I finally finished with the engineering majors yesterday and decided to start scripting other disciplines! I must confess straight up that from now on, all the information that I would provide comes from other sources. I have just collected the information, read through them and created what my common sense told me to! I just hope it is good enough for the students in these fields. I would also add that I have not created these articles for graduate level studies per se; though they eventually cater to them. So I feel, it should act as a useful tool nonetheless.
Economics is the focus of this article. There are many myths which surround it and I guess, that’s the reason why people may decide not to go for it after high school. Economics is not all about inflation, interest rates, stocks and bonds! There are economists both within and outside the academia who are into things like crime rate, elections, sports, obesity, marriage, sex, divorce and what not (the list truely is endless). There is a huge difference between the economics we study in high school and the one which we have to in grad courses. For some, it can be the most interesting stuff they ever do!
Alfred Marshall defined economics as “…a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life.”John Maynard Keynes said that “the theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique which helps its possessor to draw correct conclusions.”
These quotes help to explain why economics majors are found in a wide variety of careers after graduation. Economics is an approach to decision making that is valuable throughout “the ordinary business of life.” Individuals, employers and graduate schools find the techniques used in economics “to draw correct conclusions” very useful. For these reasons economics majors are found pursuing all sorts of careers after graduation, and very often they are not in positions titled “economist.”
Here is what some economists have to say as to why they decided on economics as a major. I feel if people are able to identify with any of these, half the battle is won!
Gary Becker, the 1992 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, said: “I got interested when I was an undergraduate in college. I came into college with a strong interest in mathematics, and at the same time with a strong commitment to do something to help society. I learned in the first economics course I took that economics could deal rigorously, à la mathematics, with social problems. That stimulated me because in economics I saw that I could combine both the mathematics and my desire to do something to help society.”
Vernon Smith, the 2002 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, said: “My father’s influence started me in science and engineering at Cal Tech, but my mother, who was active in socialist politics, probably accounts for the great interest I found in economics when I took my first introductory course.”
Alice Rivlin, an economist and former member of the Federal Reserve Board, said: “My interest in economics grew out of concern for improving public policy, both domestic and international. I was a teenager in the tremendously idealistic period after World War II when it seemed terribly important to get nations working together to solve the world’s problems peacefully.”
Allan Meltzer said: “Economics is a social science. At its best it is concerned with ways (1) to improve well being by allowing individuals the freedom to achieve their personal aims or goals and (2) to harmonize their individual interests. I find working on such issues challenging, and progress is personally rewarding.”
Robert Solow, the 1987 winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, said: “I grew up in the 1930s and it was very hard not to be interested in economics. If you were a high school student in the 1930s, you were conscious of the fact that our economy was in deep trouble and no one knew what to do about it.”
Charles Plosser said: “I was an engineer as an undergraduate with little knowledge of economics. I went to the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business to get an MBA and there became fascinated with economics. I was impressed with the seriousness with which economics was viewed as a way of organizing one’s thoughts about the world to address interesting questions and problems.”
Walter Williams said: “I was a major in sociology in 1963 and I concluded that it was not very rigorous. Over the summer I was reading a book by W.E.B. DuBois, Black Reconstruction, and somewhere in the book it said something along the lines that blacks could not melt into the mainstream of American society until they understood economics, and that was something that got me interested in economics.”
Murray Weidenbaum said: “A specific professor got me interested in economics. He was very prescient: He correctly noted that while lawyers dominated the policy-making process up until then (the 1940s), in the future economics would be an important tool for developing public policy. And he was right.”
Irma Adelman said: “I hesitate to say because it sounds arrogant. My reason [for getting into economics] was that I wanted to benefit humanity. And my perception at the time was that economic problems were the most important problems that humanity has to face. That is what got me into economics and into economic development.”
Lester Thurow said: “the belief, some would see it as naïve belief, that economics was a profession where it would be possible to help make the world better.”
What Awaits You as an Economics Major?
At the lower-division level, economics majors must take both the principles of macroeconomics course and the principles of microeconomics course. They usually also take a statistics course and a math course (usually calculus).
At the upper-division level, they must take intermediate microeconomics and intermediate macroeconomics, along with a certain number of electives. Some of the elective courses include: (1) money and banking, (2) law and economics, (3) history of economic thought, (4) public finance, (5) labor economics, (6) international economics, (7) antitrust and regulation, (8) health economics, (9) economics of development, (10) urban and regional economics, (11) econometrics, (12) mathematical economics, (13) environmental economics, (14) public choice, (15) global managerial economics, (16) economic approach to politics and sociology, (17) sports economics, and many more courses. Most economics majors take between 12 and 15 economics courses.
