Course details

Summary

Become a leader of the future

Succeed as a professional in the private for-profit, not-for-profit or public sector with a Massey BA (Economics).

What is it Like?

Get skills for your personal and professional development

There's much more to economics than you might think. With a BA (Economics) at Massey, you will look at how businesses decide what to produce and how many people to employ, investigate how people decide what to consume, and learn about big-picture world economics. Economics is concerned with how to allocate scarce resources to competing ends, and you will get a good understanding of the implications of the choices made.

A BA (Economics) degree from Massey will help you in your own decision-making and in better understanding developments in the economy and society in general. It offers ways of thinking about the world that let you make the best of what you have, and improve on it.

Take a flexible approach to your degree

Massey's BA (Economics) gives you flexibility in the subjects you study. You will gain a strong grounding in the core elements of micro- and macro-economics. You will build on this by choosing from a selection of other subjects (electives), including quantitative methods, international economics, international trade in agri-food products, natural resource and environmental economics, land economics and development economics.

Be sought-after by employers

Massey's economics programme has been acknowledged by employers for its quality and content. When you complete your degree, you can join our graduates with jobs in prestigious organizations in New Zealand and around the world. Our graduates are sought-after by major public and private sector employers.

Careers

The skills and knowledge of trained economists are highly sought-after by the public and private sector, large and small firms, large international agencies, schools and universities, economic policy-makers and social organizations.

You might work as any of the following:

• Agricultural economist
• Business analyst
• Economic consultant
• Energy research officer
• Environmental economist
• Health economist
• International economist
• Microeconomics analyst

Treasury, the Reserve Bank and the World Bank all recruit economics graduates. But your BA (Economics) can also be the gateway to employment in many other areas, such as management, planning, politics, education, finance and banking, journalism or the media. You can design your economics major to meet your own interests and career objectives.

Bachelor of Arts (Economics) structure

You will begin your major in economics with two 100-level courses: ‘Economics’ and ‘Principles of Macroeconomics’. Both these courses are compulsory. Supporting courses in mathematics or statistics are also useful in your first year.

You then move to the 200-level courses by studying ‘Intermediate Macroeconomics’ and ‘Intermediate Microeconomics’. You can structure the rest of your major around your particular interests, whether it’s international trade, resource and environmental economics, financial economics, or public policy.

A major consists of 135 credits in Economics. If you do not have NCEA Level 3 or equivalent in Mathematics with Calculus you are advised to include in your degree 160.103 Methods of Mathematics.

Entry criteria

Students must have successful completion of a qualification equivalent to the New Zealand Year 13 - NCEA Level 3 University Entrance.

English Language Requirements:

• IELTS score of 6.0 (no band less than 5.5)
• TOEFL iBT score of 80 overall (min 19 in Writing)
• PTE Academic score of 50 Overall (min 42 in communicative skills)
• Cambridge English score of 170