Lena (24) landed a finance job long before graduation
Today, the 24-year-old analyses investments at HitecVision, one of Norway’s biggest private equity firms. New figures show most NHH graduates are in work within six months.
The problem is not too many economists
The fact that artificial intelligence can build a financial model in a matter of minutes is not an argument for educating fewer economists. It is an argument for educating them differently.
Much of the debate about AI and higher education rests on an outdated idea of what economics education actually looks like. Outside universities and business schools, it is not always visible how quickly subjects, courses and forms of learning are now changing.
That said, the article “We are educating more economists than ever – for jobs that soon will not exist” does make one important point: the path into working life is changing. Tasks that used to be typical entry-level work are now being automated or made far more efficient. And AI is hitting some sectors harder than others.
But it is quite a leap from there to conclude that newly qualified economists will soon be redundant. The underlying assumption seems to be that the economist’s main function is to build models, update spreadsheets and produce decision support. That is an extremely narrow understanding of both the discipline and working life.
The value of economists does not primarily lie in moving numbers between cells, but in understanding what those numbers mean, which assumptions hold, which risks are being overlooked and, not least, which decisions actually should and must be taken. Advanced domain knowledge, critical thinking and the ability to ask the right questions will become scarcer in the years ahead — not the ability to write a good prompt or to code.
The more powerful AI becomes, the more important precisely these qualities will be; judgement, quality assurance, prioritisation, communication and the ability to make decisions under uncertainty. AI can produce answers quickly. It cannot, on its own, take responsibility for whether an answer is relevant, robust or wise. Both economics and management education are becoming more important, not less.
Graduates from NHH are still very much in demand in the labour market, according to a survey published just after Easter. Of those who completed their master’s degrees last year, close to 90 per cent had secured a job while still studying and/or working with AI, well before graduation.
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We are integrating advanced use of AI into a growing number of subjects and courses, from spreadsheets and management control to strategy and executive education. This is not a side project, but a strategic priority. The aim is to educate graduates who can create value in a society where technology is changing both the tasks themselves and the organisations around them. That is why the answer is not to educate fewer economists and business leaders.
The answer is to educate economists who master more than what AI can automate — and who can lead both people and AI agents.
The op-ed was first published in Norwegian, Dagens Næringsliv April 12.