Why Study Economics?

Economics as a field of study is gaining importance and recognition today for a variety of reasons that include the following:

• Economics is intellectually exciting:     The study of Economics encompasses important and interesting subjects like capitalism vs. socialism, management of inflation and unemployment, economic development of poor countries, pollution and global warming, energy policy, national defence, international trade and finance, social security, and many specific government policies such deregulation of electricity, the minimum wage, agricultural price supports and rent control.
• Economics is a growing field:    Economics is a fast growing field, the scope of which is constantly expanding. Gradually, the economics have involved the study of various other established new fields such as public choice economics which is the application of economic analysis to the study of politics, law and economics which is now a separate field in top law schools, household production theory which is applying economic analysis to study household use of time, as well as marriage, divorce, child rearing, etc, and bio-economics in which economists and biologists apply economics concepts and theory to biology.
• Economics is now a Well-Recognized Major: Now-a-days, Economics is widely acknowledged as one of the top social sciences in the world today. There is a separate Nobel Prize in economics. Like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, Economics is also highly acclaimed and respected as a successful academic field which operates at the highest intellectual level.
• Economics as a Career:   The study of Economics offers a variety of career options in business, government, and the law, as well as for specific areas in education, journalism, Foreign Service, consulting and politics. The analytical skills acquired by an economics major are useful in the public sector as well as the private sector. In business, the economics majors can work in a wide range of areas including purchasing and sales, financial analysis, banking, management, and systems analysis.
• Economics as an entry pass to Law Schools:           Most of the law schools have now come to realise that economics provides one of the best backgrounds for success in legal studies, as its study imparts skills in the logical and analytical way of thinking. Also one of the leading new disciplines in law schools is the law-and-economics approach which applies economic analysis and reasoning to almost all legal matters.
• Flexibility Option:   The study of economics opens many doors, thus providing flexibility to its learners. A student who majors in economics has a great deal of flexibility in adjusting to changes in personal interests, educational objectives, and career plans.
• Economics is very helpful to pursue MBA studies:  As a considerable portion of many MBA programs is based on economics, so the students with economics backgrounds are clearly at an advantage in these MBA programs.
• One of the most rewarding things about studying economics is that it imparts the skills that the employers highly look for in an employee. Skills such as the analysing and quantitative skills are important to work efficiently in the businesses and government departments. Also one acquires the writing skills which are necessary in almost all fields and areas of work. Another important skill that a student of economics develops is critical thinking about the dynamics in business, environment, politics, money and people.

Because the job of an economist is to aid in planning the fiscal and monetary policies in a society, the economic graduates are greatly desired in the world of finance, planning, managing and forecasting.