Economics for Business Studies: Does it Matter?

Does the Performance on Principles of Economics Courses Affect the Overall Academic Success of Undergraduate Business Majors?

Rupert G. Rhodd, Sandra M. Schrouder and Marcus T. Allen

Abstract: Using a sample of 1,339 graduates from an accredited business school and the maximum likelihood technique, this paper explores the relationship between overall academic success and performance on the Principles of Economics courses. The estimated model, which also includes some demographic variables, shows that the rank of professors teaching the course, age of students, and the number of credits earned do not influence business majors’ overall academic success. However, the grades earned on the Principles of Economics courses, gender, ethnicity, the major in which the student is enrolled, the number of years the student takes to graduate, as well as whether or not the student is completing a minor significantly affect the overall academic success or the final GPA of business majors.

Economists' ethics

"The executive committee of the American Economic Association voted unanimously on Thursday to create a committee to consider the association's existing disclosure and other ethical standards and potential extensions to those standards" according to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. This issue arose after Gerald Epstein criticized a number of US economists for possible conflicts of interest (arising from memberships of boards or positions as consultants) in their policy pronoucements along with a failure to disclose such possible conflicts.
It would be interesting to know the extent to which this is an issue for Irish economists.