GRAD SCHOOL PREPARATION? Constrained Vision notes that Duke's economics department seeks to phase out the B.A. Her take:

The econ department says it's trying to improve the degree and "give economics majors a more complete understanding of the field", but if I were feeling cynical, I might wonder if this already overcrowded department were trying to cut down on the number of majors.

The Duke Chronicle article reporting on the story suggests the deans would like to milk more effort out of an already overstretched faculty.

The elimination of the degree is one of the first steps in the Undergraduate Economics Major Initiative, which also includes the restructuring of course distribution requirements for majors.

The changes were prompted by top academic deans’ suggestions that the department provide students with more hands-on research experience.

“We said, ‘Rather than just trying to tweak our program, why not take this opportunity to look at the program as whole—if we had the possibility to create an ideal program, what would it look like?’” said Assistant Professor of the Practice Michelle Connolly, who led the committee that mapped out the major’s changes.

One notable difference between the B.A. and B.S. majors was that the B.A. degree did not require undergraduates to take econometrics, which will now be required for all majors.

“It’s certainly not that we’re unhappy with having a B.A. degree, it’s just that it’s important enough for every student to have econometrics,” said Connel Fullenkamp, associate director of undergraduate studies for economics.

Would an econometrics requirement in the B.A. crowd out a language requirement or some other college-wide component? The econometrics requirement is something that would serve aspirants to a Ph.D. in economics well. It might also induce substitutions.

“We don’t know to what extent students are only doing the B.A. because they just don’t want to do the additional constraints of the B.S.,” [director of undergraduate studies Emma] Rasiel said. “If, on the other hand, the economics B.A. is kind of pushing the limits of their mathematical abilities, they might think, ‘OK, maybe I should try another major.’”

Is Duke a university with only graduate degrees in business (as is the case at Harvard and Northwestern?) Or, if there is an undergraduate business program, does the economics major serve as a safety major in case the business program has to limit enrollments?