<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I'm trying to decide between an undergraduate major in economics and an undergraduate major in business administration. Could anyone tell me the differences between the two and their pros/cons? From what I've researched, an economics degree seems to be more marketable to employers. However, a business administration or finance major seems to be demanded too.</p>
<p>Any thoughts? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Sorry for such a long post (and sorry if I say anything you already know):</p>
<p>The purpose of a business degree is to specifically prepare you to do business. "Soft skills" (social skills, communication skills, and leadership abilities) are crucial to success in business, and are covered in business school, but since these are so hard to actually teach, business degrees are arguably more aimed at giving you the ins and outs of the technical aspects of business (accounting, finance, supply-chain management, etc.), to give you a concrete foundation for doing business. Learning these "hard skills" from a business school varies in its importance: for an accountant, this is a necessity; for a manager, those skills can often be picked up on the job and no business degree is required (and in many cases it might actually be better to have something else, perhaps a liberal arts degree, like English or physics, so that you can think "outside the box").</p>
<p>Which brings us to economics. Economics is a liberal art, specifically a social science. Economics is to business as physics is to engineering. A physicist is a scientist; he is curious about the fundamentals of the universe, and he studies this just because it fascinates him. An engineer then uses his discoveries to make useful things and solve real-world problems. An economist is also a scientist---a social scientist---curious about human beings, and he studies them for a living just because they fascinate him. A businessman or business professor then uses his discoveries to find out how to make money.</p>
<p>Before I explain what economics is, let me explain what it is not: Economics is NOT the study of money. Granted, if you're going to talk about economics, you're probably going to talk a lot about money. But money isn't really the heart of the issue; it's merely a representation, an approximation, of what economics is about: utility. "Utility" is what people try to maximize. For example, if I really love apples, but I hate jelly beans, you could say that apples have a higher utility value for me than jelly beans. And maybe you like jelly beans more than apples, so for you, jelly beans have a higher utility value than apples. Why would we disagree? Maybe taste differences, or I care about health more than you do, or you once had a bad experience with an apple ... who knows. Where these utility values actually come from is for psychologists to decide. Economists will simply take them as a given and then study what happens once they're in place. For example, if I possess a bag of jelly beans, and you have a bushel of apples, considering their utlility values for each of us, what do you think will happen? We'll trade with each other, right? And that is economics. Now, perhaps an apple has the same utility value to me as three oranges, so I'm willing to pay three times as much for an apple as an orange---and that's where prices come in. That, of course, is economics. </p>
<p>I think the best definition of economics is "the science of scarcity." Scarcity refers to people having unlimited wants but limited resources. For example, we'd like for everyone in our society to have a job, but that simply can't happen. Some people are going to have jobs while others are going to have to go unemployed. And will that be randomly determined? Of course not. Studying when, why, and how this sort of thing happens is what economics is all about.</p>
<p>Now for some cold hard facts. Economics grads make more money, on average, than business grads (by the order of a few thousand dollars a year, although I don't have the exact figures). Economics involves more mathematics than business does: things vary from school to school, but business majors can often get away with taking some sort of "math for dummies" course, whereas econ majors usually have to take a year or two of calculus, as well as some statistics, and possibly econometrics (which is basically the use of math and statistics in economics). And if you plan on doing graduate study in econ, you'll have to take a LOT of math, and by that I mean pretty much majoring in it right along with econ (maybe not quite that much, depending on your particular plans). Since economics is a social science, at most universities it's in the Arts & Sciences college. Sometimes, though, it's actually in the business school, and other times students can choose which school to take it at. Economics is pretty much taught from the textbook, whereas business, of course, is pretty hands-on, and will often involve case studies and such.</p>
<p>Now here's the magic rule of thumb: If you know you want to study economics, then study economics; if you know you want to study business, then study business, but if you aren't quite sure, then study economics. It's a more versatile degree. You can easily connect it with these subjects (and maybe more): business, finance, mathematics, political science, sociology, psychology, history, and philosophy. Economics demands precision of thought that is useful for just about any job. A business degree is valuable (sometimes even necessary) for some jobs, but it is much more limiting.</p>
<p>Oh, and you probably shouldn't major in "business administration," no matter what. If you're going to do business, it generally makes more sense to specialize (in accounting, or finance, or marketing, or whatever). Engineers can't just get a degree in "engineering"; they have to study chemical engineering or mechanical engineering or whatever. It's probably a mistake that business schools don't make their students do the same (many actually do, though).</p>
<p>
[quote]
An economist is also a scientist---a social scientist---curious about human beings, and he studies them for a living just because they fascinate him.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, in fact, studying economics is not too far from studying game theory:</p>
<p>the prodigy John von Neumann brought the two together, and I've read that studying economics makes a very good basis for being a poker champion!!!</p>
<p>then, how come many people say "econ major is useless, go to engineering"?</p>
