B.ECON Honours Concentration in International Political Economy

Concentration Description

In the global economy countries exchange goods and services and rely on each other’s cooperation. International relations and international trade play an important in role in determining the state of domestic development and welfare. The B.Econ. Honours Concentration in International Political Economy provides a rigorous and intensive grounding in international trade and finance, international relations, and selected area studies. Students will develop detailed knowledge of problems and issues in international economics and political relations as well as various policy solutions. Students also acquire advanced quantitative skills and the ability to carry out independent research projects.

The B.Econ. Honours Concentration in International Political Economy is normally completed during the last three of four years of full-time study. The concentration combines selected specialized courses from departments of Economics and Political Science. This concentration is recommended to individuals who have a strong interest in international affairs and plan to pursue a career in the foreign service or in an international governmental or non-governmental organization.

Students seeking to gain additional training in quantitative methods may benefit from combining B.Econ. Honours Concentration in International Political Economy with B.Econ. Honours Concentration in Economic Data Science. Combining the International Political Economy concentration with either the B.Econ. Honours Concentration in Development or B.Econ. Honours Concentration in Natural Resources, Environment, and Economy will develop a broad knowledge of issues and solutions in the domain of international economic relations across several fields of social science. Furthermore, any one of these combinations will provide students with a strong and broad set of skills generally sought by the employers.

General Elective Suggestions for First Year ECON Students

Important Information about Electives!

“Free electives” can be taken in any subject, including the subject of the major. The only restrictions when choosing “free electives” are to ensure you’re not taking courses that are prohibited (ie. worth 0.0 credit in an economics degree, such as ECON 2101) and that you are not exceeding the max of 7.0 credits allowed at the 1000-level for the entire degree (including the major and electives sections of your audit).

In contrast, “Electives Not In Economics” must be in subjects other than Economics and again, you need to ensure you’re not exceeding the 1000-level maximum for the degree.

There is a max of 7.0 credits 1000-level courses allowed for the entire degree (including requirements in the major and electives). If students exceed 7.0 credits at the 1000-level, course(s) would be set aside and not count towards the degree. You can check how many courses you’ve taken at the 1000-level on your academic audit.

Students often ask for recommendations about elective courses. Students are in the best position to choose their elective courses based on their own interests, strengths, career goals, learning style, etc.

List of Electives Suggestions:

Suggested Course Pattern – International Political Economy

The information below is a recommended course pattern for students in the Bachelor of Economics (Honours) with a concentration in International Political Economy. There may be other ways of structuring your degree depending on part-time study and other factors listed below. Each student’s academic journey is different and might not follow this course pattern exactly.

For example:

• You are taking a reduced course load of less than 2.5 credits in the fall and/or winter terms.
• You may be required to retake a course to meet a minimum prerequisite grade before progressing to upper-year course(s).
• You might transfer from another program at Carleton or other post-secondary institution(s) and have pre-existing credits that can count towards degree requirements.
• There may be flexibility in terms of when you choose to take elective courses outside of Economics.
• Preferred courses may not fit your timetable or may not be available (for example, a course might reach capacity) and you need to adjust your registration.

This course pattern is intended to assist students in degree-planning alongside tools such as:

Important Notes!

This guide includes a year-by-year breakdown of course selection. Please refer back to this information on a regular basis!

Please check notes about the important information per year, as this might affect your registration.

ECON 0005

Students admitted with a conditional offer to the B.Econ (Honours) with an additional requirement in economics, must complete ECON 0005: Preparatory Mathematics for Economics in their first term of study with a minimum grade of C- or higher to be eligible to continue in their current program and continue with courses like ECON 1401: Elementary Mathematics for Economics I in the subsequent term. Students with a conditional offer of admission CANNOT take ECON 1401 concurrently with ECON 0005.

Course Workload

To complete the Honour’s program, you must earn 20 credits. Students have the flexibility to manage their course load as they see fit. However, if you choose to drop a required course—whether it’s an elective, a core course, or a concentration elective—you will still need to complete it later or fulfill the equivalent requirement to meet your degree requirements.

This is why it is imperative to regularly check your audit and see if you are meeting yearly requirements.

If you are thinking of changing your major, minor or specialization, the ‘what-if’ audit can be very beneficial for you. It will help you see how your audit will change once you switch your program elements. This is a useful tool in determining where your previous courses would count in the new degree to see if you are on the right track towards graduation.

The Academic Advising Centre has all the information you would need on their website: https://carleton.ca/academicadvising/what-if-audit/

When to Complete Electives

Our department strongly recommends prioritizing the core courses and concentration courses required for completing your Honour’s program degree over taking electives. Electives should be paired alongside the core and concentration courses.

Minimum Prerequisite Grade

All ECON course outlines list the minimum prerequisite grade required to progress to upper-year level ECON courses. The official listing for ECON courses is posted on the Undergraduate Calendar. The grade required to obtain credit in a course (50% or above, or a letter grade of D-) may be different than the minimum prerequisite grade.

For example, ECON 2210 requires a minimum prerequisite grade of C- to get into most upper level ECON courses such as ECON 3210 (formerly ECON 2220). However, other ECON courses may not have this requirement (such as for ECON 2708, you need a minimum prerequisite grade of C+ in ECON 2210). Elective courses outside ECON may have their own requirements.

Students may be de-registered from course(s) if they are not meeting the minimum prerequisite grade.

Our department runs prerequisite checks every semester. This means we check to see that students are correctly registered in their courses and fulfilling the necessary requirements. If you are not, you may be deregistered in the course you were previously registered in.

• If you defer a final exam that is in sequence to a subsequent course, you may be deregistered in the subsequent course.
  • For example, if you are currently registered in ECON 1401 and defer the final exam, if you do not have a passing grade (not including the final exam grade) at that point in the course, you may be deregistered in ECON 1402.
• Prerequisite grades determine access to other courses. However, students may need to achieve higher grades to be eligible to continue in their program. For more information about the Academic Continuation Evaluation (ACE) and CGPA requirements for graduation, students should contact the Academic Advising Centre.

Pursuing an MA in Economics

Students in Carleton’s undergraduate economics programs who are interested in pursuing our MA in Economics prepare by taking the courses listed below with minimum grades of B+ or higher. If these courses (or equivalents from your university) have not been completed with minimum grades in the B+ range or higher or are not in progress by the time an MA application is submitted, the applicant may be required to complete or repeat any or all of the courses listed below which may be included in an offer of admission to Carleton’s Extended Masters in Economics (EMA), providing the applicant is meeting the other admission criteria, including the B+ CGPA requirement, calculated using a student’s grades in their last 20 courses completed.

• ECON 3001 – Mathematical Methods of Economics
• ECON 4001 – Mathematical Analysis in Economics
• ECON 4002 – Statistical Analysis in Economics
• ECON 4020 – Advanced Microeconomic Theory
• ECON 4021 – Advanced Macroeconomic Theory
• ECON 4706 – Econometrics I

Students Admitted After Fall 2025

The following courses have been changed in sequence with the Honour’s Program for Fall 2025 and onward:

• ECON 2900 (formerly ECON 3920) – Professional Practice in Economics
• ECON 3020 (formerly ECON 2030) – Intermediate Microeconomics II: Consumers and General Equilibrium
• ECON 3102 (formerly ECON 2103) – Intermediate Macroeconomics II
• ECON 3210 (formerly ECON 2220) – Introductory Econometrics

Suggested Course Plan – International Political Economy