Concentration 64: BEPP
Written By: Kendall Allen, C’25 | Edited By: Emma Conrad, W’24 | Designed By: Sydney Lim, W’25
While all Wharton undergraduate students graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Economics, the school offers over eighteen “concentrations,” or focused areas of study. Given the structured curriculum that already exists within the school, these concentrations are often comprised of just four courses, which causes many students to engage in multiple areas of specialty. This Walnut Street Journal series, “Concentration 64,” presents these subcategories with prospective students and underclassmen in mind, giving you a look into the required courses, student experiences, and future career paths associated with each concentration.
BUSINESS ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY:
Colloquially referred to as BEPP, the concentration in Business Economics and Public Policy is popular amongst those considering careers as lawyers, political scientists, managers, and economists. It consists of classes that are more methodically logical and lie at the intersection of economic and political analysis. Students concentrating in BEPP will graduate with an astute ability to analyze markets and recognize the most important challenges facing businesses and policy in the present day.
This concentration requires that students take at least one of the three fundamental BEPP courses in addition to elective courses in order to reach the required four classes. Wharton has also established three lesser-known “informal suggested tracks” that act as focused course combinations that allow students to further refine their interests in the concentration, being Business Economics, Insurance and Risk Management, and Public Policy.
In order to truly understand what it is like to concentrate in BEPP, the Walnut Street Journal spoke with Wharton third-year Carolyn Canavan to discuss her experience.
What initially drew you to the BEPP concentration? What was the first course that you took that convinced you it was right for you?
In high school, I was very involved in government-oriented extracurricular activities including debate and campaign volunteering. While I loved all of these activities, I knew I did not want to be a politician and was more interested in the bigger picture of how policy decisions and economic conditions impact people, businesses, and industries. When I toured Penn, I looked down at the pamphlet the admissions representatives give you that lists all of the Wharton concentrations. I wasn’t even set on applying to Wharton specifically when I was touring Penn, but when I saw “Business Economics and Public Policy,” it instantly clicked that the concentration was a great combination of my interests. The first course I took that convinced me it was the right concentration for me was BEPP 203: Business in the Global Political Environment during my freshman spring. The course focuses on the intersection between the public and private sectors, and how policies can be used to address economic market failures. I loved this course because it was very interdisciplinary and showed how variables across sectors interact.
Which classes are you planning to take to fulfill the BEPP concentration and why?
To fulfill the BEPP fundamental class requirement for the concentration, I took BEPP 201: Public Finance and Policy. This is a great introductory course that provides the basic framework for how to think about policy decisions and tradeoffs between equity and efficiency. Some other courses that I have taken so far include BEPP 230: Urban Fiscal Policy, which focuses on how cities provide public goods and also how the private sector makes investments in cities, and HCMG 250: Health Care Reform and the Future of the American Health Care System, which focuses on how the American health care system currently functions and how it can be reformed through health economics and health policy. I enjoy the BEPP concentration because it incorporates such a wide range of topics that interest me. I am taking these two courses because I have always wanted to learn more about infrastructure and health care, and how problems within these sectors can be solved.
Overall, do you think one's concentration has a substantial impact on their Wharton education? How much has it impacted you?
Ultimately, a Wharton education is very broad considering the number of business fundamentals and business breadth classes we have to take. The concentration only ends up being 4 classes, but I think one’s concentration impacts your Wharton education because these are typically the classes that become most interesting and exciting to you. Your concentration can help you understand how you want to use your education. My BEPP concentration has impacted me in helping me think about the broader context of business problems and providing me with the critical thinking skills to use research, policy, and private intervention to solve problems that exist in many industries. I wouldn’t say that being a BEPP concentration is the defining element of my experience as a business student, but it has certainly been one of the most enjoyable and helpful parts of my undergraduate education so far.
What future plans might you want to pursue and how do they relate to your BEPP studies? Would you say that the concentration allows for flexibility regarding career paths?
One of my favorite parts about the BEPP concentration is how wide-ranging it is and how applicable it is to various career fields. Policy and economics impact every industry in some way, and it is helpful to understand this connection. I have interviewed and worked in various positions that are different from each other, but I have been able to apply the BEPP concentration to all of them. For example, last summer I worked at an international private equity firm in a compliance role. Here, I helped the firm ensure that all of their investments and the functions of the firm were aligned with SEC policies and regulations. Next summer, I am working in a more typical consulting role at a larger firm, and my BEPP concentration so far has helped me think about the broader context of business problems and how to analytically solve them. Additionally, being able to understand the feasibility and risks associated with certain recommendations is a way that the BEPP concentration has been especially useful. My future plans beyond internships are not definite right now, but I am considering pursuing careers at the intersection of the public and private sectors. Ultimately, the concentration has been very versatile in my experience.
If you had to make this judgment, where would you say BEPP ranks in terms of concentration difficulty and popularity?
BEPP is one of the less popular concentrations, and I think there are a few reasons for this. Firstly, the business fundamental associated with the concentration (BEPP 250) is not representative of the department, so students aren’t really aware of what the concentration entails. Similarly, I have heard of many students coming into Wharton considering BEPP, but ultimately choosing more traditional concentrations just because they have peers simultaneously pursuing them and they are more certain of their requirements and career paths. In a way, it is ironic that everyone graduates with a B.S. in Economics, but many students do not get the experience of applying their basic economic knowledge to industries and business problems. In terms of difficulty, BEPP is probably mid-range. Someone who does not enjoy thinking with an interdisciplinary mindset or someone completely disinterested in the public sector might find it difficult. However, it is pretty equally quantitative and qualitative, so I would argue that it is average in terms of difficulty.
Are you concentrating in anything else/ which other concentrations did you consider before landing on BEPP?
I have been set on concentrating in BEPP since my freshman year, and have spent the following years exploring other fields that interest me and pair well with the concentration. I have taken a few classes that are cross-listed between FNCE and BEPP, so just recently I also declared a Finance concentration. I am pursuing this concentration by taking courses with less of an interest in financial modeling and more of an interest in gaining quantitative knowledge on markets, financial decision making, fiscal policy, and the global financial economy. The BEPP concentration is quite versatile, and there are certainly ways that it complements and connects with many other concentrations.