Economics

Economics is the science of how individuals, firms, and societies make decisions under scarcity. It is a discipline that uses formal models and empirical evidence to understand how markets work, why economies grow, how firms compete, and how governments should respond to market failures, unemployment, and inequality. Microeconomics studies individual behaviour and market structure; macroeconomics addresses the aggregate behaviour of entire economies.

The rigour of economic reasoning, combined with its relevance to the most pressing policy questions of the day, makes it one of the most powerful and versatile intellectual disciplines available.

At Goldsmiths, which brings its own critical and socially engaged perspective to the social sciences, this three-year full-time programme covers the mainstream of the discipline, including microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, econometrics, and the application of economic analysis to labour markets, public finance, development, and international trade. Goldsmiths's approach to economics tends to sit in dialogue with heterodox and political economy traditions, giving you a broader and more questioning engagement with the discipline than is typical in some institutions. Research methods and quantitative skills are developed throughout.

Economics graduates are among the most consistently sought-after in the UK and international job markets. Finance, banking, consultancy, the civil service, international organisations, central banks, and think tanks all recruit heavily from economics. The analytical and quantitative skills the degree develops transfer widely across any profession in which data, evidence, and rigorous argument matter.

Many graduates complete the additional professional qualifications needed for specific financial roles, such as the CFA. Postgraduate study in economics, finance, public policy, or data science is a well-established next step, and a strong economics undergraduate degree is excellent preparation for a PhD.