Economics

Career Opportunities

A variety of careers are available to economics majors.  A partial list includes the following:

Banking and Finance (loan officers, stock brokers, commodities brokers, financial analysts, security analyst) Insurance (benefit analyst, claims adjuster, underwriter, actuary) Government at local, state or federal levels (budget analyst, urban planning administrator, forecaster, consultant, foreign service officer) Business adminsitration ( management trainee, forecaster, market analyst, labor relations, sales, logistics, buyer, systems analyst) Teaching Consulting Business and Economics Reporter International Organizations (World bank, International Monetary Fund)

Economics as a Foundation for Other Disciplines

It is safe to call economics the forerunner of modern business administration. As the world became more complex, specialized disciplines such as accounting, finance, marketing and management evolved as separate functional areas of business administration. Economics also defined its boundaries and developed as a specialized discipline. However, it still remains quite vast in the range of topics it includes, a sample of which follows:

How does technological change effect availability of jobs and how does it effect the characteristics of those jobs?

How does international trade and other global conditions effect domestic business, job availability and level of income?

What are the causes and effects of inflation and unemployment? Can we manage them to diminish their adverse consequences?

How are the prices of resources (land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship) determined and how do prices efficiently allocate those resources to different uses?

What impact do taxes, budget deficits and government spending have on people and business?

What are the implications of government policies and regulations for market efficiency?

What is the appropriate role of government in improving market efficiency, providing necessary public goods and services, controlling environmental pollution and altering the distribution of income to reduce poverty in society?

What are the reasons for fluctuations in the productivity and output of a firm and the economy as a whole? How can changes in productivity enhance profit and wage incomes?

How can we maintain satisfactory growth of income, output and employment?

What are the causes and the effects of inflation and deflation? How can we limit the distortions which these pervasive changes impose upon us?

As you can see from these topics, economics deals with problems and issues which are of fundamental concern to the individual and to society. If this is of interest to you, you may decide to obtain a major or minor in the field. A bachelor’s degree in economics is highly desirable as a basis for further study in law, business and public administration, political science, education, and several other disciplines.