Economics

Economics is the social science concerned with how individuals, firms and societies make decisions under scarcity: how resources are allocated, prices are determined, markets function and governments intervene. It ranges from the behaviour of individual consumers and firms at the microeconomic level to the macroeconomic forces that determine national income, employment, inflation and growth, and from the domestic economy to the global patterns of trade, investment and development that shape living standards around the world. The discipline combines rigorous analytical frameworks with empirical inquiry into real economic phenomena.

At the University of Aberdeen, this four-year degree helps you understand the global economy and the factors that influence income, wealth and wellbeing from both social and financial perspectives, as the university's own description puts it. You will develop a thorough understanding of economic theory and explore how it functions in the real world, studying microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, monetary economics, public economics and international economics. A year abroad is part of the programme, giving you the opportunity to study economics in a different national context and to develop an international perspective on the questions the discipline addresses.

Aberdeen's four-year honours structure gives you time to develop genuine depth in both theoretical and applied economics.

Economics develops highly transferable analytical and quantitative skills: the ability to build models, interpret data, reason about incentives and evaluate the likely consequences of policy decisions is valued across a very wide range of sectors.

Graduates go on to careers in financial services, banking, consultancy, government economic services, international organisations, central banking, think tanks, corporate strategy and research. Economics also provides an excellent foundation for further study, including postgraduate programmes in economics, finance, public policy, development economics or related fields.