Econ Major Rising in Popularity

From Tyler Cowen:

The number of smart kids studying computer science peaked a few years ago and has dropped dramatically since. The number of new computer science majors today has fallen by half since 2000, according to the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. Merrilea Mayo, director of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable at the National Academies, says the drop-off was particularly pronounced among women.

Meanwhile, elite schools are reporting that the number of economics majors is exploding. For the 2003–2004 academic year, the number of economics degrees granted by U.S. colleges and universities increased 40 percent from five years previously. Economics is seen by bright undergraduates as the path to a high-paying job on Wall Street or at a major corporation.

The drop in computer science majors is a bit troubling. Those are the kids who come up with things like Microsoft, Facebook, and even Grand Theft Auto. There's a popular assumption that in the future making big money will largely entail moving money (as opposed to making a product or providing some non-financial service). While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it does raise questions about who will be the ones making the technical and engineering advances in the scientific field that will continue to propel mankind forward for the foreseeable future.