Data Science and Economics - BAEcon

University of Manchester

During the BA (Econ) in Economics and Data Analytics course, you will learn the traditional curriculum in economics, but also learn how to translate these theories into empirical questions that can be studied using real-life data.

Specifically, you learn data analytic and data science techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of economic policy, understand economic behaviour, predict and classify economic phenomena and describe and analyse networks of relationships between economic agents, firms, institutions and society.

By completing the core and optional units, you gain general sought after skills, including:


- how to collect, describe and visualise data


- how to build quantitative models to explain phenomena


- how to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of policies


- how to map and analyse complex social networks


- how to implement key machine learning algorithms


- how to implement data analytic techniques and data science algorithms using statistical software including R, as well as proprietary packages such as SPSS.


The pathway emphasises the application of modern data analytic methods to real-life problems. You will also learn some of the underlying theory, enabling you to progress further in your career to more advanced postgraduate courses in either Economics or Data Science and to more challenging scenarios in policy and industry.

School of Social Sciences