<p>majorvision, anybody who says econ is useless has no vision. They are blind. :)</p>
<p>@majorvision: Well, salary-wise, among people with a batchelor's degree (and nothing else), this is the ranking of average earnings by major (this is according to a big fat book I read, published a couple years ago):</p>
<ol>
<li>chemical engineering</li>
<li>another engineering field (forgot which one)</li>
<li>physics
4-6. engineering fields</li>
<li>economics
8-10 (or so). engineering fields
below: other stuff (somewhere in there: business management, finance, accounting) </li>
</ol>
<p>Perhaps people say econ is useless because the applications of engineering are much more obvious than the applications of economics. The usefulness of economics classes is a combination of the facts you learn (this is why they make more money than math majors---math majors exercise their brains more than anyone else don't learn too many widely applicable facts) and the skills you develop (this is why they make more money than accounting majors---accounting majors learn very useful facts, but don't develop as many universal skills). Even if you don't become an economist, you'll still probably end up using your economic training in one way or another---thinking logically, exploring social problems in non-intuitive ways, etc. What 311Griff said, in other words.</p>
<p>Of course, all this salary stuff is probably missing the more important fact that you should do what makes you happy, at least in my opinion.</p>
<p>@311Griff: Yeah, game theory is very interesting stuff. I happen to have a game theoretic paper that I should be working on...</p>
<p>If you want the big bucks in business, MBA is the good way to go; undergrad biz alone isn't all that special. And having economics + MBA is probably better than just undergrad biz + MBA.</p>
<p>it all depends on what program you are in. UChicago has the best econ program in the country, but if you want to go into business and you could go anywhere, a degree from Wharton undergrad will (arguably) give you more opportunities. </p>
<p>of course that econ degree from UChicago will offer more opportunities that a business degree from SDSU, so like I said, it all depends on the school.</p>
<p>Business majors seems to me geared more towards entrepreneurship, econ majors are best prepared and competitive for MBAs.</p>
<p>"then, how come many people say 'econ major is useless, go to engineering'?"</p>
<p>You're the first I've heard say that.</p>
<p>A'ight, I just wanted to say that was a fantastic explanation. Are you a econ major? If yes then is there any books/ other resources that you have read regarding this career field that you might recommend; I'm considering econ as a major.</p>
<p>wow i agree
fascinating post
a question to A'ight</p>
<p>if economics is so closely related to mathematics
would a double major in engineering and economics be "do-able" in university within 4 years?</p>
<p>Stuck,
Since I can never find you on MSN, I'll reply here -
I don't think it's advisable to do a double major in engineering and economics in 4 years. If you look at the U of T viewbook and its engineering section, you'd see that Engineering section is separated from the rest (Arts and Sciences). Plus, I think engineering alone is demanding enough to suck the life out of ya...</p>
<p>Thank you, macinici and StuckatUofT.</p>
<p>macinici, I'm actually just a high school senior---one who happens to be quite interested in econ and who plans on majoring in it (along with a second major in math, both because of its connections with econ and because I simply like math). My information was gathered from a combination of plain old general reading on the subject, discussions with econ and business professors at my local university, and skimming a couple career-prep books. </p>
<p>Regarding books and stuff to read to find out about economics: Since I'm not an econ professor or anything, I can't tell you the single best introduction to the field, but I can tell you how I've exposed myself to the subject:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Online, the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (see here: <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/CEECategory.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.econlib.org/library/CEECategory.html</a>) has articles on basic economics concepts (note that the writers have a conservative/libertarian bias, which shows through in some of their policy-oriented articles, but it's still an interesting/valuable resource).</p></li>
<li><p>You can skim through an introductory economics textbook, to get a taste of what it's like---often the subject is divided into microeconomics and macroeconomics, and in that case just get a book for each one. They should be cheap or even free if they're old and used, and you might be able to just borrow them from someone.</p></li>
<li><p>There are quite a few popular, non-textbook, economics-related books out there. Ones that I've read and thought were interesting: </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations, by David Warsh
Freakonomics, by Steven Levitt
The End of Poverty, by Jeffrey Sachs
Making Globalization Work, by Joseph Stiglitz</p>
<p>(The last two deal specifically with development economics, the branch of economics dealing with the economies of developing nations.) </p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you are wondering about getting a Ph.D. in economics and becoming a professional economist, there's this informative resource: <a href="http://www.econphd.net%5B/url%5D">http://www.econphd.net</a></p></li>
<li><p>Wikipedia, of course, has plenty of articles on different econ-related topics. You can simply start reading the article "economics," then click hyperlinks to specific stuff, then click links from there, and so on...</p></li>
<li><p>If you want the name of the career help book that I got the salary statistics from, I forgot the name, but I'll probably be able to look it up for you. It was very informative.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>StuckatUofT, I'm probably not the best person to ask, but I'm pretty sure it'd be extremely difficult (but theoretically possible, I imagine) to do that, since engineering programs usually leave little room for electives. The mathematics overlap isn't enough to make it easy, especially since not too much mathematics is actually <em>required</em> of economics students at the undergraduate level (only at the graduate level and when preparing for graduate level).</p>
<p>thanks for the reply A'ight!
