Economics is the study of how people behave. Every day, people and society are confronted by choices. Should you go to university or start a career? What should you do with your next dollar? Should the government raise the minimum wage, or not? How do we address the big issues in the world such as poverty and climate change? Choices involve trade-offs where we are choosing between two things. The outcomes of choices have both costs and benefits to consider. Economics is the study of how people and societies make such decisions in the production, exchange, distribution and consumption of goods and services.

Graduates in Economics find employment in many areas of government and business, where it is recognised that an economist's education provides valuable specialist training for a professional career as well as good general preparation and background for an executive, entrepreneurial or administrative career. The increasingly large volume of information available to decision makers has created a demand for people with well-developed quantitative analysis skills, such as those developed in econometrics. Professional economists are employed to conduct research and give advice on economic matters in various organisations such as government ministries and state-owned enterprises (eg, Treasury, Health, Social Development, Agriculture and Forestry, and Foreign Affairs and Trade). Graduates also find work in marketing organisations, the Reserve Bank, Statistics New Zealand, trading and merchant banks, stockbroking, insurance, trade commissions, local authorities, market research and other consultancies, and large businesses.