Economics and English

Economics and English may seem an unusual combination, but they share a deeper affinity than is immediately apparent. Both are disciplines concerned with rigorous analysis of complex phenomena: economics through formal models, quantitative methods, and the systematic study of how markets and agents behave; English through close reading, critical theory, and the interpretive study of how language and literature construct meaning and shape culture. Graduates who are trained in both are genuinely unusual and genuinely versatile, equally at home with quantitative argument and with the kind of textual and cultural intelligence that literary study develops.

At the University of St Andrews, this four-year full-time degree gives you a structured and cumulative grounding in economics alongside deep engagement with English literature. You will study microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, quantitative methods, and the analytical frameworks needed for rigorous economic reasoning. In English you will explore literature across a wide range of periods and traditions, developing close reading, critical argument, and engagement with literary theory and cultural criticism.

The programme includes a year abroad, broadening your international experience and adding a further dimension to your academic development.

You will graduate with both the formal analytical tools of economics and the interpretive and communicative skills of literary study, a combination that employers in many fields find genuinely valuable. The two disciplines together train you to be precise, flexible, and articulate in ways that neither alone fully achieves.

Graduates from economics and English programmes move into careers in finance, consultancy, journalism, publishing, the civil service, policy analysis, law, and management. The breadth of the combination means that career paths are diverse. Postgraduate study in economics, English, or a related field is a common route for those who want to develop specialist expertise, and the rigour of the economics component provides a strong foundation for professional programmes in finance or public policy.