Department of Economics and Finance, Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics

The Government, Economics and Management major is designed to lead to an understanding of public sector administration and management from the "inside" - as an integrated enterprise - as well as from the outside - as a series of policy decisions and outcomes. Characterized by a multi-disciplinary approach employing political, economic and business-oriented analysis, students will confront questions of why politicians and public servants behave the way they do, and how their policy choices and processes can be optimized. Management of public entities features a unique set of challenges that arise from and interact with basic political issues like democracy, accountability, equity, fairness, and justice. At the same time, it necessarily faces concerns common to all organizations, such as efficiency, human and capital resource management, morale, planning, and adaptation to change.

The major will appeal to students interested in the public service, public sector businesses or business-government relations.

A principal aim of the Co-op program in Government, Economics and Management is to facilitate the transition of students from academic studies to a professional career by enhancing the integration of theory and practice.

Students enrolled in the GEM major can choose to complete three of the five required courses for the Certificate in Leadership as part of their requirements for the major if they choose the appropriate restricted electives. If you would like to graduate both with a BComm degree and the Certificate in Leadership you should use two of your free electives to enroll in HROB*2010 Foundations of Leadership in either semester 3 or 6 and HROB*4010 Leadership Certificate Capstone in semester 8. In addition to the five degree-credit courses selected from the above list, 120 hours of leadership practice are required to obtain the undergraduate Certificate in Leadership. See http://www.leadershipcertificate.com/ for information regarding this Certificate and its course requirements.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the Bachelor of Commerce program, graduates will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to think critically by identifying, evaluating and integrating relevant information from a variety of sources to solve complex business problems
• Demonstrate an ability to work effectively in teams, through the application of appropriate knowledge and skills such as responsible decision-making and personal accountability
• Identify and professionally respond to team issues and develop a new approach to enhance team performance
• Discuss and apply principles of corporate social responsibility to business issues and operations. 
• Communicate effectively in a business context through written documents to a variety of audiences
• Communicate effectively in a business context through oral communication to a variety of audiences
• Demonstrate competency and understanding of core business knowledge and concepts.
• Demonstrate proficiency in the ability to integrate knowledge and understanding within specific majors through analysis and recommendation of solutions to ‘major specific’ business problems and business decision-making.  

Government, Economics and Management major graduates will also be able to:

• Understand political culture and institutions and how they relate to private and public sector entities.
• Understand the policy making process and how government is organized to deliver programs and services to Canadians.
• Learn basic problem-solving techniques using tools acquired in microeconomics. This includes, for example, techniques to calculate tax rates, determine dead weight losses of government policies, fiscal equalization payments under Canada's federal system.
• Apply the principles learned in this course to critically examine economic policies like Ontario Harmonized Sales Tax, why it was implemented; the rationale for HST refunds, etc.

​

Major Requirements (Honours)

This is a major within the degree: Bachelor of Commerce. 

(20.00 Total Credits)

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Required Core Courses		12.50
Restricted Electives (from lists)		4.50
MGMT*1100	Business Career Preparation	0.00
Liberal Education Electives		1.50
Free Electives		1.50
Total Credits		20

