A day in the life

Economics as a practical philosophy

Cale Kilyanek was looking for a practical philosophy and he found it in economics. He calls it “the degree of critical thinking” for business-minded people.

In his first year, he debated a switch to the Commerce program, where he had plenty of friends. Instead, he chose an Economics major and a minor in Business.

“In Economics, you get the bigger picture and understand how economics affects everything in a business. In Commerce, you learn how to do it on a day-to-day basis to make it usable for a business.”

One of the benefits he sees in studying economics is that it gives you a really broad range of work you can apply your skills to after you graduate. “You learn about how to approach pretty much any problem that happens in real life,” he says.

Cale uses economics to study the effectiveness of government policy. His honours thesis measured the cost to consumers of the gas price regulation implemented by Nova Scotia’s provincial government.

Cale also puts his economic skills to work in a part-time job, doing audits and analyses for a company that values homes and properties for the provincial government.

“I wrote up a resume and they basically found a position for me that would fit because they wanted to keep me. And that felt great,” he says. “As far as getting work goes, in my experience, having an economics degree on your resumé is huge."

Coming from Lake Egmont, a village in Nova Scotia, he came to Dal to experience something a little bigger, and he’s really engaged with life on campus.

He referees and plays in the intramural hockey league and is treasurer of the busy Economics Society. He’s also a mentor in the Economics program, helping international students adjust to life in Halifax.

“With the China exchange program, our department is growing and that mentorship program, along with the social events in the program, have really integrated them a lot more.”