Hey everyone.

I'm 14 and I've already done all my Gcse's (As/A*s- but a B in french :( )

As great as this seems I've already got to start choosing my career path, all my friends have another 2-4 yrs but i pretty much have to decide now.

I was thinking about basing my options around the idea of becoming an economist, (specialising in macroeconomics) but I really don't want to make an uninformed life decision, I know it wouldn't be a stone set choice but i just don't want to go through the process of changing careers much in later life.

Anyway I've done some research but I can't really find out what an economist say working at the chamber of commerce or the bank of England really gets up to. I was wondering if anyone could give me a decent answer or even better if someone her was somehow in a economics related job and give me a quick oversight.

thanks for any info you provide me with :)

GCSE's? whats that?

General Certificate of Secondary Education - UK qualification.

oh...thanks Oli

working at the chamber of commerce or the bank of England really gets up to

He will get up to 25 years if he is caught embezzling! :D

lol cosmic traveler - but seriously does anyone have a reasonably detailed description of what your bog standard economist will get up to?

Can't you just call them and ask, or Email them ?

You got the bank of englands email lol?

http://www.jobsatthebank.co.uk/

"Professional" economists (as opposed to academic ones) spend their time creating models and forecasting future economic trends. To be honest, given the success they have (I too have a degree in economics, so I criticize myself with this), they are often as not simply wasting their time.

In government positions they have things a little easier since the projections they are asked to produce are often in response to some proposed change in laws. (For example, if we reduce the capital gains tax rate 3%, how much tax revenue will we expect to lose over the next decade as a result?) That more "targeted" inquiry is usually much easier than the economists in the private sector have to deal with.

In the private sector, I'd have to say that mostly it's a marketing position. Who is going to invest with a investment bank or hedge fund who's management truthfully says "We have no idea what the economy will be like next year." So everyone hires economists who make complicated predictions, so that investors can be told what the experts believe. The shorter the time frame involved, the more likely their predictions will hold up, within certain limits, but if you get well beyond a year....they're just making an educated guess.

Those economists also get to do some of the more targeted stuff, though their "answers" are more constrained. They are sometimes (subtly and not-so-subtly) pressured to reach conclusions that their employers like, and if they can't do that, the their employer finds a new economist who will. (As I said, it's more of a marketing tool for their employers.)

(I'm focusing on macroecon here...microeconomists working for banks and funds tend to spend a lot of time developing pricing models and figuring out what different companies or assets are worth. In that case, employers tend to demand accuracy over the preferred solution--though not always.)

Academic economists are paid terribly (as are most professors), but have great intellectual freedom to explore topics that interest them and reach any conclusions they please.

It bears mentioning that most people who get economics degrees don't actually end up working as economists. You're much more likely to end up in accounting, finance, management or something like that.

Or at least that's how it is in the states... perhaps it's different on the other side of the pond where specific accountancy diplomas are available...

ha i'm not becoming an accountant - cool everyone thanks for the info. Ive ordered a few cheap books of amazon mainly about , Monetary theory, Macroeconomics and "an introduction to the world of economics" all used so only pricing about 9 quid/$18

I think economics is what I am going to aim for now. I'm doing the international Bachaloreat instead of A levels and im gonna be based around Economics History Maths and Statistics, of course there are all the other minor options i choose but they don't really matter. I think I'd rather work somewhere in the civil service - great pensions, good holidays, good promotion prospects AND a starting wage of £24k/$49k