The research done in business and economics tackles broad questions in the social sciences. Economics departments, business schools, and government agencies that do economics research aren't just hiring economists: their scholarly communities include policymakers, historians, computer scientists, sociologists, engineers, statisticians, psychologists, and others. It's a highly inclusive part of the social sciences, and is growing every day.
Economics can be defined in a few different ways. It’s the study of scarcity, the study of how people use resources and respond to incentives, or the study of decision-making. It often involves topics like wealth and finance, but it’s not all about money. Economics is a broad discipline that helps us understand historical trends, interpret today’s headlines, and make predictions about the coming years.
Economics and Business have multiple sub-fields. Here are some of the major ones, which are used to categorize research, as well as predoctoral postings.
Accounting is a means of communicating information about individuals or organizations. Accounting research includes the impact of accounting information on capital markets, the use of accounting information for contracting purposes, corporate disclosure practices, executive compensation, and taxation.
AccountingBehavioral Science explores the complex ways in which people make
decisions and interact with one another. Behavioral science research draws on
theory and methods from cognitive and social psychology, economics, and other
related fields.
Econometrics and Statistics provides the scientific tools to create
meaning from data in areas such as forecasting, analyzing demand and cost,
model building, analyzing big datasets, and testing empirical implications of
theories.
Economics studies the complex relations between households, firms, and
governments as they interact with each other in a world with scarce resources.
Economists use large datasets, analytical models, and econometric methods to explore such interactions, and guide policymakers.
Finance studies the financial interactions between households, firms,
and governments. There are three main subfields. Asset pricing, studies
the valuation and the fluctuations of finance assets. Corporate finance studies the capital structure and actions of corporations. Household finance studies the financial decisions of households.
The reality of business management requires solutions to complex
optimization problems and risk management of complex systems. MS/OM leverages
mathematics and computer methods to generate research that helps managers
develop better systems and make better decisions.
Research in marketing leverages psychology and behavioral science
and/or on quantitative methods and large datasets to study consumer
preferences; consumer demand and decision-making; the strategic interaction of
firms, pricing, promotion, targeting, product design/positioning; and channel
issues.
Organizational behavior uses research and methods from psychology and
sociology to study the interaction among people in complex organizations. The
research from organizational behavior informs managers about the best practices
to optimize people organization inside their firms.
