Economics Beating Out Computer Science

Nick Schulz at the American notes an educational trend of some interest, and possibly some alarm, especially with international movements in smart people restricted as they are today:

The number of new computer science majors today has fallen by half since 2000, according to the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. Merrilea Mayo, director of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable at the National Academies, says the drop-off was particularly pronounced among women. Meanwhile, elite schools are reporting that the number of economics majors is exploding. For the 2003–2004 academic year, the number of economics degrees granted by U.S. colleges and universities increased 40 percent from five years previously.

Link via Marginal Revolution