THE BRIGHTEST MINDS DO NOT JOIN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES,AND HENCE THERE IS A DEARTH OF THEM IN PLANNING AND POLICY MAKING. EDUCATION TIMES STARTS A NEW COLUMN IN CAREERS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES TO DRAW ATTENTION TO OPPORTUNITIES IN THESE FIELDS

WHAT IS ECONOMICS?

Economics is a branch of knowledge that deals with meeting the unlimited wants with finite resources. The discipline equips a person to analyse production, distribution, exchange and consumption of goods and services. It is a game of intellectual challenge.

An economist is thus equipped with the logical and analytical tools throughout the training period as a student and a practitioner. The logical tools are sharpened both in the deductive and inductive methods of logic.

DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE LOGIC

Deductive logic is arriving at a decision from the aggregate observations, whereas, inductive logic provides tool to infer on the basis of small to infer about the aggregate. These are essentially the tools used in any of the inferential decision making process.

MANY FIELDS

Economists learn micro and macroanalysis to understand the behaviour of the economic parameters. Modern Economics takes within its expanse a broad spectrum of other academic fields like geography, mathematics, accountancy, environmental studies and political sciences. These are applied in various fields that include agriculture, industry, public finance, energy, home, infrastructure, environment and almost all branches of human and societal activity.     In each of the branches, the tools of analysis are similar and only the variables change; but along with that, the theorems and the theoretical understanding also changes. That has enriched the students and practitioners of economics.

JOB SCOPE

Given this expertise, trained economists fit many a job description. Essentially, these persons could be good in any decision making process, analysing the issues confronting society and providing policy leads. Therefore, the first preference among the various vocations for economists is to get into planning, decision making and management as a profession. Management schools are important places for economics graduates and with a good training in economics, these graduates have proved excellent managers of industry the world over. As an important decision maker in any institutional framework like the government and other places, economists prove better as they possess the basic skill in decision making of matching resources with optimal efficiency. Economics graduates therefore should attempt competitive examinations and get into the decision making process like in the State (KAS etc) and Central services (IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, IES etc). The Indian Economic Services (IES) gives an excellent option to those who want to join government service. Officers are recruited through examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. The examination is held in the month of September every year. The    announcement for the same is made in the month of March of the same year. The written examination has papers in English, General Studies, General Economics and Indian Economics. The written examination is followed by an interview. We find a large number of administrators who are either trained economists or they opt for such training during the course of service so that they are equipped for the profession. Secondly, financial institutions (banks, insurance, financial investment companies etc), where again it is the training in optimal utilisation of resources which equips them well in handling issues pertaining to finance and money. There is a large and increasing demand for trained manpower in this field. Thirdly, an economist can be a very good analyst as the analytical tools are sharp with the training. In many a field where analytical acumen is needed and such inclination is required, economists could meet the demand. Market research is one such area which is developing very fast, with the demand for trained manpower ever increasing. Fourth, in the academic field where teaching and research is concerned, the services of economists could be utilised effectively. Fifth, in the software industry where the packages are prepared for many a use, the demand for economists is increasing, provided they have some background in understanding the required field. There are packages which help in projection of demand, forecasting of various important indicators and these need the acumen of an economist. There is a strong demand for trained persons in this field.

INSTITUTES:

The institutes that offer good training in economics are: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai; Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore; Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune; Delhi School of Economics, Delhi; Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Presidency College Kolkata; Many Universities such as Mysore, Karnatak, Bangalore universities in Karnataka; Mumbai, Kolkata, Madras, Hyderabad, Osmania and many others. Finally, I must add that each one of us is an economist, as we experiment with many a theorem of economics in our everyday life. Each one of these decisions is an exercise in optimisation. It is difficult to say where economic decision making begins and where it ends and therefore the best career can also be chosen only by a well trained economist (either trained in the school or self trained). It is said that the best managers of the Indian corporate sector did not undergo any training in the schools, but acquired economic acumen and management skills with their efforts. In their own right, they were well trained economists and therefore industry icons.

(Prof RS Deshpande is director, Institute for Social    and Economic Change, Bangalore)