Economics Department
The economics major provides a unique perspective and a broad range of career possibilities. Economics is a social science that studies the decision-making of individuals, firms, and governments in both local and global environments. Microeconomics focuses on the behavior of consumers and firms; macroeconomics on the performance of the nation's overall economy. Northern’s Economics Department offers a variety of courses that allow students to apply the economic way of thinking to fields such as finance, law, management, government at all levels, regulation, and the environment, and emphasizes its relevance to current regional, national, and international issues.
Experience Learning
At Northern, we strongly believe in learning by doing. Our faculty not only teach classes but also serve as dedicated mentors. With guidance from caring, engaged professors, you will be challenged to think on your feet—developing strong critical thinking skills such as problem solving, data analysis, adapting ideas, and recognizing meaningful connections. You will also strengthen your research, writing, and oral communication skills, all of which are essential tools for a 21st-century global citizen.
The demand for employees with a strong understanding of economics is projected to grow faster than the average for other occupations. At Northern, every student receives personal attention. Faculty provide support when material becomes challenging, help you plan for careers or graduate study, and offer opportunities to collaborate on research projects—often leading to conference presentations and publications.
Career Excellence
Economics graduates acquire the analytical tools to pursue a wide a variety of careers such as, Law, Business Administration, Economic Forecaster, FBI/CIA Agent, Financial Analyst, Financial Planner, Bank Examiner, Budget Analyst, Foreign Service Officer, Health Administration, Intelligence Specialist, Journalist, Loan Counselor, Marketing Analyst, Public Administration, Public Policy Maker, Research Analyst, Venture Capitalist, Investment Banking, Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Analyst, Data Scientist, Sports Analytics, International Organization, Think Tank, NGO Analyst and more. Students that want to pursue graduate studies in Economics should take advantage as much as possible of the variety of upper level courses the department offers as well as advanced courses in mathematics and statistics.
“Economics sharpens critical thinking — and then pushes it further.”
Economic critical thinking goes a step further because it trains you to look beneath the surface of a problem: to ask what people want, what incentives they face, what trade-offs they make, and what the real consequences are —not just the intended ones. It helps you think clearly about choices, evidence, numbers, and cause and effect. That combination makes economic reasoning uniquely powerful across careers.
Economics is like having X-ray vision for real life. It helps you see the hidden logic behind decisions — why prices change, why trends take off, why policies work (or don’t). It’s not just about money; it’s about choices, incentives, and consequences. You’ll learn to connect data with stories, evidence with action, and ideas with real-world outcomes. Those skills make you valuable anywhere — in business, law, tech, policy, or wherever smart decisions matter.
Economics teaches you to think like a detective, decide like a strategist, and see the world in a whole new way.
Did You Know...?
Economics students are increasingly enrolling in law school. Among the six disciplines with more than 2,000 students taking the LSAT, the 2,468 economics majors received the highest average score (from the American Economic Association website, click here).
Economics: Good choice of major for future CEOs. When adjusting for size of the pool of graduates, those with undergraduate degrees in economics are shown to have had a greater likelihood of being an S&P 500* CEO than any other major (from The American Economist, Vol. 55, No. 1, Spring 2010).
To find out more about career paths for economic graduates, contact our faculty members.
* Top 500 corporations
Economics Job Outlook: Where curiosity Meets Strong Earnings
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Labor Market for Recent College Graduates (2025): The long-term payoff is strong. Economics majors consistently earn among the highest wages across social sciences and non-STEM fields, and often rival STEM graduates in lifetime earnings. Economics majors enjoy one of the strongest financial returns among non-STEM degrees: Median early-career wage: $70,000 Median mid-career wage: $110,000 Nearly 42% continue to graduate study, boosting career opportunities even further.
Degrees Offered
What you'll do at NMU
As an NMU student, your opportunities to get involved on campus and in the community are boundless. Economics students play an active role in the work of the Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship, including supporting and working with K-12 schools, doing research on the U.P regional economy. Students are encouraged to attend and present at regional and national professional conferences in most cases with funding provided by the university. The Economics Department brings national economic expert speakers to campus. Join the NMU Economics Student Association or the Omicron Delta Epsilon (The International Economics Honor Society). Organize campus wide forums and presentations or tutor NMU students or area youth in economics, personal finance, and entrepreneurship concepts.