Economics at Uni... is further maths required?

What makes you think Oxford doesn't teach proper Economics? Is your opinion formed on the basis that they don't offer a single honours Economics course?
And you missed out Economics and History btw

Indeed it is. Plus the lack of maths. Some would call it academic snobbery.

And oops.

No, what I meant is to take a jibe at Oxford, saying you don't need FM because they don't teach (proper) economics anyway.

oxford is oxford, whatever they teach must be gold because its like one of the top uni's in the whole world!!

IMO Maths is far too prevalent in some areas of Economics. You simply can't model human behaviour and psychology like that. But that's a whole other point I suppose.

oxford is oxford, whatever they teach must be gold because its like one of the top uni's in the whole world!!

Well, you can say a lot about theory guys. But still, it can be fun to model things.

IMO Maths is far too prevalent in certain areas of Economics. But that's a whole other point I suppose.

Whilst not getting into that argument, if you're not teaching the equations and fundamental maths behind these models you're not teaching students how to become and think like economists. An economist really should be confident on both levels, mathematically and with using words. That's why I can't take any E&M student serious, the degree will be rigorous and tough but it's not a good degree to further yourself as an economist.

And I don't think it academic snobbery, look at the majority of papers even for areas like development and you'll see they relying heavily on econometrics and general modelling.

The reason why Maths is so prevalent in Economics is because back in the day it looked extra impressive if you could model things based on mathematical functions.

I'm just saying the irrationality of human behaviour means that in certain areas of Economics the Maths is redundant.

And I don't think it academic snobbery, look at the majority of papers even for areas like development and you'll see they relying heavily on econometrics and general modelling.

Yes, I'm sure that was the reason...

I don't understand your point at all and that's probably because you have one. Can you explain specifically why you consider maths 'too prevalent' in economics? The simplistic models you're using at undergraduate level only touch the surface of what is used by economists. The whole idea behind it is to get you to start thinking like an economist. For some academics and theorists, the use of mathematics isn't to model real-life situations at all...it's a field within itself.

Explain. Give examples. Cheers.

You don't need Further Maths at all. I know several people going into it tha haven't done so. Of the one person who did F. Maths and is going for Economics, it actually worked as a hinderance as some universities didn't recognise F. Maths as a separate degree. My advice: do F. Maths at AS and then see from there.

Initially, Maths became so important and integral in Economics in order for the subject as a whole to gain scientific respectability and credibility. What I'm trying to say is that the prevalance of Mathematics in Economics may have led to some areas of Economics, say, behavioral Economics for example, becoming too focused on mathematical models that stand up well in theory but fall apart when applied to real life situations due to assumptions like everyone always behaves rationally and seeks to utility maximise.

You don't know what you're talking about.

To be fair, I haven't even started undergrad Econ yet so a lot of the stuff I'm saying is probably absolutely wrong. However, I'm still sticking to my point that in certain areas of Economics, mathematical modelling is used to the point of hilarity - Economics is not a science and some Economists seem to believe it is.

Initially, Maths became so important and integral in Economics in order for the subject as a whole to gain scientific respectability and credibility. What I'm trying to say is that the prevalance of Mathematics in Economics may have led to some areas of Economics, say, behavioral Economics for example, becoming too focused on mathematical models that stand up well in theory but fall apart when applied to real life situations due to assumptions like everyone always behaves rationally and seeks to utility maximise.

Psychology & Economics (aka Behavioural Economics) is a relatively new field of economics that tries to better incorporate psychological assumptions into formal economic modelling.

You don't know what you're talking about.

I haven't studied behavioural economics, but I do believe that behavioural economics is all about people not being rational. Models assumes rationality and behavioural is trying to find ways to model irrationality.



I don't think you know what behavioural economics is.