Are you thinking of going into business in the near future but you don’t know how to go about it? Or maybe you are already in the industry but are still hoping to make a mark?
Then, going back to school may be the best option for you, moving forward. When the going gets tough, it’s always good to go back to the basics and analyze the situation, this time equipped with additional knowledge and with a widened perspective. So what degree should you take, you ask? Easy, economics.
Here are three compelling reasons:
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Economics can answer the most basic business questions.
If you’re still at that stage you plan to put up your own business, economics will give you the strong foundation to make the right decisions. The basic macroeconomic and microeconomic principles can help you answer questions as crucial as the type of products or services you should put out, or the prices of your goods given a specific demand for the same and prevailing supply.
Knowledge of government economic policies will also enable you to attune your services and products to the prevailing setup.
If, on the other hand, your business is already up and running, knowledge of economic principles will enable you to make the necessary adjustments in your venture. Without knowledge of these economic principles, it’s easy to commit a mistake, and in business, one mistake can be fatal, so to speak.
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Economics can explain the behavior of people.
This is not to say that economics can only answer those important business questions. Contrary to popular belief, economics is not just all about the dizzying formulas and numbers. Economics is a social science, which means that the macro and microeconomic policies economics professors constantly gush about in lectures can actually be applied to other aspects of life.
Who hasn’t applied the law of supply and demand when deciding where to buy your favorite merchandise? When demand is high for your favorite bag because of the hype and there is little supply, chances are you’d wait for the hype to die down for the demand to be low and for prices to go down. Thanks to the law of demand and supply, you would score that bag at a very reasonable price.
Hence, understanding how your potential customers behave through economics is crucial to a successful business.
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Economics is, well, fun.
So it’s established that knowledge of economics is crucial to any successful venture. But before you make the conclusion that economics is, therefore, a boring field and should not be considered as a course, you should keep reading.
Economics is serious and fun, hardcore and light, and difficult and easy, all at the same time. While economics is plain Math that requires rigid calculations, it is a social science that requires analysis. Economics is systematic but “chaotic,” in a good way, at the same time.
Daniel S. Hamermesh, professor in the Foundation of Economics at the University of Texas and professor of labor economics at Maastricht University, hit the nail on the head when he said, quoting John Maynard Keynes, the father of Keynesian economics, that in economics, “you have to be good at Math, but not too good, you have to be good at history, but not too good, and you have to be good at philosophy but not too good.”
But it is not only this “contradictory” nature of economics that makes it an exciting field. As mentioned before, economics concerns itself with government economic policies as well, and these policies are not at all constant.
Final thoughts
Changes in administrations can lead to changes in economic policies, which means different subject matters can arise with every change in the administration. And then there are the other factors that affect an economic environment, and that are also not constant – the absence or presence of war, for instance.
To cut the long story short, this ever-changing environment in which economics is situated makes economics a very interesting field to study. Are you now convinced a degree in economics is the way to go? Hopefully, you are.
The next step is to look for schools where you can study economics, but don’t you worry. Rest assured that you won’t have a hard time looking for those offering the course. Educational institutions, after all, also have a hard time ignoring the field because of its ever-pervasive nature.
And then, of course, there is also the demand for the degree. So there you have it. The law of supply and demand all over again.
