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Econ wants you to know it's not just about finance

Duke department launches poster campaign to expand common perceptions

A Department of Economics poster turns students on to kinds of questions addressed in the field.
A Department of Economics poster turns students on to kinds of questions addressed in the field.

"That's economics?"

Great question, and just the response Duke's Economics Department hopes to get from a series of posters it has placed on about 20 Duke buses.

The idea came from Pat Bayer, chairman of economics, as a way to help students and the Duke community better understand that economics is a big area, much broader than what is commonly perceived. 

"Yes, we have folks who analyze financial markets and the economy as a whole, but we also have people working on health matters, urban development in the U.S., developing countries, family issues, education and so many other things," Bayer says of his department, one of the largest undergraduate majors at Duke. "We even have researchers here working to analyze trailer parks and why they have developed."

The posters were designed to help people understand the breadth of the types of interesting questions economists may address, too, Bayer adds.

"Economists seek answers to all sorts of questions" the posters say along their top. A bar across the bottom lists some of the myriad subjects addressed by economists, including health, family, environment, labor, history, education, politics, neighborhoods and, of course, finance.

The middle of the poster features an image to go along with a simplified research question on a number of different topics, such as:

  • "Why would a person who is HIV+ choose not to take free medication?"
  • "Does increasing access to contraception actually increase teen pregnancies?"
  • "Do NBA contract structures affect a player's performance?"

"Many of the questions on the posters were inspired by undergraduate theses or current faculty research in the department," says Melissa Eggleston, department communications specialist who created and designed the posters with assistance from Tracy Falba, associate director of undergraduate studies.

Economics had about 700 undergraduate students and roughly 150 graduate students as of fall 2010. Figures for this fall were not yet available.