There is an empirical option skipping real analysis/lin. algebra and that seems appropriate for Bus. Econ. It still needs to be rigorous, even if it’s not so “math’y”.
If I were designing the Business Econ curriculum, I would make it a powerhoue program in its own right by replacing the tough theoretical math that are Fama-ish with number crunching experiment-ish data crunching done to predict behavior - the way its done with online companies (beg for access to google data), marketing companies (UChicago’s Nielsen marketing data), financial companies (Booth’s CRSP), and decision research (NORC at UChicago). Now that would be worthy of the Business Econ moniker and not less rigorous than the plain vanilla Econ. It would actually be more Uchicago in character since it embodies the “core” of business education. Grads in that business program can go straight to Wall Street, SF/Silicon Valley, or Washington DC.
^^ That sounds a bit more like the core for a bus. major, not a bus. econ. major. Sure, economists have branched out into the experimental realm and also work with big data now but you still need the modeling basics before you go begging for google data (or, better, create a bot that can gather it for you). Also, I wouldn’t call Fama the toughest of the tough theoretical modelers. That prize belongs to Hansen over in the Econ. dept. Perhaps the purpose of the bus. econ. is to work with partial, not general, equilibrium models. Hence the lighter emphasis on math.
I shall second @JBStillFlying on Hansen on being the toughest theoretical modelers. My statistics isn’t that good and I have a tough time understanding his paper on Generalized Methods on Moments (from which he got his Nobel in 2013).
Funny thing is that even in mid 1980’s Fama already said in his Theory of Finance class that he was doing more empirical work than actual theoretical model.
IMHO, a Business Econ. major should be taking classes like theory of the firm, money and banking, international financial policy, etc. Classes like these offered by Booth will be ideal:
https://www.chicagobooth.edu/programs/full-time/academics/curriculum/economics#tabContent2
With professors like Austan Goolsbee and Randall Kroszner, the students would even have a real world perspective of economic policy decision making.
It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Will Bus Econ end up being a direct competitor to Wharton undergrad or a more policy driven major. If they aim at the former, they will not be able to avoid heavy quantitative analysis.
^^Not sure how it can compete with a professional undergrad. business degree. Unless Wharton insists on a heavy dose of core Liberal Arts in addition to the heavy business emphasis.
Looks like the course catalog is now updated with the “BA in Economics with Specialization in Business Economics”. Also I see another track “BA in Economics with Specialization in Data Science”.
http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/economics/
At first glance, it looks like the Business Econ track has more electives (3 at Booth and 2 general Econ). The number of math classes is also lower compared to the other tracks.
Summary of Requirements: BA in Economics with Specialization in Business Economics
GENERAL EDUCATION 200
One of the following:
MATH 13100-13200 Elementary Functions and Calculus I-II
MATH 15100-15200 Calculus I-II *
MATH 16100-16200 Honors Calculus I-II
MATH 16110 & 16210 Honors Calculus I (IBL) and Honors Calculus II (IBL)
MAJOR 1300
ECON 10000 Principles of Microeconomics 100
or ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I
ECON 10200 Principles of Macroeconomics 100
or ECON 20200 The Elements of Economic Analysis III
One Foundations of Business Economics course, chosen from: 100
BUSN 20100 Financial Accounting
BUSN 20330 Building the New Venture
BUSN 20400 Investments
BUSN 20410 Corporation Finance
BUSF 38002 Managerial Decision Making
BUSF 37000 Marketing Strategy
BUSF 40000 Business Process Fundamentals
BUSF 41201 Big Data
BUSF 42001 Competitive Strategy
One Microeconomic Methods course, chosen from: 100
ECON 20100 The Elements of Economic Analysis II
ECON 20700 Game Theory and Economic Applications
ECON 21800 Experimental Economics
One Macroeconomics Methods course, chosen from: 100
ECON 13000 Introduction to Money and Banking
ECON 16020 Introduction to Public Sector Economics
ECON 17000 International Trade
ECON 23950 Economic Policy Analysis
ECON 21010 Statistical Methods in Economics * 100
or STAT 23400 Statistical Models and Methods
or STAT 24400 Statistical Theory and Methods I
ECON 11020 Introduction to Econometrics 100
or ECON 21020 Econometrics
or ECON 21030 - Econometrics - Honors
One Perspectives elective 100
Three electives from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business § 300
Two electives from the Department of Economics 200
- For students matriculating in the 2017–18 academic year or earlier, STAT 22000 Statistical Methods and Applications may also be used as a substitute for ECON 21010 Statistical Methods in Economics. § Students must take Chicago Booth courses in at least three thematic "bundles." See Electives section for details. Note that BUSN 20000-level (undergraduate-only) versions of these courses will follow some College policies regarding registration, scheduling, grading, etc. The BUSF 30000-level versions will be subject to Chicago Booth academic and administrative policies. Consult the Chicago Booth website for details.
@f77a9b82 Thanks for posting the requirement.
IMHO I think MATH 13100-13200 should be eliminated from the choices in fulfilling the Math requirement. An U of C Econ major should have at least 150’s or above in math sophistication. In addition, I also would impose a Stat or econometrics class as part of the requirement. But I am not John List.
Both a stats class and an econometrics class are required.
Thanks @JHS. I saw it now:
http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/economics/
This is a good program. It seems to be a happy compromise between a purely theoretical Econ. program and a dedicated undergrad business major. It still preserves the quantitative flavor of an U of C Econ. major. I like it.
