Undergraduate Programme in Economics

Yes, your degree will display the major and the minor you’ve completed.

Economics and Finance requires 19 courses – it is an academically demanding major and will take up a large portion of your time at Ashoka. Three years at Ashoka give you space for 29 courses (excluding co-curriculars), of which (19 + 9 FCs) 28 slots will be accounted for. The pure Economics major requires 15 courses. With FCs, 24 out of 29 courses are accounted for. Beyond that, extra courses will need to be accommodated in summer semesters (a maximum of 2 courses per summer sem) and in the fourth year. In order to complete Eco-Fin and one (or two) minors or concentrations will need careful planning depending on the requirements of all the departments and will definitely require you to take summer semesters and a possible fourth year. The fourth year, without the Advanced Major, also allows a maximum of 22 credits per semester – this will amount to 5 4-credit courses per semester and a co-curricular/TAship/2-credit course. For help planning out your schedules, feel free to reach out to the relevant student reps.

Most mandatory courses are only offered in certain semesters and must be taken in a sequential order. Hence one might need to take 2 courses in one semester to finish a minor.

The courses for the major and minor are the same, and are taken by the same Professor. There is no difference in the content, only the number of courses.

A minor consists of 6 courses, while a concentration consists of 4 courses. Which one you prefer depends on the depth you’re looking to achieve in any field – it’s a personal preference. There is no limit to the number of minors/concentrations you can complete, but the demands of the Eco-Fin major are rigorous and it will likely be difficult to find space in your schedule to accommodate more than one minor/concentration.

Completing a minor, along with the Economics major, is possible in three years. Summer semesters will likely be required in order to accommodate all courses.

Yes, you can. The course requirements of both your subjects will help you plan out your schedule for the three years. It is advisable to start thinking about a minor early on in order to accommodate all courses, given the sequential nature of the Economics program.

It is not possible to do a thesis with a minor. You may be able to do an ISM, given that you can find a professor to advise you.

The choice between a summer semester and an internship is completely dependent on your interests. The balance between work experience and additional coursework will depend on what your future plans are.

Foundational courses offered by the Economics department are typically not math intensive. They do not require students to have taken Maths at a higher secondary school level.

Two co-curricular courses do not come under the Economics program, but are a part of the university’s degree requirements. To graduate with a UG degree in three years, a minimum of two co-curriculars need to be completed.

Yes, math in 11th and 12th is required for any program in Economics.

The specific programming language covered will depend on the faculty. There is an emphasis on STATA in the Econometrics course. R may be taught by some professors. A few elective courses introduce you to MATLAB and the software zTRee as well.

The department has a flexible course cap policy which can be changed on the basis of the number of registered students, thus ensuring that every interested student is accommodated. Even if the course cap is reached, if there is a student who needs to do a particular course in order to meet their graduation requirements, they will be manually added to the class. We request you to get in touch with the OAA and the HoD in this regard.

Maths for Economics is a specialised course that deals specifically with the mathematical concepts required for Economists. While taking this course would ensure that you are up to date with all the math that one might need for an Economics major, one may also choose to take more general calculus/linear algebra courses offered by the Maths department if one feels it might be beneficial.

Course caps depend on the course type, the Professor offering that course, and the number of interested students taking that particular course. Introductory level courses typically have a higher cap than electives. However, all course caps are flexible.

The course limit for a semester is 5 courses + a co-curricular (6 in total). Economics at Ashoka is an academically intensive course and most students do end up taking 5 courses along with one co-curricular course in at least one semester during their program. It is recommended that you finish your co-curriculars early so that you can devote time to academics in your third year.

The Economics major is one of the more rigorous programs offered at Ashoka. One of the reasons for that is that it has 15 required courses, versus the standard 12. It might require you to take 5 courses in multiple semesters, which can be academically challenging. But connecting with your professors and forming study groups with classmates can make the load much easier to handle.

Students having completed certain calculus courses from the Math department may be allowed to substitute them for Maths for Economics. Similarly, doing MAT201: Probability and Statistics and MAT311: Statistical Inference substitutes for Statistics for Economics. However before taking any of these courses, it is necessary to inform and seek permission from the HoD.

No, a PPE with a specialisation in Economics and a pure Economics degree are fundamentally different and may not receive equal weightage.

Different PPE tracks have different numbers of courses. A PPE major must do a minimum of 4 courses in each of the disciplines i.e. politics, philosophy and economics, and can do a maximum of 8 in any one discipline. From the perspective of the Economics department, students may choose to do 4, 5, 6, 7 or 8 courses in Economics depending upon their interests. Depending on which track you choose, the courses may be more theory-intensive or quantitative.

Students may and do choose to take a summer or semester abroad in a variety of universities across the world. Given the rigid structure of the program, the courses to be taken abroad will need to be in sync with the ones required by the department. Before planning, it is necessary to get a clearance from the department (UG coordinator and HOD) with the course description and other relevant information of the intended course.

An Economics major can find employment in a wide variety of fields, including but not limited to research, consultancy, NGO work, policy, banking etc.

The core courses (9 in total) are mandatory and 8 of them are required to be completed in the first two years. The 9th core course, Development Economics, and the 6 Elective courses are to be taken in the third year. The core courses lay a foundation for the study of Economics, while the electives deep-dive into specific areas of research in the field.

On the basis of one’s interests and the availability of the course. It is recommended, at an undergraduate level, to have a mix of Micro and Macro based elective courses instead of specialising in one subfield.

Yes, some Economics courses are cross-listed with Environment Studies. Courses offered by other departments may also be cross-listed with Economics in the future. Please refer to the course list shared by your student representatives for more details on the same.

You can take a maximum of two cross-listed courses.

It is not mandatory for prospective economics majors at Ashoka to take Calculus in their first semester. The department does not have a policy on the course and does not make any formal recommendations. However, if students feel that the course will be beneficial to them outside of the Eco/Fin program at Ashoka, they are welcome to take it. The recommended/required undergraduate courses for a Master’s in Economics differ by university.