What is economics :--Economics is about making choices. We make all kinds of choices every day. How much should I spend on gas? Whats the best route to work? Where should we go for dinner? What are the pros and cons of finishing college versus taking a job or inventing the next, best Internet startup? Which roommate should take care of washing the dishes? Can I get that dog as a pet? Should I get married, have children, and if so, when? Which politician should I vote for when they all claim they can improve the economy? What is the economy, anyway? What if my personal or religious principles conflict with what people tell me is in my best economic interest? Many people hear the word economics and think it is all about money. Economics is not just about money. It is about weighing different choices or alternatives. Some of those important choices involve money, but most do not. Most of your daily, monthly, or life choices have nothing to do with money, yet they are still the subject of economics. For example, your decisions about whether it should be you or your roommate who should be the one to clean up or do the dishes, whether you should spend an hour a week volunteering for a worthy charity or send them a little money via your cell phone, or whether you should take a job so you can help support your siblings or parents or save for your future are all economic decisions. In many cases, money is merely a helpful tool or just a veil, standing in for a partial way to evaluate some of the goals you really care about and how you make choices about those goals. You might also think economics is all about economizing or being efficient--not making foolish or wasteful choices about how you spend or budget your time and money. That is certainly part of what economics is about. However, thats just the tip of the iceberg. We all know that we can save money or time by being more efficient in our planning. A trip to the supermarket can be coordinated with a trip to deposit a check at the bank across the street to save on gas. But we sometimes dont choose the most efficient options. Why not? Economics is also about plumbing the depths of why we sometimes do and sometimes dont make what seem like the most economizing or economical choices. Is economics a science (like physics), or is it a social science, or even an art? What is the difference, and what do we know about what we cant or dont know for now? Can economic problems be solved by better government, more experts, bigger computers, more engineering, better education, less government, more dispersed knowledge, more markets? How can we make informed choices? Youve probably heard that economists disagree about a lot of things. Actually, what economists disagree about is politics or public policy, not economics. Exploring the interface between politics and economics is part of the fun.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 11:36:27 +0000