Economics and Mathematics

Economics and mathematics is a combination that takes both disciplines at full strength rather than diluting either to accommodate the other. Economics provides the theoretical frameworks and empirical methods to understand how markets work, how firms and governments make decisions, and how economies function at the aggregate level. Mathematics provides the formal language and analytical tools without which modern economic reasoning is impossible.

Studying them together means you develop the mathematical rigour to understand economic theory at its foundations, and the economic insight to understand what the mathematics is actually modelling.

At the University of Bath, this three-year, full-time programme is taught within two of the university's strongest departments, and the combination reflects genuine academic depth in both areas. You will study microeconomics and macroeconomic theory, developing formal models of consumer, firm, and market behaviour and learning to work with the equilibrium concepts and optimisation techniques that underpin them. In mathematics, you will cover calculus, linear algebra, probability, statistics, and mathematical methods for economics, building the formal foundations that support your economic training.

Econometrics, the application of statistical methods to economic data, bridges the two subjects and is central to the programme.

Bath's School of Management and its mathematics department both have strong employer relationships, and the programme is well regarded by the finance, consulting, and policy organisations that recruit quantitatively trained economists.

Graduates from economics and mathematics programmes at Bath enter careers in finance, economic consultancy, the civil service, investment banking, data science, international organisations, and academic research. The combination of formal mathematical training with economic analytical skill is among the most competitive profiles on the graduate job market. Many graduates also go on to postgraduate study in economics, finance, or statistics.