Economics degrees. please only reply if you actually have completed a degree in economics.?
Answer:
Go for finance instead. Job prospects are better and starting salaries for assistant professors is aroud $20K - $50K higher.
To add to Robert's post, whether you do finance or econ, you can't do enough math to prepare! Get an undergrad in math, physics, or engineering. These backgrounds are the best at laying the groundwork for doctoral level studies in the areas.
I have a bachelor's degree in Political Economy of Natural Resources, which I chose because it combined my interest in economics and the environment. I never worked in the field. It was difficult to find an econ job when I graduated (in the early 1980s.) I found a job in the computer field (which I had also studied) and I have stayed in the computer field most of my life.
Although I have never worked in economics, I do stay in touch with it. I continue to read articles and occasional books on economics and I review many (but not the most technical) articles and book drafts by a friend of mine who is a professor of economics.
I studied econ because I wanted to know why the economy didn't work and how we could fix it, and how we could have a healthy economy and a healthy environment at the same time.
I spent 4 years being told how a perfect economy would work, and not why it doesn't work. Only one class -- which was an elective -- bothered to tell me many of the reasons why the economy doesn't work perfectly.
I did not find my economics degree very stimulating intellectually or very lucrative financially.
As I continue to read about economics and watch the economy, I see that most famous economists don't try to fix the economy or even understand it -- they basically just spout corporate propaganda.
Despite the importance of economics, I would not strongly encourage a person to study this. And if you're going in only because "salaries are somewhat impressive", then you're going in for the wrong reason. You should pick something that you're genuinely interested in. (I realize that not everyone is lucky enough to get a job that they are very interested in. But as a second choice, find a job that's useful. Being a propaganda parrot for rich businesspeople is not very useful -- there are already more than enough people doing that job.)
If you are genuinely interested in the subject, I suggest reading some not-quite-traditional books on the subject.
I recommend Paul Hawken's book "The Ecology Of Commerce". Hawken is a rich capitalist businessman, but he does talk about some ways that we can have a cleaner environment and a healthier economy at the same time. The ideas in this book are not his, but he does a good job of explaining the ideas that a few other people have developed.
You might also look at www.redefiningprogress.org
which talks about some of the problems caused by focussing too heavily on GDP as a measure of the health of the economy. (GDP measures activity, not benefit.)
For a book by a more or less traditional Republican/capitalist on the intersection of politics and economics, you might want to read former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill's book "The Price Of Loyalty". The book is self-serving, but also has a lot of bad things to say about how the Bush administration makes bad economic decisions -- even from the perspective of a conservative Republican.
I realize that you probably don't want to hear that economics is not good for your intellect or your wallet. But that is what I have found in my experience. Obviously, you should consult with many people because my experience might be atypical. On the other hand, you don't have to study economics for years to know that economists aren't doing a very good job and are basically mouthpieces for corporations that want to block government regulations.
And for a reasonably good book on how humans are destroying the planet and themselves, consider Jared Diamond's book "Collapse", about societies whose greed has led them to destroy their environment and themselves.
Other authors whose work might be of interest: Herman Daly, Peter Raven, Paul Ehrlich (more environment than economics, but you can't deal with economic issues without dealing with environmental issues), Amory Lovins (overly optimistic, but still makes some good points).
And if reading any of these doesn't sound like something you want to do, then, face it, you shouldn't go into economics. ;-)
A job as a professional economist usually requires a Ph.D. By professional economist, I mean a professor of economics at a university or working for governments and other institutions that hire economists to do research. If you do decide to go for a Ph.D., a strong background in mathematics is required because modern economics relies a lot on mathematical models. I would even suggest that you major in mathematics as an undergraduate and then economics as a graduate student.
An undergraduate major in economics is a good foundation for an advanced degree in other fields such as business or law. In this case, training in math would not be so important though still useful.
I have a Ph.D. in economics and an undergraduate degree in math.
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