Why the courses that have nothing to do with supply and demand might actually be teaching you how to be a better economist.

You might think that if you ask most employers what an economics degree consists of, you'd be inundated by responses concerning charts, graphs, and calculations. You would be surprisingly wrong. Rarely will you hear economics mentioned in conjunction with philosophy, or ethics, or even good old fashioned writing seminars. That doesn't mean, however, that those classes aren't secretly teaching you important skills that will serve you long after college ends.

It's not that the technical components of an economists' education are unimportant, but rather that technical analysis is only a tool; and good tools are best applied by people who understand their limitations.

Economics Was Never Just Quantitative

As an undergrad, you may have been surprised to hear certain instructors argue that economics was once a fundamentally qualitative discipline. Adam Smith, generally regarded as the father of modern economics, spent as much time thinking about morality as he did market forces. By teaching us how to think about the motivations of individuals and firms, Smith was essentially laying down axioms that would be used to better understand society at large. This doesn't mean that economics has always been focused on morality, but it does suggest that its foundations were originally built on things other than quantitative analysis.

A liberal arts core serves to reintroduce students to the concepts that were once integral to economics, but have since been overshadowed by new technical innovations. When paired with quantitative coursework, these courses allow students to approach economics from a different angle, namely that of philosophy.

The Value of a Liberal Arts Core (That Was Probably Not Discussed In Your Resume)

When it comes to the value of a liberal arts core, few things are as valuable as the intangible skills that get overlooked. Here are just a few soft skills that you would likely develop in a liberal arts core that aren't found anywhere in Econometrics:

• You learn how to think about economics beyond simple technical analysis, like how to actually write coherent arguments based on your analysis that other people can understand. Economics is a field where there are plenty of people who can perform a technical analysis, but fewer who know how to actually communicate their findings effectively. Courses that are part of a solid liberal arts core help you develop those verbal and written communication skills.

• You learn to be comfortable with ambiguity. Unlike mathematics, economics has no hard and fast answers to any given question. History and other liberal arts courses can help teach you how to think critically about why people do the things they do, allowing you to develop nuanced arguments about economics and society.

• You learn how to think ethically about economic issues. Every policy proposal has winners and losers, but few economists are trained to think deeply enough about distributional issues to be able to make nuanced arguments about those tradeoffs. Courses that are part of a liberal arts core help you develop an intuitive sense of ethics and morality, allowing you to think more deeply about how trade offs affect different groups of people.

Economics Is Not Becoming Less Technical

Some people argue that economics is becoming more quantitative, and that technical skills have become so important that the value of a liberal arts core has decreased. They couldn't be more wrong. In the age of artificial intelligence, many people believe that technical skills will become increasingly important, while non-quantitative skills will become less valuable. That couldn't be further from the truth. If anything, the increased use of computers and other technologies will allow non-quantitative skills to become more valuable. A liberal arts core provides students with the fundamental intellectual building blocks that will allow them to be critical thinkers in whatever fields they enter.

These skills are especially important in economics, where technical analysis is often only a means to a different end: providing an empirical foundation for qualitative arguments.

Why You Should Care

Employers and grad schools don't care if you have a technical background. They want someone who knows how to explain their ideas in a coherent way, and who understands the qualitative implications of their work. This is why a balanced approach that combines a technical economics core with a liberal arts core is often the most valuable type of economics education: it arms students with the technical skills needed to be competent economists, while ensuring that they still have the soft skills that are necessary for professional success.

The value of a liberal arts core isn't found in the classes themselves, but rather in the skills that can be applied outside the classroom, long after college ends.

Know more - B.A Economics

So what do you think? Would you rather have a more technical or more liberal-arts focused economics degree? Let me know in the comments.