Program in Ethics, Politics and Economics

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Requirements of the major

Summary of requirements

To complete the Ethics, Politics and Economics major, students must take fourteen term courses.

Six introductory courses survey central issues in ethics and political philosophy and provide a basic familiarity with contemporary economic analysis. Every student in the major must take introductory macroeconomics and introductory microeconomics, introduction to political philosophy, introduction to ethics, and an introductory statistics course.  Every student must also take an intermediate level microeconomics course.

Four core courses comprise the center of the major. All students must take “Classics of Ethics, Politics and Economics” as one of their core courses. In addition, students graduating in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 must complete courses in three of the remaining four core fields. Students graduating after 2012 must complete at least one “applied seminar” and courses in two of the remaining three fields. Ordinarily three of the four core classes must be completed before the beginning of the senior year.

Four concentration courses, drawn from any part of the university, must cohere together into a unified area of concentration. Each student conceives of his or her area of concentration in personal consultation with the director of undergraduate studies during the second half of their junior year. The purpose of the concentration is to enable students to frame an important problem and shape a systematic course of inquiry, employing analytic methods and substantive theories drawn from the various disciplines. The concentration be constructed with the senior essay in mind. At least three of the four concentration courses must be seminars; only one can be a lecture.

In addition, all students in the major must write a senior essay. The essay may be written in the context of a concentration seminar, or it may be written independently. If it is written independently, it may be written over the course of either one term or the entire academic year. Independent essays, written in consultation with a faculty adviser, may count as one course towards the concentration.

Which courses fulfill introductory requirements?

EPE Introductory Courses

  • Economics: Econ 110 or 115, and Econ 111 or 116
  • Political Philosophy: Phil 178, Political Science 114, 118, or Directed Studies
  • Ethics: Philosophy 175

In addition, one statistics and one intermediate microeconomics course are required:

  • Statistics: STAT 100, STAT 101-106, STAT 230, STAT 238, STAT 242, ECON 131, ECON 132, ECON 135, and ECON 136
  • Intermediate microeconomics: Economics 150 or 152


Which courses fulfill core requirements?

EPE Core Courses

  2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010
Rational Choice and Social Theory 326, 328, 329, 330, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347, 348, 349, 352, 353, 423 319, 326, 328, 345, 349, 367 319, 320, 328, 345, 352, 376, 377 222, 223, 319, 320, 352 , 377
Political Systems 302, 316, 318, 321, 322, 323, 324, 325, 326, 327, 328, 333, 337, 339, 342, 343, 344, 360, 405, 433, 449, 457 337, 339,360, 366, 367, 371, 373, 374, 380 321, 339, 342, 344, 347, 366, 370, 373, 374 240, 242, 321, 337, 342 , 347, 366, 370
Advanced Topics 331, 332, 333, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 346, 347, 350, 351, 354, 357, 358, 359, 363, 366, 368, 421, 445, 446 312, 313, 314, 331, 334, 351, 353, 354, 363, 368 312, 326, 334, 338, 350, 353, 368, 372, 375, 378, 379, 380 334, 359, 361, 365, 368, 369, 381, 380, 381, 382, 383, 384, 386
Social Theory and Cultural Analysis 301, 303, 304, 337, 355, 356, 419 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 314, 335, 340, 357, 362, 369, 376, 377 304, 306, 307, 308, 309, 357 262, 263, 264, 302, 303, 305, 307, 335, 377


Designing your Concentration

Each student is expected to define a particular area of concentration in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies. Initial discussions with the DUS about the concentration should occur in the spring of the junior year, and final confirmation of the courses included in the concentration will be required in the spring of the senior year

The concentration is intended to enable students to frame an important problem and shape a systematic course of inquiry, employing analytical methods and substantive theories drawn from the three fields of inquiry.  Students should not only recognize the accomplishments of varied interdisciplinary efforts, but also attempt to represent and in some cases further develop those accomplishments in their own work. For most students, the concentration will treat a contemporary problem with a substantial policy dimension (domestic or international), but some students may wish to emphasize philosophical and methodological issues. 
Areas of concentration must consist of at least four courses appropriate to the theme. They may be drawn from any department in the university, so long as they are relevant to the student’s proposed area of study. In general, the courses chosen should collectively convey what each of the three main fields of inquiry combined in this major has to offer to the themes of their concentration. They are selected by the student in close consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies and, often, the senior essay advisor.  For many students the concentration may expand to include five or more courses.  In designing the area of concentration, students would be well advised to include general intermediate courses related to their interests.  The Director of Undergraduate Studies and the senior essay advisor will also require students to show adequate competence in data analysis when the themes of their area of concentration require it. Students should seek advice early in shaping a sufficiently rich area of concentration that draws on all three fields of the curriculum.


Directed Reading and Research

At any point in the major, students may develop a course of directed reading and research with a faculty advisor, in which case they should enroll in EP&E 471 and complete a Directed Reading and Research form along with their course schedule. Proposals for directed readings must include a course description, a reading list, a schedule of meetings with the advisor and a description of the written work to be completed.

If applicable, a Directed Reading and Research may count towards one of the four required courses in the concentration. Only one independent study can be used for this purpose.