Plan your career: Development Economics soars with population growth

I have completed my Class 12. I am interested in Economics. I would like to make a career as a Developmental Economist someday. I have already applied for BA Economics and B.com Commerce in a couple of colleges. I would like to more comprehensively informed about Development Economics. (Shristi Jain)

You have rightly applied for BA Economics. It is better to pursue economics than commerce if you are aspiring to be a Developmental Economist. 

Economics, without a doubt, is the most important subject to run households to countries. Economics is so vast to draw boundaries. More so, after the structural adjustment policy was introduced in the 1990s and globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation started to create one world economy. 

Economics incorporates itself in various domains that include Social Science, Psychology, Mathematics, Philosophy, etc. Hence, Economics is considered an all-time subject and its dynamics are pervasive and universal. Hence, it occupies one of the top positions in the job market. 

Traditionally micro and macro are the two broadly recognised disciplines of economics. But today there are scores of branches of Economics given the importance and detail on which the subject operates. 

It deals with conventional topics like monetary, labour, welfare, international trade, managerial, regional economics, industrial and public finance. In the last few decades, fields like Behavioural, Green, Developmental, Entrepreneurial, Informational, Institutional, Feminist, Environmental Economics have become subject specialisation. Development Economics is an economic analysis that helps to define primary concern of our era namely, poverty and inequality. It deals with success and failures in the economies of the world about global, regional, local market and trade. 

For example, the developmental economists at the world arena are concerned about how China and India, both the most populous countries have made 

progress and not sub-Saharan Africa. It becomes a grave concern of local economists to study the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. 

The concerns include: The development in relation to population growth. Whether it helps or hinders? What route should the economies take in their structural transformation? The role of education and health care in development. Achieving sustainable development, particularly the less-developed countries like India. The effects of epidemics on economic and human development. 

All the specialisations take place at the Masters’ level. There are a few universities and several colleges that offer MA 

Developmental Economics. They engage students in micro, macro and quantitative methods of growth. The South Asian University set up by SAARC countries in New Delhi is a prestigious address to pursue Developmental Economies. 

The students apply principles of economic analysis to economic policy. Though there are numerous fields for economists to work, the developmental economists get employment with ministries, national and international developmental agencies like United Nations, World Trade Organisation, Non-Governmental Organisations and some private sectors. 

Teaching is also a great option once you clear UGC-NET and other fields like Journalism, Research and Social Development sectors, Freelance Academic Writer and Content Developer and Economic Officer are other options.  

As a fresher, you should continually apply yourself to become an economist by reading widely to synthesise information from diverse sources, listening to queries of all types and from all people on the subject and understand mathematics from calculus to algebra.