"Let's start with what economics isn't. Economics isn't a meal ticket to make lots of money in the stock market, although economics helps you understand how stock markets and other markets work. Economics also isn't a business degree, although economics teaches important business skills. Economics, first and foremost, is a social science. As such, economics helps to explain the mysteries of how people and society operate ... Economics is defined as the study of how people choose to use their scarce resources in an attempt to satisfy their unlimited wants."
- A webpage that influenced my decision to study some economics in college
I did not fall in love with economics, the way that I fell in love with history and politics. This is not to say that I didn't like the subject, but it didn't excite me in the same way. There are parts of it that I find quite fascinating, and others that I find quite boring. But it is definitely one of my interests, and I'll talk a little bit here about my love-hate relationship with economics.
My high school experiences with economics
Economics was hardly covered at all before high school, and my only high school experience with it was in a required class taken mostly by seniors. That senior year of high school, I was expecting economics to be a bit on the boring side, but discovered that despite the boring voice of my teacher of that time, I found the subject quite fascinating. I learned a lot, and gained a glimpse of how interesting economics could be. This would affect my later decision to study it further.
Was majoring in economics worth the math for me?
But there was a worry for me, which was math. Majoring in economics often requires a fair amount of math. Although I was fairly good at math, I had seldom been very excited about it, and taking calculus at that time left me with a distinctively bad taste in my mouth. So majoring in economics did not seem like a good option for me.
Were the practical benefits of economics worth the math for me?
But I had heard that economics majors made more money than the two majors that I was thinking about at that time, which were history and political science. These two majors are not known for making enormous amounts of money, and I was mainly thinking about them then as a way of getting into law school. But I was curious about economics, both because of its money-making potential, and because I had heard that it, too, was useful for law school. So after my first real semester of college, I decided to take a college economics class.
Microeconomics: My first college economics class
I was then more interested in the political applications of economics than the business applications. But my first college class in the subject was microeconomics, which may be the economics class most applicable to business. One of the big focuses of the class is supply and demand, and this has enormous applications to what price businesses should charge for a product. In the common vernacular, the equilibrium price is the price where supply equals demand - or in other words, where there is balance. Prices lower than that cause shortages, with demand greater than supply; and prices higher than that cause surpluses, with supply greater than demand. By definition, only equilibrium prices bring balance. I found this enormously interesting, and I describe it in some detail in one of my other posts. Suffice it to say here that I found it quite fascinating.
Investigating the business major as well as the economics major
I was then doing research on economics as a major, and discovered that classes in accounting (and business generally) often help economics majors to find jobs as economists. So I decided to take some business classes, including accounting; and decided to go for an associate's degree in business from Yavapai College. My next semester involved my first class in accounting, and another economics class - specifically, macroeconomics. I hoped that I would be interested in the business classes as well, as I knew of the practical value of business education.
Macroeconomics: My second college economics class
I had thought that I would enjoy macro-economics more than micro, because macro-economics is usually considered more political. This is where you talk about topics like recessions, inflation, unemployment, and the output of the broader economy. This certainly has business applications (particularly in finance), but not nearly as much as microeconomics. I found with some surprise that I enjoyed micro a lot more than macro. This would be important to me later.
Deciding to do business, economics, or even "business economics"
By then, I was fairly sure that I was interested more in the business applications of economics than the political ones, partly because I was greatly enjoying the accounting class that I was taking at the time (my first class in the subject). I knew that I would either major in business or economics; and even if I majored in economics, I had the option of doing it as a concentration within a business major. I was fairly certain that business would be my major.
Return to the "math" issue: Statistics and calculus
My last semester at Yavapai College involved a class in business statistics, which I knew was basically an economics class. Despite my distaste for math, I actually enjoyed this a great deal. This helped to confirm my decision to major in business of some kind. But when I transferred to Arizona State University, I took Calc II, the first calculus class I'd taken in several years. I knew that advanced mathematics were needed for entrance to most graduate programs in economics, and hoped that my excitement about the math's applications would make me more excited about the math itself. But as in high school, I hated calculus, and these plans were soon abandoned.
Transferring to another school with fewer math requirements
The business school at ASU required some calculus, and I was thinking about abandoning my ambition to major in business because of this, when my dad suggested that I transfer to somewhere else, where the math requirements were less. So I transferred to Northern Arizona University, where the business school's only math requirements were classes that I'd already taken (like finite math, which I'd taken at Yavapai). This was a happy move, and I was much more at home at NAU. I loved the city of Flagstaff, and did well in their business program there.
Ruling out the accounting major, and trying out the finance major
By the end of my first semester there, I was sure that I didn't want to major in accounting, as I had not done well in my accounting systems class. But I was still thinking about economics or finance, and took a class in each subject during my second semester in Flagstaff.
Deciding not to major in economics or finance
The economics class was called money and banking (sometimes called monetary or financial economics), and it would have helped me if I had majored in finance. But I was not really excited about either monetary/financial economics or principles of finance, and didn't do particularly well in either subject. These classes were interesting at some times and dull at others, and I made a final decision not to major in economics or finance. But while the business school didn't allow business majors to minor in economics, they did allow them to get a Certificate in Business Economics, and I decided that I would do that. (I would also take one more finance class - called "financial analysis" - which would teach me how to interpret financial statements.)
Graduation with a certificate in business economics
I took two more economics classes in my last year in Flagstaff, which was all that I needed to get that certificate. One was basically a statistics class (which I enjoyed immensely), and the other was an international economics class, which was interesting at times and dull at others. At the end of that year, I received the Certificate in Business Economics, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a Concentration in Marketing. Three more classes would have given me a double major in Business Economics, but I had taken my last economics class.
Some experiences with economics after graduation
Since then, I have done some more reading on international finance, and I also read some well-known historical works on economics, which were Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" (a fairly long work), and Karl Marx's "The Communist Manifesto" (a fairly short work). Like the economics classes I'd taken, they were interesting at times and dull at others, and using the term loosely, I swore off hard economics reading after I finished these works. It was too hard and too mathematical to be my hobby any more, and I turned my attention to other things.
Adam Smith
Karl Marx
Conclusion: I now have a sort of "love-hate relationship" with economics
But my interest in economics still remains. I often post about economic matters (usually those related to politics), and I've been glad that I studied it. It taught me how to think and be analytical, and it had enormous applications to two great passions of mine - business and politics (not to mention history). My love-hate relationship with economics still remains, and it will probably continue to be a part of my life for years to come.
Update to this blog post:
Since this post was first released, I have listened to a number of brief audiobooks about the "Great Economic Thinkers." These are narrated by the business & economic journalist Louis Rukeyser. I was never able to take a class on the history of economic thought (despite great interest in the subject), partly because I was giving priority to other economics classes that were more business-oriented. Thus, I thought that this would be the next best thing, and I have enjoyed these audiobooks for a long time.
I also listened to some brief audiobooks about the "Secrets of the Great Investors" (offered by the same group - a company called "Knowledge Products"). These, too, are narrated by the business & economic journalist Louis Rukeyser. Since I was never able to take a finance class about investments, I thought that this might be a good way to round off my knowledge of business (and particularly finance). I have thus enjoyed these audiobooks for some time now.
See also:
A follow-up to this story
If you liked this post, you might also like:
Part of a series about
My own experiences
My love-hate relationship with economics
Note: These posts do not have to be read in any particular order. Since time periods overlap, there isn’t much chronological order to observe here.
See also the audiobook series
Great Economic Thinkers
See also the audiobook series
Secrets of the Great Investors
Others to be covered later
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