<p>I saw a thread below where people classified econ as part of humanities. For some reason, economics is taught as a "social science" at a lot of under grad schools, with lots of dense reading and theory. The funny thing is, most advances in recent economics have been by statisticians and mathematcians, not "econ/finance majors." Those with the appitude for economics at the graduate level are NOT those with good writing skills and knowledge of the history of thought...instead, they're MIT type math geeks who study game theory and econometrics. </p>
<p>I feel like colleges need to emphasize this point earlier on when kids are selecting majors. They should explain that if you do econ/finance with no math minor you're learning econ for general knowledge, not econ for academia or quant trading/financial engineering, or even economic analysis.</p>
<p>I really liked earlier econ courses, but to get to a grad school to study Decision Theory, I'm going to have to take calc 1-3, ordinary differential equations, probability, adv. calc, linear algebra, econometrics/high level stats, and ideally some courses in complex analysis and non-linear dynamics/chaos theory. Problem is, I don't know if I built for all that.</p>
<p>First of all, the US and Canada are the only two countries I know of in the world that classify economics as an "arts" subject. It usually leads to a BSc, not a BA. (in the rest of the world)</p>
<p>What school offers economics without a substantial advanced math/stats requirement? I didn't even know you could get an economics degree without those courses, unless perhaps you were majoring in economic history rather than economics. Normally i think multivariate calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, probability theory, mathematical statistics, and one or two courses in econometrics are the minimum for a degree in economics, without a minor in anything. </p>
<p>Real analysis, chaos theory, and other very advanced stuff would be for people hoping to get a leg up on the competition for admission to the top ph.d economics programs, but not absolutely necessary. </p>
<p>What do you mean you aren't built for that?</p>
<p>*most advances in recent economics have been by statisticians and mathematcians, not "econ/finance majors." *</p>
<p>That's not true at all. Yes, many have highly analytic backgrounds such as degrees in mathematics, but most have econ degrees. You can have the best mathematics background you want, but if your intuition on how things work is fuzzy, you'll make a poor economist. It is not just applied mathematics.</p>
<p>and ideally some courses in complex analysis and non-linear dynamics/chaos theory</p>
<p>You don't necessarily need either of those, assuming you're . Real and functional analysis would be good, yes. Complex is used much less.</p>
<p>[nauru] What school offers economics without a substantial advanced math/stats requirement?</p>
<p>Remember, the higher education systems in Europe and the US are structured quite differently. Most colleges in the US are of the "liberal arts" variety, meaning students take many courses in various fields. Students here do not take 30-40 courses that are all more or less in the same field. Plus Americans are math-phobic. </p>
<p>I attended at top undergrad school here in the US and double majored in math and econ. I wasn't even required to use calculus in any of my classes except one. The focus is often times more on the theory, and building the intuition about how to approach problems, etc.. In the end, the basic math is little more than a tool.</p>
<p>Real analysis....get a leg up</p>
<p>Actually, RA is more or less the standard these days for any applicant to top programs. I think there are very few (maybe one or two) students in my class that have not had RA as an undergrad</p>
<p>"Remember, the higher education systems in Europe and the US are structured quite differently."</p>
<p>I know the quality of university education in the US varies a lot from the top schools to the average/not-so-good ones. But wouldn't at least the top ones require substantial math in undergrad? Particularly those with outstanding ph.d programs. (Harvard/MIT/Chicago/Princeton come to mind)</p>
<p>"Actually, RA is more or less the standard these days for any applicant to top programs."</p>
<p>I sort of agree with you, as long as we are talking again about Harvard, MIT, Chicago-level ph.d programs. Are you in a Ph.d econ program? Where? As far as I can tell from the websites, most ph.d programs in the US don't even require a previous course in econometrics, much less real analysis. I know a lot of people take it anyway though. And I think requirements/competition for masters programs lower even than for ph.d programs. </p>
<p>But what do I know, I am but a lowly undergraduate... :)</p>
<p>yeah, theghostofsnappy is right, and I'm sure knows more about econ PhD 's than I do as I'm still undergrad...</p>
<p>Non-linear/chaos theory would be more just to show off your chops, and really has more application for financial engineering.</p>
<p>Still, I know a fair amount about those studying Decision Theory, as I know one of the best PhD's in the country (he recently set up a behavioral economics institue for a bulge-bracket) and he told me to focus on stats/math/heuristics in that order, and then worry about econ courses....he majored in stats/probabilty at cornell before getting a masters at Carnegie Mellon in computer logic, and then got his ph.d at MIT in decison theory. He made enough money in consulting for I-Banks (purely off of knowledge, not connections or luck) to retire after working for 18 years....now he does research for fun.</p>
<p>BTW-McGill has an honours econ program that requires you to use theorems from adv. calc in the 200-level micro-econ courses, thus you must take lots of math courses...the text is for graduate study, and to get accepted to a ph.d program in Canada you have to have done honours.</p>
<p>This may surprise some of you, but there are those who study economics with plans to go into business and get an MBA rather than ever studying higher level math or getting a PhD.</p>
<p>A math-light economics major would be perfect for those people who only desire to learn about the history of it and approach is as a social science with possibly some math.</p>
<p>At most schools you have to take two semesters of calc, a semester of stat, and econometrics. At Chicago you also have to take Math 19510-19610 Applied Math for Soc. Sci. </p>
<p>Additionally, every students at MIT, in any major, is required to take a semester of multi-variable calculus (but only two total semesters of calc). </p>
<p>Maybe you consider that to be substantial math, but I don't really (and I am most certainly not a math person!) Preparing for a graduate program in economics is a completely different animal than completing an undergraduate program, as it should be.</p>
<p>Off the top of my head, I can say that CalTech will require four semesters of math even for its econ majors.</p>
<p>And I have to make a subjective correction here. When econ is done "qualitatively," it is still social science. When it is done "quantitatively," it is still social science. Social science isn't dependent upon whether or not you use mathematics to explain your model, but on whether or not your model is scientific to begin with.</p>
<p>Econ is always a social science, but a lot of undergrads get tripped up on the "liberal arts" label.</p>
<p>I looked it up and actually it appears you need five semesters of math to graduate from Cal-Tech. But I'm standing by my original point, that isn't an econ specific requirement. History majors at Caltech need to take that many math classes too (side note, why would you go to Caltech and study history?)</p>
<p>They actually have a pretty good humanities/social science program there. Some really good political scientists came out of Caltech in recent years (Gary Cox, for example.)</p>
<p>I'm planning on majoring in economics, what's the highest math I have to take? What's the highest math expected for those who major in economics?</p>
<p>depends... some econ majors have no math requirement, and some require at least through calc, and possibly more, I'm not really familiar with those as much though.</p>