<p>At my university, there are two types of economics degrees: economics & business economics. The regular economics degree and business economics degrees are not that different in terms of course requirements, the business economics degree requires you to take some management economics classes, whereas the economics degree enables you to take those courses, it just does not require taking them.</p>
<p>Is there really a difference in the perception between the two degrees? By calling it "business" economics, does that make the degree seem weaker or too broad or does it give it an edge over a traditional economics degree?</p>
<p>I’m not an expert, but it would seem that the economics degree would lean more towards the social side of economics, whereas the business economics degree leans more towards, well, business.</p>
<p>(I feel I just stated the obvious)</p>
<p>I guess it would all depend on what your goal is outside of school. If you’re going into economics in hopes of entering into the business world, the business economics degree would be an obvious better choice, and is probably there for those people. The regular economics degree is probably for those expecting to go to graduate school for economics.</p>
<p>I’m in the recently closed (to new majors) Business Economics major at UCSB. The only differences here really concern the inclusion of accounting and finance course requirements and the exclusion of an Econometrics requirement.</p>
<p>Anyway, in the times where I’ve interacted with human resources people and mentioned my major, I think they’ve mostly picked up on the “business” part of it. Once, I e-mailed an internship coordinator at a general contractor about a vague posting on their site about summer internships (“We welcome college students to ask about summer positions!”) and I basically got a reply that amounted to, “Why do you even think we’d want a business major here?” I wasn’t going to say, “Well, hold up, buddy. I’m a econ major.”</p>
<p>I think that the major’s title is useful because it doesn’t seem like as much of a stretch when companies ask for “business” majors (not economics majors) and you apply.</p>
<p>The difference between being in the business school vs. being in the liberal arts school is the number of job/networking opportunities. Do business if you want to work in industry right out of school, do liberal arts if you plan on going to grad school.</p>
<p>I suggest you do the latter. The first one is great if you plan on pursuing the more social side as previously mentioned, and the latter seems to offer more flexibility straight out of college!</p>
<p>‘Business economics’ is a throwback when colleges didn’t have a ‘School of Business’ yet and could only afford running a Dept or Division of Business, Economics or Commerce like all the other liberal arts depts.</p>
<p>As BBA’s and MBA’s grew popular, bus econ as a major declined, probably due to budget cuts that diverted funding to newly-formed ‘Joe S. Blow School of Business’ sprouting up nationwide.</p>
<p>It has absolutely nothing to do with supply & demand in the job market. The average job recuiter sheep only demands ‘business degree preferred’ because some other sheep told them so.</p>
<p>Small businesses and firms will appreciate a business econ degree. Big corporations and governments are cattle drivers who want applicants to match up with their outdated checklist. Just a check-mark… got b.s.-check. got mba-check. licensed?-check…</p>