1. What is Economics?
Economics is a social science; that is, it is a discipline concerned with how people behave. Economists are concerned with how individuals and firms make decisions about work, consumption, investment, hiring, and pricing goods and services. For instance, how do firms go about determining whether to hire an extra worker, or if they even need to expand their company? Why do gas prices vary daily, but newspaper prices seem never to change? When should you take the first job that's offered, and when should you wait? What's a logical approach to your investment decisions? Economists also study how entire economies work and how they work together. Researchers try to explain why recessions occur and why there is inflation. What can be done to minimize these problems? Economists also try to determine why economies are different and how they work together. Why are Asian Economies are growing much more rapidly than European countries? Can European countries learn anything from Asia? Even the fall of Communism, often thought of as a purely political occurrence, can be analyzed from an Economic perspective.
2. Can I get a job?
In a word, YES! While Economics may not provide a student with a specific trade like accounting or nursing, it provides a broad base of knowledge and skills to build on. Economics sheds light on how the world, and corporations, work, but more importantly it teaches a student how to think. Corporations recognize the value of an Economics degree, and prefer Economics majors over any other Liberal Arts major. Many firms, for instance, may even prefer to hire an Economics major rather than a business major (this is particularly true for firms outside the Fox valley area). Most lawyers believe that a major in Economics, with its emphasis on logical thinking, is the best preparation for law school. It is also an appropriate major for students considering graduate work in Business, Sociology, and Political Science, as well as Economics.
3. How do I decide if Economics is right for me?Think about the following questions:
- Do I care about how foreign countries trade (that trade deficit you've heard so much about)?
- Would I like to understand how we use (and abuse) our natural resources and how this will affect our future?
- Am I interested in knowing about the 'glass ceiling' and what we can do to get rid of it?
- Do I care about the banking scandal? Would I like to be able to describe how it will affect my daily life?
- Would I like to know what the stock market has to do with real people?
- Am I interested in how people and firms interact in the market place?
- Would I like to be able to know how to predict that wages will be going up?
- Would I like to be able to predict how easy it will be to get a job after graduation?
If the answer to any of these questions is 'yes', the economics major is for YOU!
