Economics at Swarthmore

A.E
Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:50:25 +0000

I’m not an expert on the field of economics by any means, but it seems to me that economics degrees without a strong quantitative element are becoming more and more worthless as the years go on. Cutting-edge economics is dominated by quantitative analysis, and it is only a matter of time before that represents the entirety of the field. I think all but one of the Nobel prizes in economics since 2000 have been awarded for quantitative analysis of some stripe or another. Furthermore, employers are looking more and more for people with a strong mathematical background when hiring economics majors for competitive jobs in finance. I think that, these days, people who are interested in economics but who can’t get their heads around college level calculus, statistics, and related courses are better off looking elsewhere for a major, and perhaps restricting their economics studies to keeping it as a minor.

The ideal way to major in economics at Swarthmore would be to either double major in economics and mathematics and/or enroll in the honors program and take mathematics as a minor. That seems like the best way to prepare oneself for the realities and demands for jobs in finance or investment or for a future in academia or the professional world as an economist.