Recommended Program Sequence

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Semester 1
ECON*1050	Introductory Microeconomics	0.50
MATH*1030	Business Mathematics	0.50
MCS*1000	Introductory Marketing	0.50
MGMT*1000	Introduction to Business	1.00
Semester 2
ECON*1100	Introductory Macroeconomics	0.50
HROB*2090	Individuals and Groups in Organizations	0.50
POLS*2230	Public Policy	0.50
POLS*2300	Canadian Government and Politics	0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Semester 3
ACCT*1220	Introductory Financial Accounting	0.50
ECON*2310	Intermediate Microeconomics	0.50
ECON*2740	Economic Statistics	0.50
POLS*3250	Public Policy: Challenges and Prospects	0.50
Select 0.50 credits from the following:
ECON*2100	Economic Growth and Environmental Quality	0.50
ECON*2650	Introductory Development Economics	0.50
Semester 4
ACCT*2230	Management Accounting	0.50
ECON*2410	Intermediate Macroeconomics	0.50
MGMT*1100	Business Career Preparation	0.00
POLS*2250	Public Administration and Governance	0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Select 0.50 credits from the following:
PHIL*2120	Ethics	0.50
PHIL*2600	Business and Professional Ethics	0.50
PHIL*3040	Philosophy of Law 1	0.50
Semester 5
FARE*3310	Operations Management	0.50
FIN*2000	Introduction to Finance	0.50
MCS*3040	Business and Consumer Law	0.50
or REAL*4840	Housing and Real Estate Law
MGMT*3320	Financial Management	0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Semester 6
ECON*3610	Public Economics	0.50
MCS*2020	Information Management	0.50
0.50 credits at the 3000 level in Economics		0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Select 0.50 credits from the following:
POLS*3210	The Constitution and Canadian Federalism	0.50
POLS*3130	Law, Politics and Judicial Process	0.50
POLS*3270	Local Government in Ontario	0.50
POLS*3670	Comparative Public Policy	0.50
Semester 7
MGMT*3020	Corporate Social Responsibility	0.50
POLS*3470	Business-Government Relations in Canada	0.50
0.50 credits at the 3000 level in Economics		0.50
0.50 electives 2		0.50
Select one of the following: 3
0.50 credits at the 3000 or 4000 level in Economics or Political Science		0.50
POLS*4160	Multi-Level Governance in Canada	1.00
POLS*4250	Topics in Public Management	1.00
POLS*4270	Advanced Lecture in Public Management	0.50
POLS*4970	Honours Political Science Research I	0.50
Semester 8
ECON*4400	Managerial Economics	0.50
MGMT*4000	Strategic Management	0.50
0.50 electives 2		0.50
Select one of the following: 3
0.50 credits at the 4000 level in Economics		0.50
POLS*4160	Multi-Level Governance in Canada	1.00
POLS*4250	Topics in Public Management	1.00
POLS*4980	Honours Political Science Research II	0.50
Select 0.50 credits from the following:
POLS*3130	Law, Politics and Judicial Process	0.50
POLS*3210	The Constitution and Canadian Federalism	0.50
POLS*3270	Local Government in Ontario	0.50
POLS*3670	Comparative Public Policy	0.50

¹

This course may be offered in the fall and can be taken later in the program

²

The number of electives will change if a 1.00 credit POLS course is taken in semester 7 or 8 

³

If a 1.00 credit POLS is taken in either semester 7 or 8 this will meet the restricted elective requirement for both semesters POLS*4250 Topics in Public Management is recommended

Co-op Requirements (Honours)

This is a major within the degree: Bachelor of Commerce. 

The Co-op program in Government, Economics and Management is a five year program, including five work terms. Students must follow the academic work schedule as outlined below (also found on the Co-operative Education website: https://www.recruitguelph.ca/cecs/). 

Academic and Co-op Work Term Schedule

Co-op Information

Year	Fall	Winter	Summer
1	Academic Semester 1	Academic Semester 2	Off
2	Academic Semester 3 COOP*1100	Academic Semester 4	COOP*1000 Work Term I
3	COOP*2000 Work Term II	Academic Semester 5	COOP*3000 Work Term III
4	Academic Semester 6	COOP*4000 Work Term IV	COOP*5000 Work Term V
5	Academic Semester 7	Academic Semester 8	N/A

Please refer to the Co-operative Education program policy with respect to work term performance grading, work term report grading and program completion requirements.

For additional program information students should consult with their Co-op Co-ordinator and Co-op Faculty Advisor, listed on the Co-operative Education web site.

