Europe 1992 and the American Economy: A Project to Strengthen International Economics at Ohio Wesleyan University

The Economics Department of Oh~o Wesleyan is an interdisciplinary one with four majors and a staff with three distinct backgrounds.The majors are Economics, Accounting, Economics with-a Management Concentration, and International Business.While most of the staff are Ph.D. economists, two are CPAs and one is an MBA with a JD.In addition, faculty in several other departments--Politics and Government, Sociology, History, and Philosophy-contribute to the latter two majors.In 1985, the Economics Department initiated a Center for Economics and Business to enhance the teaching, learning, research and community service of Ohio Wesleyan, particularly in the majors mentioned above.Its two major foci to date have been ethics and international education.This project is a major effort to increase the international dimension of education at Ohio Wesleyan.Since the fall of 1989, a group of ten faculty have been learning about the European Community, particularly its recent single market initiative, and its impact on the U.S. economy.The importance of the topic is obvious.This group of countries, taken together, is of an economic size comparable to the United States.The European Community is our major trading partner and the flows in both directions of private direct investment have been increasing rapidly.The study of this topic involve both macroeconomics and microeconomics, both business strategy and accounting practices, both cultural differences and political comparisons.In other words, there are topics of interest to academics in a wide variety of disciplines.