Is an Economist a Good Job?

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Having to be analytical and all. Would it be a good job for someone with aspergers?

Well, aren't a lot of Aspies analytical and logical both qualities needed to be a good economist? Plus these days with the problems in the world economy, economists are probably in high demand.

Yes, as long as you're capable of turning them off once in a while.

http://rwer.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/do ... conomists/

it is clean, indoors and pays well, with decent bennies. unfortunately it requires extensive [and expensive!] education and great social acumen.

The reason why I mentioned it is it is what I am going to be going to college for. Plus I think the analytical skills are more useful than either finance degrees or mba degrees offer. In addition, the stuff you learn is rather interesting, dovetails well with banking or investing (one of the fields I would prefer working in), and in a survey that an economics degree was the second most desired degree from an employee by a CEO, right after engineering.

around the time you're in your 3rd or 4th year, if you question what they teach you.. an honest teacher will tell you its all bullsh^t.

/not really joking either.

take a look at the percentage of gdp that comes from the financial sector and if you see something wrong.. you might want to change your major.

Economics is valuable if:
* you are a people's person (jobs are scarce and it's about networking),
* you don't mind working in a corporate environment with the office politics,
* you are comfortable with calculus,
* you don't question dogma or theories too much (I agree most of it is very ideological or BS),
* you are interested in working in large cities (NY, Chicago, Washington).

If you say not to one or several of these conditions, I would consider an alternative path as it is extremely competitive and as others noted, it requires at least a Master or a PhD.

Some economist jobs require a lot of presentations to groups, research, travel (largely international), competition (fewer jobs, many job seekers), a Master's (at least), grant proposal writing, and group research.

There's plenty of hands-on individual research, so yes, it could make a good job.. so long as you can also make good/decent presentations to others.

YES! Especially if you are really into mathematics. Every reputable organization, and nearly all government agencies, need at least one economist, especially with the volatility in the global market. I'm not sure what the academic market looks like, but those in the non-academic sector make way more money anyways.

I got my degree in economics and while it might be great for some, it was a waste of time and money for me. Not to say I learned nothing but I quickly learned much of what you learn is BS uttered by those who never worked a "real" job in their lives. I could never understand why so many people laughed at my fanatical Conservative/Libertarian Free Market beliefs until I graduated and saw how the world REALLY works outside of graphs and numbers. Looking back, it was almost like telling everyone the Easter Bunny was real. How naive even for an Aspie!

I have a good job and I use some of my skills but I definitely don't need the degree for what I do. Bottom line is that I highly recommend avoiding economics unless you REALLY do your homework and trust it's right for you. Actually reading Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations years later left me speechless. Do any economics professors actually read this supposed masterpiece?!

Excellent post, congratulations on being honest enough to ditch your ideology when it doesn't match reality in any shape or form. Now can you please go and tell the nutjobs that vote republican?

Economics needs a shake-up. Unfortunately, I suspect that the shake-up it requires is to stop existing.

Playing with mathematics is fun. It's fun even if you don't make-believe that it's somehow related to real economies. Unfortunately, it doesn't pay so well if you don't make-believe.

Damn, why couldn't you have posted this ten years ago? When I was deciding on a major, I was simply told that economics opens up many doors and its graduates are highly sought after. I soon realized that I would have to go back to a school I hated and could barely afford (to which there were STILL no guarantees of employment), to work in a corporate environment I would have hated, to live I life I would have detested (I'm a hermit and HATE networking), to repress my highly skeptical and questioning nature and my desire to move to a smaller city or at least stay where I am. You would have saved me YEARS of headaches of wondering why nobody would even look at me!

Bottom line: no economics professor even hinted at any of these things even though they are all 100% accurate. Looking back I wished I wasn't pressured into University as I would have been much happier as a construction worker or trades-person. Sucks to have a high IQ AND an interest in blue collar work!