Credit Summary

(22.50 Total Credits)

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Required Core Courses		12.50
Restricted Electives (from lists)		4.50
Liberal Education Electives		1.50
Free Electives		1.50
Co-op Work Terms		2.50
Total Credits		22.5

Recommended Program Sequence

Course List

Code	Title	Credits
Semester 1 - Fall
ECON*1050	Introductory Microeconomics	0.50
MATH*1030	Business Mathematics	0.50
MCS*1000	Introductory Marketing	0.50
MGMT*1000	Introduction to Business	1.00
Semester 2 - Winter
ECON*1100	Introductory Macroeconomics	0.50
HROB*2090	Individuals and Groups in Organizations	0.50
POLS*2230	Public Policy	0.50
POLS*2300	Canadian Government and Politics	0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Summer Semester
No academic semester or work term
Semester 3 - Fall
ACCT*1220	Introductory Financial Accounting	0.50
COOP*1100	Introduction to Co-operative Education	0.00
ECON*2310	Intermediate Microeconomics	0.50
ECON*2740	Economic Statistics	0.50
POLS*3250	Public Policy: Challenges and Prospects	0.50
Select 0.50 credits from the following:
ECON*2100	Economic Growth and Environmental Quality	0.50
ECON*2650	Introductory Development Economics	0.50
Semester 4 - Winter
ACCT*2230	Management Accounting	0.50
ECON*2410	Intermediate Macroeconomics	0.50
FIN*2000	Introduction to Finance	0.50
POLS*2250	Public Administration and Governance	0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Summer Semester
COOP*1000	Co-op Work Term I	0.50
Fall Semester
COOP*2000	Co-op Work Term II	0.50
Semester 5 - Winter
ECON*3610	Public Economics	0.50
FARE*3310	Operations Management	0.50
MCS*2020	Information Management	0.50
MGMT*3320	Financial Management	0.50
Select 0.50 credits from the following:
PHIL*2120	Ethics	0.50
PHIL*2600	Business and Professional Ethics	0.50
PHIL*3040	Philosophy of Law 1	0.50
Summer Semester
COOP*3000	Co-op Work Term III	0.50
Semester 6 - Fall
MCS*3040	Business and Consumer Law	0.50
or REAL*4840	Housing and Real Estate Law
MGMT*3020	Corporate Social Responsibility	0.50
POLS*3470	Business-Government Relations in Canada	0.50
0.50 credits at the 3000 level in Economics		0.50
0.50 electives		0.50
Winter Semester
COOP*4000	Co-op Work Term IV	0.50
Summer Semester
COOP*5000	Co-op Work Term V	0.50
Semester 7 - Fall
MGMT*4000	Strategic Management	0.50
0.50 credits at the 3000 level in Economics		0.50
1.00 electives 2		1.00
Select one of the following: 3
0.50 credits at the 3000 or 4000 level in Economics or 4000 level in Political Science		0.50
POLS*4160	Multi-Level Governance in Canada	1.00
POLS*4250	Topics in Public Management	1.00
POLS*4270	Advanced Lecture in Public Management	0.50
POLS*4970	Honours Political Science Research I	0.50
Semester 8 - Winter
ECON*4400	Managerial Economics	0.50
0.50 electives 2		0.50
Select 1.00 credits from the following:
POLS*3130	Law, Politics and Judicial Process	0.50
POLS*3210	The Constitution and Canadian Federalism	0.50
POLS*3270	Local Government in Ontario	0.50
POLS*3670	Comparative Public Policy	0.50
Select one of the following: 3
0.50 credits at the 4000 level in Economics		0.50
POLS*4160	Multi-Level Governance in Canada	1.00
POLS*4250	Topics in Public Management	1.00
POLS*4980	Honours Political Science Research II	0.50

¹

This course may be offered in the fall and can be taken later in the program. 

²

The number of electives will change if a 1.00 credit POLS course is taken in semester 7 or 8 

³

If a 1.00 credit POLS is taken in either semester 7 or 8 this will meet the restricted elective requirement for both semesters POLS*4250 Topics in Public Management is recommended