<p>I was looking through the course catalogs of a few colleges, and i noticed that there are economic majors and business majors. What exactly is the difference between them?</p>
<p>One studies economics and the other studies business. They are not the same thing.</p>
<p>Econ is generally considered a component of a business degree, but there are other requirements like marketing, finance, quantitative methods. An econ degree can be more "theoretical" since you take more micro and macro. You can also go more quantitative with econometrics.</p>
<p>But what is the exactly difference between Business and Econ?
And also MBA suit for which major?</p>
<p>They are not close at all, but it doesn’t matter which major you do for later getting an MBA. Business exposes you briefly to a lot of subjects with the option of specializing in your electives: economics, marketing, finance, accounting, quantitative analysis, organizational theory, production processes. You can also be a finance or accounting major in which you hit one class in each of the above but do half your classes in your subject. Economics is math and theory about economics.</p>
<p>Economics is a social science that’s essentially about studying the allocation of scarce resources; that is to say, it is the science of making choices. That stretches from basic things like supply and demand to more behavioral type issues like how incentives affect behavior. There are subfields in economics like most other disciplines, but some of the major divisions are microeconomics, which is about how individual persons or firms make decisions. Macroeconomics is about looking at entire systems (like a national economy) through the lens of economic theories. Labor economics is, if I understand it correctly, about understanding how society invests in its human capital and deals a lot with the benefits a person gets from public programs versus the benefits society as a whole gets from those same programs. There are also applications of economic tools and theories in specific subject domains, like education or public policy.</p>
<p>Business is about managing organizations. The overlap with economics is that it is important to know how your organization operates in the larger economic system and how your customers operate in that system and how they interact with your organization. There are also subfields here - marketing, which is determining what products or services to produce, how to price them, and how to position them so that they are consumed. Human resources is about managing the individuals that do the work of the organization. Accounting is about measuring the levels and flows of assets and liabilities through the firm. Finance is about the investment of money in an effort to maximize the return to the owners of the firm. MIS is about using technology to collect and harness information to the advantage of the firm. There are other fields as well.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>A practical difference, from the perspective of an undergraduate, is that an economics major (at most schools) will require a broader set of humanities and social science courses than a business degree does. At many schools, econ. will require more math, but that does depend on the particular program.</p>
<p>To a large extent, the specific differences depend on whether the economics major is within a college of arts/sciences (or letters/sciences) vs. within a business school. Some universities offer an economics major within A and S and also within the business school; in that case, the A&S degree will be more of a liberal arts education.</p>
<p>I found the ASU Carey Website very useful to understand options in an undergrad business program.</p>
<p>[Bachelor</a> of Science - Undergraduate - W. P. Carey School of Business](<a href=“http://wpcarey.asu.edu/undergraduate/business-degrees/BS.cfm]Bachelor”>http://wpcarey.asu.edu/undergraduate/business-degrees/BS.cfm)</p>
<p>Simply explore the different departments to understand.</p>