The point of departure for Economics is that we have limited resources available to us, and the subject deals with how we use – and should use – these resources. These questions permeate the current debate in society, and economists try to answer them through the use of models and different methods of analysis.

It is difficult to provide good analyses of complicated societal questions; economists therefore ask the "big" questions:

• why are some countries rich while others are poor?
• What happens to oil-rich countries?
• How can we organize the economy in order to achieve the best possible results?
• Should we adopt a global market economy?
• Should public services be put out to tender?
• Should we have an independent central bank?

Economists work with models and methods that are suited for analysing and providing answers to these questions. The models are simplifications of reality that often rely on mathematics to describe the relationships between the involved factors. The methods are based on statistics.

Programme profile

The five-year master programme in economics is a specialized programme of study, which gives a greater level insight than a bachelor/master combination within the same field. This programme gives you the opportunity to study international macro-economics, political economics, market economics, financial economics, public economics, environmental and resource economics, information economics, economic growth as well as mathematics and statistics for economic analysis. The programme is suited for students who want a higher-level education in economics with good career prospects, who are interested in societal affairs, and who aren't afraid of mathematics.

Career opportunities

We often see economists forming part of the inner circle around important policy makers in society. Examples include: Ministry of Finance, Norges Bank and Statistics Norway, and the skills of economists are also of interest in fields such as banking, insurance and industry. Due to the boom in IT-industry, and the increasing volume of data that this brings, economic analysis is evermore relevant. Economists also have necessary skills for analysis of this data, and this means that they will be even more in demand in the future.