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Welcome to the Department of Economics at Radford University!

Whether you're considering economics as a major, exploring it through our minor, or simply taking your first economics course, I'm glad you're here. Economics is fundamentally about decision-making—understanding how individuals and businesses in society make choices when facing trade-offs and limited resources.

At Radford, we're proud to be a teaching-focused institution. What does that mean for you? It means our faculty are here primarily to help you learn and succeed. We keep our classes appropriately sized so you can engage directly with professors who know your name and care about your progress. We're educators who are passionate about making economics accessible, relevant, and genuinely interesting.

Our department's greatest strength is our commitment to helping you become a better decision-maker. As part of the Davis College of Business and Economics, we teach you to recognize trade-offs in every situation—whether you're running a business, evaluating a policy, or navigating everyday choices. You'll learn to weigh costs against benefits, identify what you're giving up when you choose one option over another, and think systematically about the consequences of decisions. We also help you understand how government policies—from fiscal and monetary policy to environmental and regulatory decisions—shape the landscape of choices available to individuals and businesses.

Economics teaches you to see the world differently. You'll learn to identify incentives, anticipate unintended consequences, and cut through rhetoric to understand what's really at stake in any decision. An economics education prepares you for careers in business, finance, government, law, data analysis, and countless other fields—because the ability to assess trade-offs and understand policy impacts is valuable everywhere.

I encourage you to stop by our offices, talk with our faculty, and explore what economics has to offer. We're here to support your academic journey and help you become a sharper, more effective thinker.

Welcome to Radford Economics!

Sincerely,

Thomas K. Duncan
Chair, Department of Economics