Generic Vs Specialised Postgraduate degree

[DjenBarba]

Does doing a specialised MSc narrow job choices after?

For example studying a niche area of undergraduate subject that you were really passionate about?

Would really need more info to advise further

Masters degrees imo are all about specialising. However, unlike UG degrees, I'm not sure I'd do a Masters unless it was related to a specific career I was aiming for.

DC is finishing off a BSc in economics. I'm asking about would say a master's specifically in health economics or environmental economics etc limit their future options.

Like @titchy says, doing a master's should be about aiming for a specific career (unless you have the spare cash to pursue it as a hobby)

Ideally your DC should by know have narrowed down their options regarding this.

Would the master's even be required?

We are fortunate that money is not an issue. DC loves their subject and wants to pursue it more.

If it's for the love of the subject, then study whatever appeals most.

I don't think your DC will be disadvantaged in the job market for it, but I wouldn't necessarily expect any advantages either.

Life is fulfilling when one specializes in what they love; no money spent on acquiring the ability to earn money doing what one loves is wasted.

When one studies and then works in the field they love and are intensely interested or good at, being paid feels like icing on the cake.

For over 50 years of my life I have been able to work and study in several areas that I just loved. Every paycheck I think: "I can't believe I am getting paid so much for doing this!!".

Ok. Thanks for this advise. I will advise DC to pursue the course they feel they'd enjoy the most. I was asking if there'd be any difference if they'd did a master's in a specific field of economics Vs just a general "MSc in Economics"

@DjenBarba Do they have to think of “what next? In terms of a job? Can they do what they want and not worry about work? Very lucky if they can. I would want my DC to think about jobs and earnings as well as enjoying themselves. I know people who have done the latter but are still renting after many years. Depends what you can subsidise I think.

Given his UG I’d General and not specialised, I don’t think it will matter unless he’ll want to apply to something specialist. For example, if he wants apply to an environmental consultancy a degree in environmental economics might confer some advantage but given interactions between health and environment, even health economics might work. If he wants to apply to a healthcare consultancy like Candesic, for example, he’d need health economics. For anything general like graduate schemes, law, general consulting, banking etc it doesn’t matter. If anything, I would use master’s to upgrade uni.

If interested in health economics be worth seeing if the OHE offers this again... www.city.ac.uk/prospective-students/finance/funding/ohe-fellowship#:~:text=The%20Office%20of%20Health%20Economics,of%20Economics%20at%20City%20%2C%20University

My DC absolutely loves environmental economics and goes to extra talks and lectures about it. They ideally want to work in decarbonisation and on a net-zero transition. They are also very much interested in the clean air benefits from the environment.

@DjenBarba Maybe look at engineering or science ? That’s where solutions lie. Economics is different and somewhat niche in this field. Follow his dreams though.

Sorry for the delayed reply. But the UG is in Economics so very unlikely to get accepted for an engineering or science masters?

I think if they love a particular field of economics and want to work in that then the specialist Masters would be better than the general one but depends where they want to work how much advantage it would give ranging from none (and a year's less experience) to being essential.

I would look at the roles you can do with both health economics and environmental economics. I have mostly worked as an economist but don't specialise in either of those fields - Health economics is relatively new and I would guess (though research this or someone else may know better) that the jobs are likely to be in the public sector seeing things like if drugs are value for money or in pharmaceutical companies being used as evidence to support sales. Environmental, personally I would find the more preferable of the two and more interesting. There are jobs with economic consultancies here on environmental economics and also civil service roles concerning the environment as well as overseas development roles which involve the environment (policy, budget etc) and roles for organisations such as the World Bank. World Bank and international roles often involve time abroad and World Bank would require a Masters, international development roles more widely tend to be very competitive and having a Masters could help. There are also jobs in banking concerning environmental investments.

If they later decide environmental economics is not for them and want a general economics role the specialist Masters would be fine but may not give any advantage over a BSc/BA. I would say a specialist Masters might be preferable to a general one as economist roles tend to be specialist and look for expertise / research.

Hi. I am an economist with postgrad degrees and I work in economics. My advice would be to do a good MsC in general economics.

Economics training is about learning the models, techniques and concepts that then can be applied to any field you choose. For example, game theory can be applied to health economics (asymmetry of information games). I personally think that the less applied an MsC in Economics is, the better. Application is then part of your professional development. It is much harder to then catch up in theories and techniques post-MsC. Also, it is common to change one's mind about which field one would like to work in.

I think if they know what roles they would be aiming at to look at job adverts and see what they are asking for - some in health economics ask for a Masters in health economics like this one https://economistjobs.com/job/senior-health-economist-25. The environmental roles do seem to be requesting more just general economics degrees but I can't see why an environmental economics Masters would be an issue for an environmental economics job. Where I have worked there has always been flexibility and number of degrees and contents are just one aspect of what is looked at so you have people doing similar roles with similar pay with BA Economics through to people with 4 different degrees. I just have the BA Economics but my predecessor had 4 different degrees. The advert says Masters but there's often flexibility especially later on when experience and skills counts for more. It will vary by employer though. Its also worth checking out graduate destinations and salaries though I would prefer an interesting job to a higher salary. The LSE Economics at BSc level the earnings 15 months after graduation are £9,000 higher than the earnings after the environment economics Masters according to the LSE website.

For the international environmental roles, if with the World Bank or similar these are incredibly competitive and getting knowledge about another relevant industry / subject would help. The person I know who works for them has 4 degrees and started off in banking, which may seem not an obvious link, but finance is crucial for these economies. The other issue could be is are there sufficient jobs in either speciality to stay in it longer term, its possible but economists do move between sectors and public and private sectors. I would go for what they enjoy most bearing in mind what the jobs are likely to be as well.

Having spoken to my DC they are excited by environmental economics the most and don't feel particularly keen studying pure microeconomics and macroeconomics again at the masters level.