Economics

Economics

Admissions overview for Downing College  

Why study Economics at Cambridge?

Economics is a wide-ranging discipline with practical relevance, offering a broad range of career opportunities. At its heart, it is the study of how individuals, businesses, and societies allocate scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants and needs. It provides a framework for understanding and analysing economic phenomena such as production, consumption, trade, and market behaviour. Economics also includes the study of strategic interactions and decision-making, financial analysis, policy evaluation and econometrics (the statistical branch of economics which tests theory, evaluates policy and forecasts the economy). 

Studying Economics equips students with critical thinking, problem-solving, analytical, quantitative and empirical skills. By studying Economics, students learn to rigorously analyse real-world data, evaluate policies, and understand the drivers of economic outcomes.

These skills are unsurprisingly sought after by employers and an Economics degree can lead to a broad range of career options. Recent Downing graduates in Economics have secured positions in premier graduate schemes in banking, consulting and professional services. Beyond the private sector, recent Downing graduates have gone onto work in policy-making and central banking or to further study at world-leading universities both in the UK and abroad. 

All teaching for the subject follows the course outline set by the Faculty. Find out more about the course via the Faculty website.

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Why study Economics at Downing?

With about 15 students in total, Downing provides a perfectly sized and supportive community for students in Economics. There is a strong culture of students working with and supporting each other both within year groups and across the year groups. This culture is underpinned by the Mathias Economics Society, the College’s society for Economics and Land Economy, which arranges academic talks, subject-specific events such as revision workshops, and social events. The Mathias Society also organises alumni networking events, the highlight being the annual dinner, and facilitates the connection of current students with recent graduates for informal careers advice and mentoring.

The College’s Director of Studies in Economics is Dr Michael Ashby, College Associate Professor in Economics. Michael’s research interests include empirical finance (especially empirical asset pricing and portfolio construction) and time-series econometrics (especially forecasting). His teaching spans finance, macroeconomics and econometrics. Supervisions in other topics are arranged at other Colleges on an exchange basis, as is standard for all Cambridge colleges in Economics.

"Downing is a special place to teach Economics. The students are almost uniquely supportive of each other and that makes for productive and engaging interactions in the classroom. Economics as a subject is very rewarding to teach. It is a quantitative subject, so you get the satisfaction of seeing students get to grips with a problem or concept they were initially struggling with, but it is also a practical subject and students can see the connection to the wider world."

Dr Michael Ashby, Director of Studies

The best students in Economics have the quantitative skills to solve the theoretical models covered in the course, but also the ability to step back and explain what is going on in the model intuitively and connect it to the real economy. Therefore students need to have a good mathematical ability as well as strong reasoning skills to provide the intuition. 

We are not looking for candidates who are the “finished product” at the admissions stage – we will help students develop their knowledge and skills when they are here. We are instead looking for potential in these attributes.

In common with other subjects, the Cambridge Economics course is rigorous. Students will therefore also need a curiosity about economic phenomena, a strong desire to learn more, and the motivation to work hard at the subject.

Due to the quantitative nature of the course, A-Level/IB Higher Level Maths is required. IB candidates should take the Analysis and Approaches option. If it is not available at your school, please contact the Admissions Office for further guidance. 

For A-Level candidates, Further Maths is preferred, either as an AS Level or full A-Level, but not required. If you are unable to take Further Maths for any reason, for example - it is not available at your school, due to a timetable clash or it was too late to change your options by the time you realised Further Maths would be useful  because, please indicate this on the My Cambridge Application form. Candidates who were unable to take Further Maths will not be disadvantaged. While Further Maths is useful preperation for an Economics degree, relevant concepts from Further Maths are taught on the course, and not just assumed as prior knowledge.

Prior study in Economics (e.g. A-Level) is not required. The way Economics is taught at University is rather different to how it is taught at school and all Economics content will be taught from scratch.

For further courses and qualifications, please see Information for Current Students.

The TMUA is administered by UAT-UK. Resources to help you prepare can be found on the TMUA website.

At present, candidates invited to interview receive one interview, which is with the Director of Studies and one other person from the Faculty of Economics. The interview is intended to inform us of your motivation and your overall ability and potential as an Economics student.  

What Economics students have studied 

According to the University, most Economics students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) had studied:

• Economics (93%)
• Further Mathematics (93%)
• or both (90%)

How can you find out more about Economics?

The best way to gain an understanding of how Economics is taught at University is to visit the HE+ subject page and work through the subject resources there. The reading list for incoming first-year students will also give you a good insight into the course. Otherwise, explore your interest in Economics as you want to – you can look at the press (e.g. the Economist), blogs or online courses run by other universities. If you are looking at online courses at other universities, it is best to focus on introductory courses aimed at those who have not previously studied Economics at university.