Quantitative and Academic skills in learning Economics - Assignment Example

Quantitative and Academic skills in learning Economics Economics is a social science that deals with the production and distribution of goods and services to the customers. It specifically deals with managing the scarce resources and utilizing them efficiently so as to retain them for a longer period of time and at the same time prevent this world from the threat of a resource less society. The subject centers at studying the theory of needs and wants and aims at analyzing the way in which a compromise with respect to the scarce resources is taken in different societies. Economics is a comprehensive that studies various aspects of the society and is divided into a number of branches explicitly, microeconomics, macroeconomics, normative, positive economics etc. In the past two decades the erudition of economics has been revolutionized and its theories and ideas have been applied to various other sciences and areas. Importance of Studying Economics Since the end of cold war and rise of capitalism Economics has been of the areas of study apart from nuclear physics and banking that has been greatly emphasized and a lot of importance has been attached to its research and study. Globalization of markets and rising populations have intensified the economic problem i.e. resources are scarce, and have forced the policy makers into making deeper inroads into the subject and extracting various ways of looking at an economy. Thus in the past few decades this extremely vital social science has immensely affected politics, culture, ethics, religion, social institutions and society at large. Hence with the degree of impact the subject has had on the world economy lately, it has seriously attracted the interest of the youth and the number of people enrolling for business majors and specifically Economics has significantly increased. Skills that hold critical importance in studying Economics Economics is a comprehensive subject that deals with the major issues of the world economy and unlike various other subjects incorporates the economic principles into a number of other areas in order to develop policies for a greater benefit and an effective utilization of the sparse resources. In order to this a wide array of skills is considered to be necessary in order to accomplish these tasks. Some of the extremely important skills that are required for the comprehensive study of the subject are the Qualitative and Analytical Skills. Quantitative Skills Economics is one of the few subjective areas that incorporate a huge amount of quantitative methods in order to explicate its concepts. It is an analytical subject that has a strong quantitative base and utilizes a great deal of mathematical and statistical tools to demonstrate economic phenomenon. Though economists do no use mathematics deliberately but a number of tool shave become extremely vital in order to attain the goal of understanding. Graphical representation of situations is one of the most common tools that is being extensively utilized in various concepts of micro as well as macro economics. Demand and Supply one of the extremely important and core theory of Economics revolves around the graphical representation of cases and quantitative modeling. Despite the fact that economic explanation underlines these graphs and models a certain degree of mathematical acumen is tremendously vital to comprehend the trends. Moreover the use of statistical models is a common for understanding other critical concepts like inflation and unemployment. These skills are extremely important to undertake the course and will be further transferred to the job market on completing the study of the subject. Analytical Skills By virtue of being a science Economist attaches serious importance to the need of analytical skills in order to comprehend the economic theories. As explained in the previous section that economic concepts pivot on the quantitative methods for the purpose of demonstration of a concept and its practical application. Similarly economic problems and cases are of the subjective nature thus in order to transform them into a mathematical model and then to provide a solution in line with the economic theory requires a great deal of analytical skills. Moreover business decision making is a painstaking systematic process which depends a lot on the economic concepts and methods that are used to provide an explanation or solution to a particular problem. Under these circumstances a fair amount of applicative and analytical expertise is necessary in order to apply economic theories to case situations and developing business acumen through practical applications. Other Skills Apart from the two important skills stated above one needs to be proficient in a number of other areas including the research skills, problem solving ability, accounting acumen, reading and applicative skills, translational and interpretation skills, communication expertise and to be up to date with the current economic trends are other basic requirements in the context of successful completion of the course. All these skills bear immense importance as a subject as vast as Economics requires a great deal of interpretation and understanding, these aspects can be developed only through extensive reading. Moreover highlighting only the theoretical aspects is not the best technique towards acquiring knowledge in subject as socially implied as this, thus a deep insight of the practical aspects is extremely important. This entails for research work and studying real life business situations and further applying the studied concepts to evaluate the degree of relevance of theories to realistic economies. Critical Analysis of Personal skills A prudent measure before selecting any major for pursuit, is to analyze one's personal ability and to see whether or not you posses the skills that are necessary for the completion of the prospective area of study. As stated previously quantitative methods are at the core of economics and are regarded as the most important prerequisite in the context of the subject, being a science student previously I have been confronted with a lot of mathematical formulae and models for the past number of years. Thus I find it comfortable with graphs, mathematical business models and equations and feel that interpretations of graphs and application of mathematical equations will not be an intricate job In the meantime analytical skills that have been rated as the second important requirement comes naturally to me by virtue of having been enrolled in subjects like physics, chemistry, finance and microeconomics before. These subjects apart from building my analytical expertise would also enable me to effectively interpret to subjective situations to quantitative and vice versa. Despite having a scientific background my previous performance in problem solving has been of a minimal standard and was one of the reason for a shift from science to business department, in this context having recognized my weakness I plan towards paying a greater in class lectures paying heed to the professor's investigative approach and to further involve in the practice and drill of concepts through actively solving the worksheets. Moreover I lack the necessary reading skills and knowledge of the current economic setting world over in this regard attention to the lecture and library sessions would hold key and as the university encourages developmental reading through recommending books my foremost effort would be get hold of the books and to develop a habit of regular reference to them. Conclusion Economics offers great prospects for individuals as with increasingly globalizing and capitalist economies the significance of the subject and its influence on the strategic decision making has increased from ever before. Hence a serious effort would help me in cultivating the necessary skills and eventually transfer them to a successful future career. Bibliography 1. Swift, L. (2002). Quantitative Methods for Business, Management and Finance, Palgrave MacMillan. 2. Cottrell, S. (2003). The Study Skills Handbook, 2nd ed., Palgrave MacMillan. 3. Jean, R. (2001). The Mature Student's Guide to Writing, Palgrave MacMillan. 4. Race, P. (2003). Practical Tips for Students, Blackwell 5. Kweyng, (1992).Business Confidence and Depression Prevention: A Macroeconomic Perspective. American Economic Review. 82, 365-371. 6. Routh,G. (1989) The Origin of Economic Ideas 7. Department of Economic. Retrieved August 14, 2007, from University of Nottingham Web site: http://www.economics.bham.ac.uk/undergraduate/skills.htm 8. Economics Network Student Survey 2004: Executive Summary Retrieved August 14, 2007, from Economic Network Web site: http://www.economicsnetwork.ac.uk/projects/stud_survey2004.htm 9. Department of Economics: Learning Goals and Assessment of Goals Retrieved August 14, 2007, from Richard College of Business Economics Web site: http://www.westga.edu/econ/lg_assessments.htm 10. Learning Outcomes Retrieved August 14, 2007, from Aims of Economic Degree Program Web site: www.sussex.ac.uk/economics/documents/learning_outcomes.doc Read More