In my opinion business economics is a field in economics. The definitions of these two terms confirm what has been said before

Definition of Business Economics

Business economics is the study of the financial issues and challenges faced by corporations. Business economics is a field in economics that deals with issues such as business organization, management, expansion and strategy. Studies might include how and why corporations expand, the impact of entrepreneurs, the interactions between corporations and the role of governments in regulation.

Definition of Economics

Economics is a social science that studies how individuals, governments, firms and nations make choices on allocating scarce resources to satisfy their unlimited needs. Economics can generally be broken down into: macroeconomics, which concentrates on the behavior of the aggregate economy; and microeconomics, which focuses on individual consumers.

On the basis of the above definitions, an economist with a degree in Economics should has a wider preparation on how individuals, governments, firms and nations make choices on allocating scarce resources to satisfy their unlimited needs (macroeconomics), while an economist with a degree in Business Economics, has a deep preparation in economics and financial issues and challenges faced by corporations (microeconomics). However, it is important to stress that both economist after an adequate additional preparation could work either in the microeconomics or macroeconomics fields.

The type of courses associates to the preparation of these types of economists are different due to the content of these courses.

Degree in Economics is more economic and fundamental than degree in Business Economics, Degree in Economics also to be an economist ... its just my opinion

It depends on what sort of research you plan to do. As far as hiring is concerned, it may depend on what sort of specialty in research the university or other institution wants.

The Economic degree focuses on Economics courses whereas the Business Economics degree either include several business courses and/or has business integrated into its Economics courses.

A degree in Business Economics means one does not read only economics courses (alone as in a degree in economics) but add business related courses like human relations, accounting, business strategy and policy among others.

To me economics is the whole while business economics is the part. Economics studies include the economic theories at both the macro and micro levels. economic studies have the generality nature, that is economics studies include a range of courses like, monetary economics, public finance, educational economics, agricultural economics,..........

Business economics is more specialized, its main concern is those theories that deal with the business sector. Business economics courses may include but not limited to managerial economics, industrial economics, corporate finance and accounting,....

Thank you all,

I agree with most of the answers regarding the difference. However, I don't think that Business Economics is less directed toward research than Economics. Any opinions?

I agree with you. I think any courses can be directed to any research. Perhaps it's just because nowadays business is stigmatized as a study of managerial stuffs in which you can only find the formula through a practically applied activities rather than the theory. Or it is because not many people having an interest to do research in business, so it would be nicely captured to think that economics is more directed toward research, because most of them doing research.

Business Economics is a part of Economics and if you consider Economics as total element then BE is a part of that totality. Economics can be also applied to other fields.

Business economics has to do with Micro Economics.

Economics alone is a broader subject and can include micro, macro, behavioral, developmental economics etc

On practical though on the Business Economics degree versus the Economics degree. The former may be more useful for those students thinking of pursuing an MBA degree.

They differ in both the level of analysis and the content.

As for the level of analysis: Economics focuses on the MACRO level issues (growth, unemployment, monetary policy etc.), while Business Economics focuses on the micro level (the point of view of the managers and employees of organizations).

As for the content: Economics is mostly based on mathematics. The idea is that you can model economic issues like in Physics you can model the behavior of planets or materials. Business Economics is much more based on Humanities, because it focuses more on the behavior of humans in organizations. It includes theories and methods from Sociology, Social Psychology, Psychology, Anthropology, for example.

Hope this helps.

When you have a degree in Economics, you are considered as something in between a philisopher and a parasite. When you have a degree in Business Economics, companies take you seriously :-)

You will not be able to learn business economics until you have a sound knowledge in the basics of economics.

In my opinion, business economics can be considered a part of economics even if it applies different research methods and tools. The idea of economics is to analyse the economic system while and so firms are just an "atom" of the system while in business economics firms are at the core and thus you try to understand how they work. That's why economics is more theoretical while business economics can also be applied in practice.

While most of the answers are appropriate, my opinion is Eco is broader and wider and include all elements of macro and micro. But business economics is more specific to the firm or business and would focus on financial aspects and ratios as well as business decision making like capital budgeting, investment decisions, dividend decisions, M&A, Debt vs Equity and the like. Business eco is more practical and applied while the Eco is highly theoretical, and hence the former are loved by companies.

Thanks all of you for your informative answers, I agree with you S.Durai, I am trying to think about the history of the two terms, which one was initiated, and which one was derived, I think Business Economics satisfies the businesses need for more practical and applied field.

Business Economics is the only application part of economic theories.

Without looking into the detailed syllabi, not much. However an impression that I get with regards to the distinction is usually connected to the context and scale. Managerial economics is a hybridization between management science/operational research and microeconomics.