looking back at ur previous post,
are you sure that engineers have the highest salary. Cause I hear over and over again about how engineers make no money and that the highest they can go is like, 80,000 after 10 years of experience. People who exceed that have MBAs and are managers. Also, careers like civil are stuck at 30,000ish when you come out.
On the other hand, people tell me that economics and such make a lot of money because they can go on to be stock brokers, etc.
soo.... would you mind clarifying that?</p>
<p>StuckatUofT, you're right, I should clarify that the list I posted was just concerned with people with BACHELOR'S degrees. A bachelor's degree in engineering pretty much guarantees you a good job with a good (but not utterly amazing) salary, better than a bachelor's degree in any other field.</p>
<p>But, of course, when you consider people with graduate degrees, things are different. We all know that engineers aren't the highest-paid people out there. Getting a medical degree, or a dental degree, or an MBA, or etc. will almost always bring you more cash than an engineer.</p>
<p>And speaking of getting an MBA, graduate business schools usually don't care too much about what you majored in, as long as you did well and you have good work experience (you almost always wait a couple years after college and gain work experience before going to a graduate business school, unlike other types of graduate schools, such as medical schools, where you usually just enter them straight out of college).</p>
<p>Could someone tell me which is a better degree to have...a business degree form Pepperdine University or an Econ degree from UCSD?</p>
<p>
[quote]
would a double major in engineering and economics be "do-able" in university within 4 years?
[/quote]
It would be difficult to do that because there is literally no room for electives if you're an engineering major, and the engineering major itself is a lot of work.
[quote]
Could someone tell me which is a better degree to have...a business degree form Pepperdine University or an Econ degree from UCSD?
[/quote]
Whatever you're more interested in.</p>
<p>How about a business economics major?</p>
<p>Hello. I’m a freshman economics major, and while it appears I’m a new member, I really just changed handles because my old one became irrelevant.</p>
<p>From what I can tell based upon my own somewhat limited knowledge as a first year student, A’ight did a pretty good job explaining the differences between the two majors.</p>
<p>In my own experience, business and economics draw different types of people. A lot of the business majors at my school think of their major as an easy ticket to a good job, while econ majors tend to be more focused on school and genuinely enjoy studying economics. Again this is just an observation, but it makes sense.</p>
<p>I definitely don’t think of them as interchangeable majors because as A’ight mentioned, they’re really pretty different, especially in terms of what they’re designed to accomplish. Indeed there are principles shared between these disciplines, but they’re applied in dissimilar ways. Even simple concepts such as profit(economic vs. accounting profit) are considered differently, which reflects different agendas.</p>
<p>I really can’t recommend majoring in econ if you’re not interested in it. I’d actually recommend business if you’re not sure because it is a lot more generalized than economics is. One thing you’ll find once you get to college is that it’s really easy to think about majoring in something but a whole lot different to actually do it, especially if it’s more specific in focus. Unless you know you have a legitimate interest in both fields, it’s hard to look compare both majors from a pros/cons standpoint.</p>
<p>Sorry if it sounds like I’m up on a soapbox and lecturing. I get tired of all the kids who come on here thinking that they can choose a major off of what they perceive to be better. Really, my aim is to provide a word of warning, rather than a lecture.</p>