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Economics is a subject that fascinates me. It is a concept that influences the world we live in, and is relevant to everyone, not just those who study it. Economic forces determine global industrial patterns with different market structures leading to different outcomes on which our society depends. Real world economics first began to intrigue me when I was younger, through examples as simple as the difference in price between Tesco’s and the local independent shops. As I continue to study economics, it has always helped that my first experiences of the subject involved exploitation of the economies of scale in the real world rather than a text book.
The area of Economics that I have most enjoyed is the study of price discrimination. It is something that affects my everyday life, through train prices for travelling to college, and also has intricacies and complexities that make it even more interesting, to its relation to Price Elasticity of Demand.
In order to gain experience an economic working environment, I took up a short placement at Lloyds TSB Corporate Finance over the summer. This gave me a detailed appreciation of sectors and how the economists specialise in each of their fields. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about what happens to investor’s money, especially when they decide to change their currency. I particularly enjoyed working in the stockbrokers sector, as you can feel the adrenaline rush when commodity prices fluctuate. I also found shadowing Mr Trevor Williams (Chief Economist) particularly interesting. This gave me the opportunity to learn new economic techniques, such as the use of the Bloomsburg to examine different graphs and predict various concepts; such as where the GDP could be over the next few months.
Through working for “New Look” I have learnt to develop team building skills. These skills became further established as senior members takes on extra responsibility. This varies from teaching new workers how to use till banks, the tone needed to converse with customers and to generally guide them to becoming successful and efficient in their jobs.
Due to my curiosity about economies throughout the world, I have subscribed to “The Economist”. I find China to be the most interesting of countries as their whole economy is based on net exports. “The Economist” is interesting to me because it has all the relevant topics and is concise, rather than the “Financial Times” which sometimes digresses in my point of view. Most economists believe China should be the reserve currency following this recession because of how well they have recovered. My opinion is that the economy will continue to be in a recession until next year; I believe that the economy will grow because of the rising value of oil. Also other things have interested me recently in the Economy. Such as how the government of this day is younger than the government 20 years ago.
The study of Maths has definitely helped to improve my economics as it is now easier for me to calculate elasticity’s for goods and inflation which was both fundamental for unit one. Psychology has helped me to understand economics more because I now understand why consumer’s confidence is so important. This confidence could be affected by the state of the economy (recession).
During my spare time I enjoy swimming and other active sports, this includes: football, basketball and rugby. Upon receiving my level 3 yachting certificate from the Antigua Yachting Association I learnt about focusing my mind on my goal In order to achieve success. Whilst I was in Antigua I took a particular interest in the exchange rate as I wanted to get the best value for my sterling. This involved me travelling around to different areas such as “The English Harbour”, where I learnt about how the recession has affected export prices which is most of the branded goods on this Island.
