Saturday 18 April 2009

Revision Links

Hi there,

   Exams coming, aren’t they? I know some of you guys are feeling extremely relaxed, whereas some are experiencing sleepless nights due to the accumulated amount of stress, tension and anxiety. Luckily, I don’t belong to neither of these groups. To help you with a revision part, I thought that posting links that are helping me with going through the economics syllabus might be a good idea. Dunno, anyway, decided so. Um, yeah, so here they are:

   Tutor2u (click) – one of the most known websites for AS/A2 students, highly recommended.

   Tutor2u Blog (click) - guys from Tutor2u are writing pretty good articles about current events that are more or less linked to the theory part covered in textbooks.

   Economic Student (click) – another site that can come with some good revision bits. Recently created, though already has a lot entries.

   Economics Help (click) – a blog of an A-Level Economics teacher. In his entries he tries to further develop and apply to real world situations knowledge obtained from the textbooks. Easy to understand language, no worries.

   The Student Room [Economics; A-Levels; Economics, Business and Management] (click ; click ; click ) – personally, one of my favourite sites, bookmarked long time ago. Can post questions and queries, and literally few minutes later, an answer can be expected. Good way to improve your writing skills. When I spot a question that I can give a reasonable reply to, no hesitation, scribble few sentences, post the message, wait for other responses and see in which ways can my answer be improved next time. Quality way for economics nerds to spend time.

   Extras:

   Economic theories (click) – a website suggested by Rene. Quite a lot of additional information about economic theories and thoughts. History, biographies, explanations. Recommended reading for those taking AEA Economics in June (23rd June, waaaah! It’s coming!)

   BBC News Economy (click) – fresh and daily updates news concerning round-the-world events. Special sections for the most important ones, e.g. global recession, housing market, budget 2009. Some videos and statistics available, too. Help to keep in touch with the world, especially while being a non-TV-watching person (um, with occasional exceptions for EPL and Champions League matches).

Hope that helps. Happy revision.

Cheers,
John A6

PS Saturday afternoon, FA Semi-final match Arsenal-Chelsea in less than an hour, and you guys know what? I’m not going to watch it. Simple because I’m stuck with psychology revision. Considering it as my hardest subject. What’s even funnier, Psychology is considered to be a soft subject. Or semi-soft. No difference. Heh. And nah, don’t think that was my personal rant or so. Simply a real life example of opportunity cost – um, the cost of the next best alternative forgone, or something like that. So sad the cost forgone must be one of the best matches of this season. Dokey, off for now. Once again, happy revision.

Tuesday 14 April 2009

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman

Hi there,

   Long time no writing. Few weeks ago at the Heathrow Airport while waiting for my flight to Poland, well, to say the least, was bit bored, so decided to walk around. After a while spotted a bookshop. ‘Cannot be any worse, can pretend to be a little, nerdy bookworm’ yup, that was my first thought. Immediately found Business section and … um, there was one book that sparked my interest. Want to see the cover?



   Not bad. And the content is even better. Author of the book – Paul Krugman – is a 2008 Nobel Laureate in Economics, so I reckon he has to know a tad about economics. He tries to take a deeper insight look into economic crises that swept across Asia, Russia and Latin America in 1990s. Could we have prevented the financial crisis of 2008? Could the previous happenings have been considered as some sort of warnings? What lessons can be learnt? Answers to these and many other questions can be found in this brilliantly written book. Krugman uses a language that is not packed with loads of jargon and complex economic terminology. Instead, his thoughts are converted into sentences widely understood, as after all, economics is a social science, for people in general, not only economists. Definitely a good read for A-level or Business Foundation student. Currently in the middle of reading, though can already say that it was a worthwhile purchase. £9.99 worth of investment in exchange for lifetime, invaluable knowledge. Not a bad deal. Though, you can make even better one, I found the same book on Amazon for £6.59 + free delivery (click) and as a bonus, you can look into exemplary pages of the book (click). This should eventually convince you to have a read.

Cheers,
John A6