Price Signals for College Majors

One of the critical elements of a free economy is the concept of price. The cost of something reflects how abundant and available it is. Theoretically the more expensive it is the more difficult it is to produce or the more limited it is. This is the economy's way of asking how bad you really need something. Price communicates value and should send a signal to society when they can buy more of it and when they should seek alternatives. One facet of our economy seems to be resistant to these price signal though: higher education. For decades the economy has been sending price signals that our society needs more engineers and scientists. However, we continue to see a decline in math based majors coming out of college. Although there are many reasons that the unemployment in this country is so high, perhaps one of the reasons is that we are not listening to the price signals that the economy is sending. I think it's saying that we don't need so many English majors, law students, and political scientists. If you pick one of these degrees don't be surprised when it's tough to get a job. The economy told you not to do it.