DU course profile: From law to journalism, Economics (honours) opens a variety of career choices for students

A typical undergraduate and postgraduate economics course is loaded with subjects which demand high-level mathematical and statistical competencies. A student of economics must note that there is no single way of learning the subject. There are several schools of thought.

Economics (Honours) facilitates entry into a wide variety of careers. A Masters degree or an MBA after the undergraduate course enables one to get a highly paid job in the private sector, especially with MNCs and KPOs. There are consultancy firms which absorb economics graduates as executive consultants, economists or economic advisors.

AJC Bose, in-charge, department of Economics at Shri Ram College of Commerce.

Students of economics are often found interested in pursuing Indian Administrative Service and other civil services.

There are research and teaching jobs also for those with a PhD in economics. One can also combine the undergraduate degree with LLB to seek lucrative careers in Corporate Law. Economic journalism is another fascinating option for those who have a flair for writing. Then, there are think tanks like the Niti Ayog, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Center for Policy Research which absorb economics graduates for analysis working on policy recommendations.

A typical undergraduate and postgraduate economics course is loaded with subjects which demand high-level mathematical and statistical competencies. A student of economics must note that there is no single way of learning the subject. There are several schools of thought.

In light of the above, I suggest that prospective economics students must read up two to three times the following lucid books: 1. Amal Sanyal, Economics and Its Stories, Social Science Press/Orient BlackSwan, 2012; 2. Ha-Joon Chang, Economics: The User’s Guide, Pelican, 2014; and Jim Stanford, Economics for Everyone, Fernwood Publishing, 2008. Such a reading will help them obtain the deep and wide motivation to pursue economics which otherwise might appear as a hard and boring as also esoteric or unrealistic subject, and as such might induce one to suffer from brain-fade and take a pillow and go to sleep, so to say! One thing is clear from the ways the subject is addressed now in different parts of the world: in the short run, there is a cacophony of noises and in the long run, we are all dead.