Enlivened Interest in Economics
Economics is probably the most essential field of knowledge that explains how the organized world of humans works. During my college years I studied economics and related disciplines like finance and accounting. Although I learned many basic concepts at the time, much of the knowledge received back then was quite abstract, and without real-world experience and practical application gradually faded away.
During the last couple of years I’ve started to regain my interest in economics in a more deep and conscious way. I guess it’s because by now I’ve become a much more active member of the economic system, both as a professional working in business environment for a big international company, and an individual, earning money at work, and spending it in various ways for living.
As with all my self-learning quests, I’ve done research to understand the state of latest development in the economic science. I’ve started with highly rated modern sources that referred me to older origins. First, I read a book by Milton Friedman, then proceeded to Friedrich Hayek. Next my plan is to get to Adam Smith, and his fundamental work “The Wealth of Nations”. So far the so-called “liberal” school of economic thought with its emphasis on liberty and free markets is the most appealing to me. At some point later I might read something from Keynes or maybe even Marx to get other points of view.
As I proceed self-educating, I realize that the modern economic world is like a fascinating organism driven by multitude of forces, each of which can be understood quite easily in isolation, but interrelating they create a system so complicated that there’s no one in the world who can explain it and reliably predict its future states. Nonetheless understanding the basic principles in abstract is possible and practically very helpful, even on a personal level. Such things as money, assets, debt, investments work for individuals the same way as for corporations and countries.
Besides core economics currently I’m also refreshing basics on generic financial statements and perfecting my understanding of accounting terminology in English. Helping me with this are not only books, but also wonderful podcast such as Planet Money, Marketplace, The Dave Ramsey Show, and others. I’m looking forward to the new legs of this journey in learning economics and deepening my understanding of how the world works.