Studying Economics seemed to be a reasonable thing to do after finishing high school. With high expectations that I will learn how the economy of my home country Germany and the world in general works I enroled in an undergraduate Economics course at an university. This has been in 2015. Now, almost five years later and on the edge of receiving my Master's degree I give you a short view of how it is like to study this (scientific?) field at an university.
First of all: What is Economics? After a common definition Economics deals with the problem of scarce ressources and how they can be used in the most efficient way. Here we have our first problem: What is the efficient way? And here it starts to get messy and complicated. People provided different answers to this, ranging from the a capitalist solution, as we know it from many western economies, over socialist and communist ideas à la Marx and everything in between. Scholars argued even for centuries and don't come to a solution that appeases all parties. Many claim that capitalism has proved to be the better system if we just look at what history showed. Others claim that communism has never been really tried and all previous system were doomed before they even started. Whatever theory appeals more attractive, there seem to be no best system.
But Economics wouldn't be Economics if we take things as they are in reality, as natural sciences like Physics or Biology would do. First of all, we need a **** ton of ASSUMPTIONS. The most prominent one is that man acts rational (whatever that means) and is maximizing an artificial construct called his 'utility'. If each and every person does that then we can aggregate the result and compare it to what firms want: to maximize their profits. Having done that we need to look for an EQUILIBRIUM that may or may not exist. To be honest Economists have a fetish for equilibria. They have the nice mathematical feature that no one has an incentive to deviate from an equilibrium, once it is reached each and everyone should be happy. This notiion seems like seeking harmony and a state of peace, but it goes way beyond that. We can look of a consumer's decision making process or a single firm's production process (Microeconomics) or we can look at the big picture of the world economy with variables like inflation, interest rates and the gross domestic product (Macroeconomics).
With that knowledge in mind maybe one thinks about how could one make the lives of so many poor people in this world a little better. Such a question is but not suitable for an economist to answer because his/her field does not tell him/her how to distribute the billions and trillions of money that exist in this world. In the subfield of Public Finance you may heare about how people can manage to divide an economic cake between themselves and how that can be politically exercised is part of Public Choice.
During your studies everything you are do is to play with some equations, prove results and (if you're lucky) use a computer to simulate stuff. Seldomly you see a topic that really catches your full attention since you are only allowed to participate in a scientific or political discurse if you know your science and requires in depth knowledge of the relevant methods. That seems quite odd if one think about what we actually learn in Economics. Nothing but getting used to a specific way of thinking that fits the current system. Often enough I have seen professors make jokes about students who organized themselves in associations which gather to discuss different approaches to Economics. The most useful skill you will learn is to handle socioeconomic data and data analysis program (not so bad after all!).
Even after your Master's Degree in Economics you know little. You really have to begin a Ph. D. to enjoy the real beauties of Economics, but how many People want to dedicate four to five additional years at university? A large number of students leave university with an Economics degree in which you just scraped the tip of an iceberg and gained that knowledge which is not really useful. I don't know why, but to me it feels like the real Economics is hidden behind a wall that has to be surmounted.
If I had the chance, would I study Economics again? In spite of my previous critique the surprising answer is yes. I kind of like doing all this stuff even though it really doesn't fit to my other opinions About the world. After I graduate I want to work in a different field, maybe Finance or Data Science. At least studying Economics gave me an opportunity to think about things that do not seem reasonable to oneself. This expands your way of thinking and makes you leave your comfort zone. On the way to ypur degree you may often feel like crying, however, it should pay out afterwards.
For me Economics opened the way to related field that I before didn't think of, especially to investing in the stock market, programing and, most importantly, crypto currencies. From time to time you see the connections and you have a feeling why for example the price of Bitcoin is increasing. All in all I am thankful experience and hope people might still consider to study Economics in the future. Some content and the way of teaching should change, but it is definitely not a waste of time.
A nice book on the history of economic thinking is Robert L. Heilbroners classic 'The Worldly Philosophers'. I recommend to check it out why we Economist think about all this weird stuff.
Wiwiller
PS: Economists are getting paid relatively well compared to other degrees, so if you don't like the content, go for the money. :D
