconstruction era. From there, we will consider the strikes, uprisings, and organizations of the late 19th- and 20th-century industrial labor movement, beginning with the Great Upheaval of 1877 and ending with the postindustrial urban uprisings of 1967. We will consider the peak of “big labor” during the mid-20th century, alongside the peak in Cold War-era US imperialism that structured the economy during that time. In spring, we will begin by thoroughly considering the major structural shifts in the US economy that began in the 1970s, generally referred to as a combination of “globalization” and “neoliberalism.” These shifts degraded job quality and worker power, relegating the working class to service positions in the “global city” structure. In responding to these shifts, we will consider numerous autonomous unions and “worker centers” that have had 38 economic scholars sprung up to address the new issues of this new economy in the past 20 years. We will also focus on broader 21st-century people’s struggles—such as the anti-globalization movement, Occupy Wall Street, and Black Lives Matter—and how these movements relate to the ongoing workers’ movement. Requirements for the course include discussion posts, short papers, and a group presentation. For the course’s major project, students will have two options. The first is to write two connected final essays, one for each semester. The second is to engage in a yearlong research project, which can be focused on service learning and field placements with local worker centers and unions, if students choose. Students will meet with the instructor biweekly for individual conferences, depending on the student’s needs and the progress of their conference projects. Required texts may include: Strike! by Jeremy Brecher, The Many-Headed Hydra by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker, An African American and Latinx History of the United States by Paul Ortiz, The Global City by Saskia Sassen, New Labor in New York by Ruth Milkman and Ed Ott, and Labor Law for the Rank and Filer by Staughton Lynd and Daniel Gross.
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Sophomore and Above, Seminar—Year | 10 credits
ECON 3048
What factors determine the status of women in different societies and communities? What role is played by women’s labor, both inside and outside of the home? By cultural norms regarding sexuality and reproduction? By religious traditions? After a brief theoretical grounding, this course will address these questions by examining the economic, political, social, and cultural histories of women in the various racial/ethnic and class groupings that make up the United States. Topics to be explored include: the role of women in the Iroquois Confederation before white colonization and the factors that gave Iroquois women significant political and social power in their communities; the status of white colonist women in Puritan Massachusetts and the economic, religious, and other factors that led to the Salem witch trials of 1692; the position of African American women under slavery, including the gendered and racialized divisions of labor and reproduction; the growth of competitive capitalism in the North and the development of the “cult of true womanhood” in the rising middle class; the economic and political changes that accompanied the Civil War and Reconstruction and the complex relationships between African American and white women in the abolitionist and women’s rights movements; the creation of a landless agricultural labor force and the attempts to assimilate Chicana women into the dominant culture via “Americanization” programs; the conditions that encouraged Asian women’s immigration and their economic and social positions upon immigrating; the American labor movement and the complicated role organized labor has played in the lives of women of various racial/ethnic groups and classes; the impact of US colonial policies on Puerto Rican migration and Puerto Rican women’s economic and political status on both the Island and the mainland; the economic/political convulsions of the 20th century—from the trusts of the early 1900s to World War II—and their impact on diverse women’s paid and unpaid labor; the impact of changes in gendered economic roles on LGBT communities; the economic and political upheavals of the 1960s that led to the so-called “second wave” of the women’s movement; and the current position of women in the US economy and polity and the possibilities for more inclusive public policies concerning gender and family issues. In addition to class participation and the conference project, requirements for the course will include regular essays that synthesize class materials with written texts. Possibilities for conference work include traditional conference papers, group conference papers, “dialogue” papers, and on- or off-campus service projects.
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