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Undergraduate ProgramCourse SelectionPre-Approved Cognates

Pre-Approved Cognates

Economics majors may count a maximum of two courses from other departments as cognates to replace two of the required departmental elective courses. These courses need to have substantial economics content. A course with an Economics cross-listing (indicated by an ECO 3XX, ECO 4XX, or ECO 5XX number in its first or second listing) counts as a regular departmental elective, not as a cognate.

Some courses are already approved as cognates. The full list of those courses is below. If you would like the department to consider a course that is not on the list below, please complete the cognate approval form and submit it, along with a copy of the course syllabus, to Gina Holland.

To be approved as a cognate, a course must have a substantial content of theoretical or empirical economic analysis. Permission should be obtained before the semester’s deadline for the grading option change (usually in week 8 or 9 of each term).

Courses that are automatically approved as cognates include:

  • COS 445 Economics and Computing
  • ECE 470/COS 470 Principles of Blockchains
  • ECE 473/COS 473 Elements of Decentralized Finance
  • ENE 422/MAE 422 Introduction to the Electricity Sector-Engineering, Economics, and Regulation
  • MAT 378 Theory of Games
  • ORF 307/EGR 307 Optimization
  • ORF 309/EGR 309/MAT 380 Probability and Stochastic Systems
  • ORF 311 Stochastic Optimization and Machine Learning in Finance
  • ORF 350 Analysis of Big Data
  • ORF 363/COS 323 Computing and Optimization for Physical & Social Sciences
  • ORF 405 Regression and Applied Time Series
  • ORF 445 High-Frequency Markets: Models and Data Analysis
  • ORF 473 Special Topics in Operations Research and Financial Engineering: Financial Technology and Data-Driven Innovation
  • ORF 515 Asset Pricing II: Stochastic Calculus and Advanced Derivatives
  • ORF 531/FIN 531 Computational Finance in C++
  • POL 335 The Political Economy of the United States
  • POL 352/SPI 321: Comparative Political Economy
  • *POL 357/SPI314/GSS399/SAS357: Gender and Development *Important to Note:  ECO majors will need to do additional empirical work for this course in order for it to count as a cognate.
  • POL 349 Political Economy
  • POL 385 International Political Economy
  • POL 434 The Political Economy of China, Past and Present
  • POL 492 Political Economy and Development
  • POL 505 Experimental Methods in Political Science
  • SOC 306/SML 306 Machine Learning with Social Data: Opportunities and Challenges
  • SPI 340/PSY 321 The Psychology of Decision-Making and Judgment
  • SPI 466/HIS 467 Financial History
  • SPI 522 Microeconomic Analysis of Domestic Policy
  • SPI 524 The Political Economy of Central Banking
  • SPI 582C Topics in Economics: Growth, International Finance, and Crises
  • SPI 582F Topics in Economics – Understanding Macro & Financial Policy