One of the attractive things about studying economics is that you will acquire many of the skills employers highly value. First, you will have the quantitative skills that are important in many business and government positions. Second, you will acquire the writing skills necessary in almost all lines of work. Third, and perhaps most importantly, you will develop the thinking skills that almost all employers agree are critical to success. Consider the words of the Royal Economic Society: “One of the things that makes economics graduates so employable is that the subject teaches you to think in a careful and precise way. The fundamental economic issue is how society decides to allocate its resources: how the costs and benefits of a course of action can be evaluated and compared, and how appropriate choices can be made. A degree in economics gives a training in decision making principles, providing a skill applicable in a very wide range of careers.”
What Do Economists Do?
Employment for economists is projected to grow between 21 and 35 percent between 2000 and 2010. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook:
Opportunities for economists should be best in private industry, especially in research, testing, and consulting firms, as more companies contract out for economic research services. The growing complexity of the global economy, competition, and increased reliance on quantitative methods for analyzing the current value of future funds, business trends, sales, and purchasing should spur demand for economists. The growing need for economic analyses in virtually every industry should result in additional jobs for economists.
Today, economists work in many varied fields. Here are some of the fields and some of the positions economists hold in those fields:
Education
College Professor
Researcher
High School Teacher
Journalism
Researcher
Industry Analyst
Economic Analyst
Accounting
Analyst
Auditor
Researcher
Consultant
General Business
Chief Executive Officer
Business Analyst
Marketing Analyst
Business Forecaster
Competitive Analyst
Government
Researcher
Analyst
Speechwriter
Forecaster
Financial Services
Business Journalist
International Analyst
Newsletter Editor
Broker
Investment Banker
Banking
Credit Analyst
Loan Officer
Investment Analyst
Financial Manager
Other
Business Consultant
Independent Forecaster
Freelance Analyst
Think Tank Analyst
Entrepreneur
Economists do a myriad of things. For example, in business, economists often analyze economic conditions, make forecasts, offer strategic planning initiatives, collect and analyze data, predict exchange rate movements, and review regulatory policies, among other things. In government, economists collect and analyze data, analyze international economic situations, research monetary conditions, advise on policy, and much more. As private consultants, economists work with accountants, business executives, government officials, educators, financial firms, labor unions, state and local governments, and others.
from another source: A degree in economics prepares you not only for graduate study in economics, but also for graduate study in a variety of related fields. Economics majors do very well getting into and out of law school. Economics is excellent preparation for a Masters in Business Administration. Economics majors also go on to different types of graduate programs in public policy or international affairs. Economics is also excellent preparation for many interdisciplinary majors such as urban studies or environmental policy.
Median annual earnings of economists were $64,830 in 2000. The middle 50 percent earned between $47,370 and $87,890. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $35,690, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $114,580.
Opportunities in India also abound. To begin with, government enterprises, public undertakings, banks, finance and investment firms, business journals and newspapers and the private sector throw up many avenues of employment in various departments.
The Indian Economics Services are also an excellent option open to those who want to join government service. Officers are recruited through examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. To be eligible for this examination, one needs to be a graduate and in the 21-28 age group. The examination is held in the month of September every year. The announcement for the same is made in the month of March of the same year. The written examination has papers in English, General Studies, General Economics and Indian Economics. The written examination is followed by an interview.
Another highly lucrative avenue open to those looking for government employment is the Reserve Bank of India. Written tests are conducted by the RBI for the purpose. Postgraduates in the age group 21-28 are eligible for the examination. Those who successfully clear the examination are finally selected through personal interviews.
Prospects for economists are good in all sectors of the economy. The economies of the world are growing in unison and most are growing rapidly and naturally with the increases economic activity, economists will find many more opportunities to utilise their educational qualificationa remuneratively.
Some good graduate courses in economics are at:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Chicago
Harvard University
Princeton University
Stanford University
University of California–Berkeley
Yale University
Northwestern University
University of Pennsylvania
University of California–San Diego
Columbia University
University of California–Los Angeles
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
University of Wisconsin–Madison
New York University
University of Minnesota–Twin Cities
California Institute of Technology
Cornell University
University of Rochester
Carnegie Mellon University
Brown University
Duke University
University of Maryland–College Park
Johns Hopkins University
Boston University
University of Texas–Austin
University of Virginia
Ohio State University
Pennsylvania State University–University Park
University of California–Davis
University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign
University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
University of Washington
Michigan State University
London School of Economics
Delhi School of Economics
ISI – Kolkata, Delhi
Listing: EDIRC – complete listing of economics departments, Institutes and research centers
Source: http://www.csusm.edu/ , http://www.mhhe.com/ , http://www.indicareer.com/
For a more exhaustive read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics
