Firstly, a very warm welcome to the Bellerbys Economics blog. This blog is primarily started with the notion of providing the students of Bellerbys College an interactive medium to not only share their views and opinions on economics (whatever they may be), but also to share any information gathered individually, so we would have a collective pool of resources through this blog. Hence, please feel free to leave a comment; if you come across any interesting websites/links, books, study-materials, or even the notification of any upcoming public lectures.
To kick-start this first entry, I would leave you guys with a list of economic books that you may want to read during your summer holidays, some of them may prove to be useful for your academic modules, others are just simply a fascinating read!
1. John Kay - The Truth about Markets (Allen Lane the Penguin Press)
2. Joseph E. Stiglitz - Globalization and its Discontents (Penguin Books)
3. Tim Harford - The Undercover Economist (Abacus)
4. R. H. Coase - The Firm, the Market and the Law (University of Chicago Press)
5. Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner - Freakonomics (Penguin Books)
6. J. Williamson & C. Milner - The World Economy (Harvester Wheatsheaf)
There are numerous answers and thoeries to the fundamental question of WHAT economics is really about, however, there's still a missing piece to the puzzle; which is the question of WHY economics matters.
Thus, I would like to end today's entry by posing this question: Why does Economics Matter?
Chik A5
3 comments:
Well, the why's, what's and the how's are the 1st three questions any economicst has to ask. It sometimes lies with the economist himself. This is a qestion of finding sollutions, results and answers to this puzzle, called live, life and the world we're in aka economics. Is that possible? does it actually matter? Does it matter more to you than it does to the person on the street,to the firm or even the government, can we put it in different degrees of 'matterness'? or are there other things that have to take priority? Why is it always economics? And who said it is???
There is a simple answer. Look around you, the air you breath(free good), the food you eat and clother you wear(sectors), the water you drink (non-renewable, scarce)the bus you take, the technology you use(infrastructure), the holiday you take (leisure good),the degree you need to get, the job you have to consider, the investments you make,the insurance you need, the pension plan you have to take out, the house you need to buy, and the list goes on......and on.......You see, if economics didn't matter nothing would tik, what would life be, would we be neanderthols, is that really how Adam and Eve lived? They say, its about the understanding, the major effort of finding solutions and those answers and that piece of puzzle. But the sooner we realise that there is no explination, and that we are economists, somehow the economic puzzle is not the main factor nor is it how we live, it IS your new piece that you can add to that puzzle, and make someone else wonder why it matters!
I couldn't agree more to what Rene has emphasized; look around you: the air you breathe, the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the technology you use, the stock exchange, the developing countries, the global market, etc. (the list can go on forever!). Economics has a role to play in EVERY aspect of life, it is a discipline that churns out tools on how to regulate these resources that we, as human beings, want or need. Sometimes these tools prove to be useful, and sadly, they sometimes prove to be detrimental. But it is the Economist who approaches the problem and attempts to solve it, be it through value-judgement, or be it through quantitative solutions. With that in mind, if economics covers such a wide scope of issues, it surely does matter! However, we must not lose sight of the true value of economics - to master the basic principles and foundations to it, and most importantly: to innovate, as the world is ever-changing. And as Rene said, It is up to us, the aspiring economists, to add a new piece to this enormous puzzle of economics.
economics is everywhere,it is there when you make your everyday decisions,it is there when you go to work, it is there when you read the news paper(and yes,it is in the gossip column too).Why?because economics explains, studies and is actually existent because of human behavior..economics was never nonexistent just invisible, becoming more and more obvious as our life and needs,countries developed;and in this "soon to be" saturated world where sloppiness is no longer permitted economics is the unwritten law of life in the concrete jungle...just think about it next time you go shopping and you`ll know why....
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