Difference between Economics and Applied

Economics
Economics is the study of economic theory, whereas
Applied Economics is the study of the applications in
economic theory.
In Applied Economics, most of the work is going to
involve directly looking at specific problems and
applying economic theory to solving them. This is
evident in things like the economics of education,
resource economics, etc. However, in traditional
economics most of the work is going to look at the
theoretical modeling, experimentation, and proposition
of methodologies of economic ideas.
For example, my M.S. is in Applied Economics and I did
my research on how much people were willing to pay
for certain premiums in a certain niche market. Now,
my Ph.D. studies are in Economics and I doing research
on how social distance impacts reference point
formation among peers. Both have real world
applications, but applied work is usually directly solving
the real world problem, whereas regular economics is
solving the idea and trying to find ways to generalize
or model a problem or idea. The difference is subtle.
If you are questioning for the purpose of actually
studying something in school then the difference will
impact how you are taught. At my applied master’s
program, I learned a lot more hands on data analysis
and execution. I learned about specific valuation
methods used and how to relate things in my field to
the real world. Now that I am in a pure economics
department for my Ph.D., I am learning a lot more of
the theoretical background behind tools I used in my
M.S. I knew how the tools worked before, but now I am
fully competent in how they are derived, however my
applied background gives me a nice edge in
implementing many methods where my cohort has to
kind of figure out making that bridge. Both sides of the
coin are important.