Students today would ideally like to select a field which imparts skills that stand the test of time both in the professional and personal realms. Here is how, economics, with its emphasis on quantitative, problem-solving, writing, and critical thinking skills, helps students prepare for the future:
Quantitative skills
Why it is good for you professionally: Data-driven analytics has become the industry’s new favourite buzzword, and the periodical, The Economist, has declared data to be the ‘new oil’, in terms of being a valuable resource. Having the ability to analyse and derive insights from data sets is a crucial skill in the professional realm, with the World Economic Forum’s forecasts predicting that by 2020, data analysis will be in high demand.
Why it is good for you personally: Every activity and choice we make is another data-point. If like many other people, you worry about the lack of leisure time in your life, tracking your daily schedule and its variations can help you find more efficient ways to commute to get some free time to catch up on reading or the latest TV shows.
Problem-solving skills
Why it is good for you professionally: Having the ability to find what is relevant and discard the irrelevant in performing a function helps streamline work processes. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report projects that 36% of all jobs across industries will require complex problem-solving abilities as a core skill by 2020.
Why it’s good for you personally: Our personal lives are full of different problems that we are often stumped by, especially when it comes to our relationships with people. Complex problem-solving skills can help you become the best organiser for vacations, events, parties, or even in organising a dinner with friends.
Writing skills
Why it is good for you professionally: The written word is the basic language in which business is conducted. With the massive volume of written communication being produced every day, having the ability to use the right word to convey the right meaning is critical to operating businesses
Why it is good for you personally: Much of how we communicate with friends and loved ones happen through the written word, sent through messages across various channels. Being able to write something compelling can be the difference between getting into your favourite college or not, due to application essays.
Critical thinking skills
Why it is good for you professionally: Companies are always on the lookout for candidates who understand the world around them. Disruptive startups have used critical thinking to disrupt the normal ways of doing business, and this is a in-demand skill today. Even in an automated and AI-reliant future, critical thinking can ensure that you remain relevant.
Why it is good for you personally: Critical thinking helps us be responsible citizens in a democracy. Our ability to hold our elected representatives responsible for their actions and understand their motivations more clearly requires us to be able to critically analyse what they say.
The author is Associate Professor and Faculty Dean at the Meghnad Desai Academy of Economics.
