Program overview
Theoretical economics may sound a bit "highbrow," but it's actually like the "inner strength" of economics—it doesn't teach you specific stock trading or marketing tricks, but helps you build a systematic way of thinking to analyze economic phenomena. You'll study core courses like microeconomics, macroeconomics, history of economic thought, and political economy, and you'll also use math and statistical tools to build models. In Chinese universities, theoretical economics places special emphasis on the integration of Marxist political economy with China's economic reforms—for example, Renmin University and Fudan University have strong research teams in this area. If you love asking "why"—why does inflation happen? Why are some countries rich and others poor?—and don't mind reading academic papers and doing mathematical derivations, this major is a great fit for you.