The Department of Economics is one of the oldest and most recognized units on the Iowa State University campus. It has a long and interesting history that is described further in some documents accessible from the panel on the right. The Department of Economics is currently jointly administered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Our undergraduate programs strive to train students to think independently and objectively about the inherent economic nature of many of the world’s problems, from basic decisions facing businesses and individuals, to the performance of the macroeconomic system, to global resource utilization issues. Our graduate programs emphasize rigorous analysis and advance training in economic theory, econometrics and several traditional and novel applied fields of inquiry. Research programs are targeted to a number of local, national and international problems and cover a broad spectrum, ranging from theoretical disciplinary perspectives to applied economic and policy analyses, as well as contributing to exciting multidisciplinary efforts. Our engagement with Iowa’s economy and community is rooted in our extension programs, and also benefits from our faculty’s participation in a number of affiliated Centers.

Iowa State University is one of the best land grant universities in the country and has about 22,000 undergraduates and about 5,000 graduate students. Ames, Iowa, is consistently ranked as one of the best places in the nation in terms of quality of life, and the Iowa State University campus is regarded as one of the nation's most beautiful.