What Detailed-Economics do to your Brain

I still remember a few years back, when I first landed an interview session with Bank Negara for a scholarship program.

The one question I knew I totally screwed up was when they asked me:

"What do you know about Economics?"

I was a science student. A PURE Science student.  Honestly, during my high school years, I used to look down at any of what we used to call 'liberal art' subjects.

For me, nothing was more important than science subjects. I hailed to Chemistry, I idolized Biology and I  glorified Physics.

Economics? Finance? Trades? Business? Commerce? Meh... these are just skills that can be acquired some other time in life, these are not proper knowledge. Not academic enough to be in the same list as those science subjects.

And with this narrow perception, I failed to answer the only significant question Bank Negara's officers asked me.

It was fairly embarrassing to even think about how 'stupid' I was back then.

But it was fair. Because I really had no clue what economic really is. I did not read business news while I was in high school. Duh, you were busy preparing for SPM and it was only SPM that you saw as a life or death matter. Normal students don't pay attention to the business section in a newspaper, normal high school students would immediately flip through the entertainment section of a newspaper (especially the Sunday issue, entertainment bliss). Deep down, you really hope you could master and understand every single business or economic term from articles and reports in the newspaper just so you could raise your social standard and friends will look up to you for being an all-rounder, but the effort of doing so is giving you a lot of burden so you just decided to live your high school life as how Lizzie McGuire would lead her life.

It has been almost 5 years now since I first learned Economics.

It all started when I first enrolled in KYUEM (the college I went to do my A-levels).

First economics class, I was in a total and absolute denial. I couldn't get my brain to digest all of the rational and logical explanations of why this should be like this and why can't it be like that? Why we must accept all the theories why can't we act against it? why why why?

Why opportunity cost exists? Why do we have to give a damn about its existence anyways? Why can't we forget about the forgone opportunity and just let it be? We shouldn't reminisce the past, let it go. Things happen for a reason/reasons. If you are meant to choose this, then just choose THIS and don't think back about what will happen if you had to choose the other option!

While I tried to memorize these theories and concepts, I asked a lot of difficult questions at the back of my head. I literally was near explosion, can't really think why do economists assume people to be rational when they are in fact not?

Third year at the University of Edinburgh. Trained to think like an Economist, trained as an economic student, I am now able to find answers to the (used to regard it as rhetoric) questions I used to ask a lot (to myself), once upon a naive moment in life. 

Those thoughts I used to have; Economic as a skill that can be acquired some other time in life, vanished.

If I were to be asked, again, "what do you know about Economics?"

This shall be my answer:

Economics is a social science. It IS a science subject. Not a skill but a subject. Cannot simply be acquired some other time in your life, but you need to really learn it and develop the skill along the way. The only skill you are required to posses in learning Economics is your thinking skill. You need to be very critical about everything around you. And when I say everything, I do literally mean every single specific most micro tiniest detail you could ever imagine. 

In this field, there are micro economics and macro economics. Generally, people take it as two different things in life. But it takes a lot of effort to link these two subjects together. It is crucially correlated to one an another.

Macro economics, in a broad view, is about all those exciting happenings and crisis you normally found in the front cover of newspapers and business magazines.

Micro economics, is mainly about firms and how it operates and what not.

Other field you could expand on is the application of economic concepts and in depth theories in real life.

Who would ever thought there are studies on marriage and neighbours and what your responses/actions to other people around you; to your friends and what the outcome might be, the implication and consequences it will bring for the whole society? (Social Economics)

Who would have thought there would be studies on why do people think differently? when two choices/options are completely the same but only the words/advertisement order made it seemed 'different' (when it is not!), and people's choices and decisions change significantly? The Brain-Game? (Behavioural Economics)

What if a politician is asked to make a decision but he was receiving advice from a bad adviser? what will happen if he receives advice from a good adviser? What if the politician has no clue whether or not his adviser is good or bad? What if the adviser lies for being good when he is actually bad? what will happen otherwise? whaaa---? (Political Economy)

Overall, Economics is a very fun subject.  But you really need to be really good in math and probability (especially!) to master in this field of studies. It is a science subject but instead of dealing with bacterias, chemicals and machines, you'll be dealing with the whole society of human beings. It is way more complicated than having to deal with bacterias, chemicals and machines, because human beings ARE the most complicated living thing ever! No disagreement on that I bet!

Dealing with ONE is a hard work, dealing with billions and trillions of 'em? is an infinity of hard works. 

If you want to rule the world, go learn some detailed Economics.

To eat the dish or not eat the dish? What if I change those two split-up hard boiled eggs with a fried sunny-side up? will I be satisfied with my other choice? oh wait, what if I did not split that hard boiled egg into two? Wouldn't that be better? or not? what if I added a bit more sambal on my plate? or maybe lessen the rice portion. I don't like cucumbers, should I still consume cucumbers or throw it away, wait do I need to throw it away or should I keep it for future consumption? will it sustain? does veggie have any expiry dates? I bet they do. Okay what if.... (Behavioural Economics) - in making choices.