The study of economics helps one understand the issues and provides the tools to analyze events and their impact. Economics provides a "broad intellectual training" and sits "halfway between science and humanitites, so you get the best of both ways of thinking about the world," according to Andrew Oswald and Claire Oswald (Ticket to the top, Guardian, May 28, 2002).
Students majoring in economics or financial economics develop strong analytical and quanitative reasoning skills that enable them to not only solve problems but also identify with appropriate questions to ask in evaluating the alternatives that exist. This economic way of thinking helps individuals on a daily basis with the decisions they face and allows them to address issues in a wide variety of areas including finance, business, law, public policy, and international trade and development. Since every decision involves a trade-off, economics analyzes how individuals or families, businesses, and governments allocate scarce resources to competing alternatives and the impact of those decisions.