Click on the link below to access our comprehensive database of European institutions that offer Economics related MA and MSc programmes taught in the English language:
Economics
Economics is normally divided into two overarching fields: macroeconomics and microeconomics. The former looks at government monetary and fiscal policy, with an eye toward economic growth, the level of employment, inflation, and so on. This big picture view stands in contrast to microeconomics, which focuses on the behaviour of individuals, households, and firms. In microeconomics, price theory is central. Microeconomists have tended to study how prices are established, how they change, and how people and firms respond to such changes.
This description of the field, however, does it an injustice. For one thing, it hardly gives a sense of the range of what economists now study. Many years ago, a well-known economist said that ‘economics is what economists do.’ This is a vague definition, to be sure, but it usefully suggests that the focus of economics tends to change. This has certainly been true in recent years. Once Gary Becker (later to win a Nobel Prize) started studying subjects like discrimination, marriage, and human capital from an economics perspective, all bets were off. Virtually anything could be (and probably now is) studied by economists.
For another, it makes economics sound like an ivy-tower pursuit: economists, at one or more levels of remove from reality, performing analyses that might inform policy-makers’ judgments about whether to increase interest rates but would hardly be applicable to real-life people and firms. That is far from the case. Nowadays, economists don’t just opine about whether a country’s trade deficit is sustainable. They are more likely to be employed by a firm that is trying to decide how to set prices for dozens of products in as many markets or by an insurance company trying to determine how much sooner their policies will pay out if more and more policyholders become obese.
Looking for funding for postgraduate studies? Check out the exclusive bursaries on offer from Postgrad Solutions.
Numerous substantial trends continue to drive this field, including:
|
Search for the perfect pre-experience postgraduate business programme for you using our course search. You can search a database of programmes on offer at European institutions by country, subject and study mode.
You can also find out more about the universities and colleges offering the courses using the A–Z institution listing.
|
• the increase in computing power (which allows more involved models, using more and more data, to be run)
• more data becoming available as more economic activity is measured
• the mining of psychology for insights into economic (or social) behaviour (ie the developing field of behavioural economics)
• using game theory to solve problems in microeconomic fields
• applying economic techniques and thinking to an ever wider range of topics.
See also the trends listed in the
‘Finance’ discussion, all of which are also relevant here.
Economics degrees come in all shapes and colours. Many courses, especially in the UK, are designed to fit both those with strong economics and quantitative backgrounds and those without. Thus, those without a strong background can enrol for a two-year programme, successful completion of the first year of which qualifies them for a diploma as well as entry into the second year. Those with a suitable background can simply enrol in the second year of the course, skipping the diploma year (called a ‘pre-master year’ elsewhere) altogether.
The staggering number of universities offering master’s degrees in economics – along with the many variations on a theme at places – mean that candidates are spoiled for choice. Many economics courses emphasise financial economics, making an economics degree a close substitute for a finance degree.
In the past, a typical programme would require a degree in economics, or in a closely related discipline – ie one that included a substantial portion of economics, such as finance. Increasingly, however, many universities are giving short shrift to the economics background of applicants in favour of their quantitative background. Thus, those with mathematics or physics degrees are sometimes preferred to those with economics degrees. At programmes that are not so mathematically orientated, some calculus and statistics coursework is generally required, perhaps to the level of multivariable calculus and introductory econometrics.
Many programmes also look for:
• micro- and macroeconomics to intermediate level or higher
• some programming ability
• linear algebra coursework.
The days when economists generally worked for central governments or universities are long gone. The range of potential employers is staggering: economic and management consulting firms, central banks, international organisations, commercial and investment banks, government agencies, insurance firms, local governments, think tanks, non-profits/not-for-profits, real estate firms/estate agents, pension funds, and so on. The tools and methods economists learn are widely applicable indeed. In fact, given that many people who study economics end up taking jobs in finance, the ‘Finance’ career discussion is also highly relevant.
Typical job titles
• Economic consultant
• Management consultant
• Financial analyst
• Competition analyst
• Pricing associate
• Distribution analyst
See also the starting titles of those with finance degrees insofar as an economics degree (especially if done with a finance focus) can be a ready substitute for a finance degree.
• Royal Economic Society (UK)
• American Economics Association
N Gregory Mankiw has written a whole host of introductory texts, any one of which would be a good choice. His Principles of Microeconomics (Thompson South-Western) is an elegant treatment of microeconomics. Other of his books cover macroeconomics or both micro and macroeconomics. A strong alternative is Paul Heyne et al’s The Economic Way of Thinking (Prentice Hall). It covers both micro and macroeconomics, although it is much stronger on micro.
Finance is in large part an applied field of economics, so the overlap between the two is extensive. See the discussion of ‘Finance’ for further information.
Sign up now to become a member of StudyBusinessMasters student services - it will give you free access to our exclusive StudyBusinessMasters bursaries, great competitions, lively chat forum and our monthly StudyBusinessMasters newsletter.
Click on the link below to access our comprehensive database of European institutions that offer Economics related MA and MSc programmes taught in the English language:
Economics
