A new one-credit class designed by two sophomore Swifties will examine the economic impact of the Tortured Poets Department singer, whose Eras tour is the first to gross at least $1 billion. 

Megan Wysocki, CAS-SPA/BA ’26, and Mackenzie Shultz, CAS-SOC/BA ’26, created Swiftonomics: Economies of Taylor Swift—which debuts this fall—as part of the economics department’s inaugural Student-Designed Course Competition. 

“As faculty we get tied up with the issues that we think are important and sometimes forget that these might not be the same issues that students really care about,” economics chair Kara Reynolds says. “The competition was designed to help the department discover what students want to know about economics.” 

While other universities have offered literature and sociology classes exploring the 14-time Grammy winner’s lyrics and impact on world culture, AU’s is one of the first to examine the Swift-lift to the global economy. 

Wysocki, who saw the Eras Tour in New Jersey in May 2023, says she “fell in love with econ at AU” and hopes capitalizing on Swift’s Reputation will get more Eagles interested in the discipline. “I want students to see how a single artist can create positive economic and social change,” she says. 

Swiftonomics—featured in Billboard—explores the positive externalities for tour stops, junk fees and the Ticketmaster monopoly, intellectual property rights, and the determinants of supply and demand in the music industry. 

Reynolds, herself a Swiftie, will teach the course. “Taylor Swift is a fantastic musician and an extremely savvy businesswoman who has conquered the music industry,” she says. “The economic lessons from her career extend far beyond the individual artist.”