Studying economics provides students with a greater understanding of the world around them. It teaches them how the economy functions, how people make decisions, why an economic crisis occurs and what the different solutions are. Economics at Essex is not only about stocks, shares and financial markets; it is concerned with the material wellbeing of human societies. Moreover, Economics isn’t optional to study right now: it’s vital to our future well-being in a post COVID-19 global society. The skills students learn at Essex will be in high demand from employers in the coming years to tackle the post-pandemic world.
At Essex they push the frontiers of accepted wisdom, critically examining the decisions of individuals, the strategies of firms, and the policies of governments to understand and challenge the standard paradigms of economics. On this course, students build a thorough understanding of the key areas of economics from first-year undergraduate to post-graduate level. Throughout the course they will study modern macroeconomics and microeconomics with applications to policy, as well as econometric methods and the use of data. Within and beyond these core areas they will study topics such as:
- Strategic behavior
- Public choice
- Labor markets
- Fiscal and monetary policy
- Theories of growth
In addition to learning the essentials of microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometric methods, students also have the option to explore a wide set of selected topics in economics to hone their skills, such as Management Economics and Market Analysis, International Trade and Financial Economics. The Department is top 5 in the UK for research, with over 90% of its research rated as “world-leading” or “internationally excellent” (REF 2014). Much of this world-class research is related to policy, and it has particular strengths in the areas of, game theory and strategic interactions, theoretical and applied econometrics, and labor economics. The quality of its work is reflected in its stream of publications in high-profile academic journals, including American Economic Review, Econometrica, and Review of Economic Studies.