This restrictions below also may help to prevent the dilution of the value of the professional schools, although I am quite sure the Booth students are not happy to see many undergrads sharing classes with them.
“The rules of the College allow students to use no more than four courses from professional schools to satisfy degree requirements. The specialization in business economics requires four courses taken at Chicago Booth. If a student successfully petitions to use a course from a professional school other than Chicago Booth (e.g., the Law School or the Harris School of Public Policy) in the major, then College rules require that the approved course substitute for a Chicago Booth elective. Be aware that undergraduates may enroll in a total of six professional school courses, but the last two courses would be ineligible to satisfy any undergraduate degree requirement.”
Well, Lab Schools kids frequently invade the Booth campus. Just wonder when Dean Rajan will assert Booth’s authority and independence ;).
Jeez graduates with these majors are going to be bankable… These majors/specializations can veritably just print money…
With due respect to @Cue7 , I don’t think taking 4 Booth classes will get a guaranteed job offer from Goldman or Bridgewater. However, it does make a BA from U of C more marketable for the finance profession.
My guess is that the Econ. Department can now separate the PhD type from the pre-professional among all the Econ. majors. From Deans Boyer and Nondorf perspective, they may hope that one of these Business Econ. majors will become another Master of The Universe and he/she will donate an eight figure sum back to the University some day.
Steve Leavitt said precisely the same thing at the admitted students open house. Basically the department wanted to offer different tracks. One for future PhDs, another for future business types, etc. This seems to make perfect sense.
They even added a math heavy focus (I assume for future quants): Econ Data Science
Hello - while registering for classes, I noticed that the Econ Department has slightly changed the requirements for the Business Econ track. The biggest change is that Calculus is no longer required (but still strongly recommended):
Here is the current requirement list for graduation. I haven’t yet compared to the version posted earlier this summer:
MAJOR
ECON 10000 Principles of Microeconomics # 100
or ECON 20000 The Elements of Economic Analysis I
ECON 10200 Principles of Macroeconomics ^ 100
or ECON 20200 The Elements of Economic Analysis III
One Foundations of Business Economics course, chosen from: 100
BUSN 20100 Financial Accounting
BUSN 20330 Building the New Venture
BUSN 20400 Investments
BUSN 20410 Corporation Finance
BUSF 38002 Managerial Decision Making
BUSF 37000 Marketing Strategy
BUSF 40000 Business Process Fundamentals
BUSF 41201 Big Data
BUSF 42001 Competitive Strategy
One Microeconomic Methods course, chosen from: 100
ECON 20100 The Elements of Economic Analysis II
ECON 20700 Game Theory and Economic Applications
ECON 21800 Experimental Economics
One Macroeconomics Methods course, chosen from: 100
ECON 13000 Introduction to Money and Banking
ECON 16020 Introduction to Public Sector Economics
ECON 17100 Introduction to International Trade
ECON 23950 Economic Policy Analysis
ECON 21010 Statistical Methods in Economics * 100
or STAT 23400 Statistical Models and Methods
or STAT 24400 Statistical Theory and Methods I
ECON 11020 Introduction to Econometrics 100
or ECON 21020 Econometrics
or ECON 21030 - Econometrics - Honors
One Perspectives elective 100
Three electives from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business § 300
Two electives from the Department of Economics 200
Total Units 1300
Ok, just finished a line by line compare vs the one posted online in June. The only difference is that the following requirements are now gone. Everything else is the same:
GENERAL EDUCATION 200
One of the following:
MATH 13100-13200 Elementary Functions and Calculus I-II
MATH 15100-15200 Calculus I-II *
MATH 16100-16200 Honors Calculus I-II
MATH 16110 & 16210 Honors Calculus I (IBL) and Honors Calculus II (IBL)
Wonder why the calculus requirement is now being dropped??
Was Calc 133/153/163 ever required as a pre-req. for Bus. Econ? This is a new track so impossible to have a comparison to prior year(s). One can compare to the other Econ. tracks, of course. If Calc. not required, then that means no calc-based math. Probably all algebra. You’ll learn the pertinent models but not necessarily their derivations.
My personal theory: this way more women will be attracted to the major. More practical, less theoretical. But haven’t perused the Econ. page lately, nor examined more recent ratios of women/men who have graduated in the major. Doing so might well render another, equally pertinent, observation at some point in near future 
My daughter is an incoming freshman interested in the new Bus Econ track. My son graduated UChicago June 2017 BA Statistics and took 4 Booth courses as an undergrad; now works at a boutique IB downtown Chicago founded by Booth Alum. My son agrees the new Bus Econ is more practical career-wise, if no interest in Grad School Econ.
@JBStillFlying: see post #27 from this thread. I cut and pasted the contents of the Bus Econ minor right from the website (dated 6/14/2018). Looks like they backtracked on the Calc requirements between now and June:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/21591707/#Comment_21591707
Huh. Guess you are correct - they at least required Calc. through 132/52/62 etc. That’s too bad, but not sure it’ll matter much as most 1st years take calculus anyway. Wondering if it’s less a matter of backtracking and more a matter of realizing they cut and paste from the GE’s for regular Econ LOL. With the regular track, you need those (or the equivalent) in order to take 153 which is absolutely required for the higher level math later on. Maybe there’s just nothing in the Bus. Econ. major that requires that higher level math so no strict need to set the wheels in motion with calculus. Although lower math isn’t as rigorous and I’m betting that the 2 Calc. courses, even 131 and 132, will help conceptually with the major.