Why Economics? The One Reason You Should and Should NOT Major in Economics
A question I often get about economics is - what do you even do with it? People often assume economics is about studying money.
The reality is that Economics is broad and includes diverse areas of study. You can talk about the inner workings of a country or individual human behavior.
Economics is the study of how we make choices and decisions when facing scarcity. In other words how do you decide on policies when you can't have it all. The study of economics teaches you decision-making tools to apply when decisions need to be made. How to evaluate all available information, the costs, the benefits, and how to land on a decision.
Given that information, think about all the places that economics can be used? Literally any place where a decision is being made, is a place where an economics major can find a job. This is the beauty of economics, it has broad applications.
The one Reason is Flexibility
While its broad application and diverse career paths is a great selling point, it also is daunting for some students. Today, most of my students want to know exactly what they can do with a major. They want to have a specific job title that they can apply for, so this flexibility is actually scary to them. They are in search of certainty, and I understand that. For me the flexibility was what attracted me to economics, and I wanted to be able to learn a skillset that can be applied in many different industries.
The flexibility of Economics means that it can allow you to add it a second major. At most places that I have taught or studied, economics degree plans have a lot of room to add courses from other majors.
For instance if you are interested in going into government, you can pair economics with history, political science, international relations, or other humanities majors. If you are more data driven and interested in a career as a business analyst then consider adding math, stats, or computer science as a second major.
Let us talk about other benefits of being an econ major.
According to the American Economics Association website, of those taking the LSAT, economics majors score the highest followed by philosophy then engineering. So if you are thinking about law school, consider economics as a major.
Students always want to know about pay. You might not be money motivated, but many people are. So how do econ majors fair in the labor market?
According to Payscale.com, early career economics majors make $60,900 which ranks in the top three of all majors.
Average mid career earnings for economics majors is $139,600. The increase from early career to mid-career is likely due to the range of jobs economics graduates can get. So if you are picking a major because of the money, then consider economics. If you are picking a major because of the flexibility and the amount of industries you can be part of, then pick economics.
If you are interested in learning more about graduate school in economics, or have more detailed questions, reach out. I would love to talk to you.
QOTD. Do you know anyone that majored in economics? What do they do today? Leave a comment so we can see the diverse career paths.
