Economics

Economics at SOAS brings a distinctive perspective to the discipline: it is taught in a department that has long emphasised the economies of the developing world, the global South, and the historical and contemporary dimensions of international economic inequality. While covering the standard analytical toolkit of microeconomics and macroeconomics, SOAS economics engages seriously with questions about development, trade, debt, colonialism and the political economy of global economic relations that are often underweighted in more conventional economics programmes. It is a programme for students who want their economics to be both rigorous and broad in its concerns.

At the School of Oriental and African Studies in London you will study economics over three years of full-time study, with a foundation year available as an entry route that builds the mathematical and analytical foundations needed for the degree. The programme combines core modules in economic theory and quantitative methods, including training in the programming language R, with the option to take a professional placement module that connects your academic learning to applied economic work. Assessment draws on multiple approaches, developing your ability to communicate economic ideas in different formats.

The typical tariff of 136 reflects a programme that is analytically demanding but accessible to students with a genuine aptitude for social science and an interest in global economic questions.

Graduates of this programme work in economic analysis, policy research, international development, finance, the civil service, NGOs, think tanks and international organisations. The SOAS emphasis on global and development economics is particularly relevant for careers in international development agencies, aid organisations, central banks in the developing world and bodies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in economics, development economics, international political economy or related fields, and the analytical skills combined with the global perspective make this a genuinely distinctive degree in a competitive graduate market.