How important is the field of economics to you?

crapola5: How important is the field of economics to you?
Compared to other fields (mathematics, history, anthropology, psychology, English, etc.), where would you put economics in terms of importance? Why? If not economics, what’s the most important for you and why? I understand that fields overlap and all are fairly important, but do your best to differentiate them.

Answers and Views:

Answer by There is no spoon.
I consider my worst subject, math, to be the most important. If you understand math, you have a world of careers open to you. Next to it is science, since science is everything. Math and science are like cookies and ice cream… I think.

Answer by paris_capulet
Economics is the culmination of everything. Nearly all national trends are dictated by economics. The study of economics covers all aspects of life as everyone wants a better standard of living.

Answer by JuanB
If I had it my way, Economics would be a mandatory course for everyone.

I have a degree in Economics, with several courses in political science. Everything boils down to supply and demand. I found economics really opened up my eyes to why things happen. You can tell when a politician doesn’t have a clue about money. Or worse, when they feed you bull because they think you don’t have a clue. I analyze business plans for a living. And even there, you can really tell when an entrepreneur has no clue about economics. Sometimes it doesn’t matter, but most of the time it is enough to reject them. Even things like Urban Economics and Geography Economics means I understand on why cities are laid out the way they are.

Political Science help me understand elections and foreign affairs, but it’s not stuff that comes up everyday. History helped me win an argument or two, and helps to explain some situations in the world. I am a history buff.

Answer by trolling_for_fundies
Economics is worthless without history and mathematics, to start with.

Economics is a young science, macro even younger, and finance even younger — I think it is very important as a lot can be learned for the future.

Edit: I like Juan B’s answer at an undergraduate level….but amazingly, at a graduate level, it gets even simpler —— everything flows towards incentives.

Answer by Kev C
Economics is a very important field for me. economics the study of how we use our scarce recourses efficiently is perfect for everyday life.

i walk out the door with $ 10 in my pocket. how should i spend it?? what am i giving up if i spend the $ 10 all together? what if i decide to keep the $ 10? will inflation hurt it anytime soon. what happens if i put it into a savings account? now i get interest, but its not as liquid anymore. etc.

even putting on a coat involves some economics: should i wear a coat today? it is cold now but it is warm later. will i get more utility by being warm now but hot later? or will i get more utility from being cold now but nice later.

Economics is a young science, but the concepts behind economics have been around since people have tried to do as much as possible in such little amounts of time

Answer by anne j
The prosperity of a nation depends on two things. 1. Economic policies and 2. Genetic endowment. Other considerations like natural resources are secondary to these two things. India started progressing after it changed its economic policies. So also China. So I consider economics is very crucial for the development. Unfortunately the second aspect of progress is ignored by most. Recently China started thinking in this line. So also Singapore and Israel.