Careers in Economics

Mardy Bum

I'm currently doing Economics as a joint major in my degree along with English. I'm considering my options and I was wondering what careers are out there with a degree in economics? I haven't studied finance so it leaves a big whole in my prospects. Would I be right in saying doing a masters would be the best idea also? Any thoughts greatly appreciated!:)

BESman

Economics is extremely vast and can provide a stepping stone into a wide variety of careers. You'll need to sit down and figure out what aspects of the subject interest you most and how you think this could be applied to a practical career.

Most economics graduates are likely to veer towards public service jobs in government departments like Finance, Central Bank, etc, to help formulate policies and give advice. Given the current public sector embargo though, this option isn't very realistic right now, but may be in the future.

Then there is the Financial Services sector and general finance related jobs. I currently work in this area and I find it enjoyable, but it is quite a contrast to academic and theoretical economics. If you really enjoy the academic side of economics, then my best advice would be to do a masters and a phd and try and get a position in academia, as job prospects aren't the best right now, ride out the recession in college while you can.

Mardy Bum

Would it be advisable to have a proficient knowledge of econometrics? Would this be important for a career later on?

BESman

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Would it be advisable to have a proficient knowledge of econometrics? Would this be important for a career later on?

It would be important for an academic career, yes. Most empirical research papers would require econometric analysis and results using an appropriate program such as Stata. It would not be very important for other careers though.

Mardy Bum

Would Micro, Macro and Quants be a better grounder then for a job outside academia?

BESman

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Would Micro, Macro and Quants be a better grounder then for a job outside academia?

Depends on the type of job. Anything in finance or financial services would be highly quantitative therefore statistics or quants would be useful. Micro and Macro would definitely be more on the academic end of things, but macro would be useful in any policy type career.

Everything you learn in an economics degree is going to be a benefit but wouldn't be a necessity. As with any college course, a lot of what you learn can be a bit wishy washy but it all serves as knowledge.

Économiste Monétaire

Mardy Bum wrote: »

Would it be advisable to have a proficient knowledge of econometrics? Would this be important for a career later on?

GARCH forecasting, model verification, monte carlo simulation, et cetera, would be useful for quant roles, or even trading. If you're going to work somewhere like the central bank, econometrics would be important.

Econometrics is considered one of the core skills you need if you want to work for the government economic service in the uk( http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/my-civil-service/networks/professional/ges/index.aspx ) . It also has a strong signalling effect

Mardy Bum

Deleted User wrote: »

Econometrics is considered one of the core skills you need if you want to work for the government economic service in the uk( http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/my-civil-service/networks/professional/ges/index.aspx ) . It also has a strong signalling effect

Thanks for that link. Ye seems like I may get to grips with Econometrics so.