Why am I majoring in Economics?

I entered college with the goal to become a theoretical astrophysicist. Once I discovered that a PhD in mathematics and physics would steal my soul and social skills, I changed to a major in Political Science. I’m going to become the President one day, so why not?

But Political Science majors are a dime a dozen. Plus, it was hard to convince work that they should pay for me to study “Political Philosophy of the Ancient Greek Philosophers” and “Political Campaigns.” So then I stumbled upon Economics. I took “Principles of Macroecomonics” as an elective, and my professor made me fall in love with the subject. I enrolled in Microeconomics for the following semester, and now I am a bona fide Economics major.

So why is this the greatest major of all time? Let me tell you!

1. Bryan Caplan, an economics professor at George Mason University, says it best: “Econ is the highest-paid of all the easy majors.” Alas, engineers and mathematicians get paid more than economics students, but they also have insane amounts of work to do to graduate. Do you hear of many engineering students with GPAs above 3.5? Probably not, because only soulless robots, geniuses, and people without social lives can pull it off. Econ majors, though, can still enjoy their weekends. I’m not saying it’s like the super-easy majors (communications, dance, and neurobiology), but it’s not impossible.
2. Economics is cool. In the first night of my first course in economics, we talked about politics (the founding of American society), philosophy (of free will and logic), crime (theft and rape), drugs (the supply and demand of marijuana), education (the cost of college vs. the benefits of a degree), and a whole host of other topics. Economics deals with everything. I browsed the list of publications that my faculty has written, and the topics span almost every realm of academic inquiry. Economics relates to everything you hear on the news. Don’t believe me? Pick a random story and type it into Google with the word “economics” afterwards.
3. People should understand economics, but they don’t. The United States is in a recession, but most Americas don’t know what exactly that means. We understand the concept that we’re paying more for less, but most of us don’t understand why. If you disagree, take a peek at this Harris Market Research study. It’s from 2005, but it shows that we know remarkably little about a subject that affects our daily lives.

I would go on, but the law of diminishing marginal utility says I should stop here. There are plenty of other reasons to study Economics (not even as a major – just take a course or two). Read Freakonomics, The Logic of Life, The Wordly Philosophers, The Wealth of Nations (if you want a good, long read), or the Communist Manifesto. Go learn something.