minor
I like it. I have been in the profession for 19 years. I am on the property/casualty side of the profession. There have been a lot more opportunities to do interesting work in the last 7 years due to advances in statistical modeling software and an increasing emphasis on modeling. I have specialized in statistical modeling since 2006. Before that, I did routine stuff like rate filings.
The biggest downside is taking exams. I finished ACAS (associate) in 5 years and stopped taking exams. A lot of people will tell you not to do that but the difference in pay between fellows and associates is small and diminishes with experience.
I agree. I would add that the abuse of mathematics in mainstream economics can be offensive to mathematical purists.
I majored in math in college, currently about to enter grad school for mathematical logic/reverse mathematics.
I agree with many posts above - mainstream economists use pseudo-mathematical calculations, while Austrian economics is mathematical reasoning.
Someone’s been reading a wee bit too much Lang.
Computer engineering with a minor in mathematics.
Clayton -
+1
“Mathematical economics” is all show and no go. It’s designed to wow the math-handicapped public but, mathematically speaking, it is the most pedestrian form of arithmetization and blind quantification, it is not mathematics per se. Euler’s equation, Lucas numbers, the Riemann zeta function, group theory… these are mathematics.
Clayton -
Currently, a 2nd year math major. My favorite mathematician has to be Von Neumann, and he’s done some stuff in mathematical economics. Not sure what to think of that.
John von Neumann was definitely brilliant… you should also look into Alan Turing who worked in a lot of similar areas. He was basically the intellectual godfather of modern computation. Despite serving the Allied governments in WWII as a code-breaker, he was later destroyed by the British governent for his homosexuality and driven to suicide. Just goes to show the true nature of the State - it turns against even its most outsanding benefactors on a whim and destroys them whenever that suits its present purposes. Government - all government without exception - is dehumanizing and grotesque.
Clayton -
MA in math, main interest logic.
Von Neumann did mathematical economics? Hey, nobody’s perfect [=good mathematician, bad economist].