Time Is Money - Essay Example

People save money on transactions either by increasing their knowledge about the product or service they buy or by learning to do things on their own. For instance, his Musician friend has learned to repair guitars to save money on frequent guitar repairs. The writer loves food so he learned to cook. However, his musician friend rather chooses to pay for his lunch to be able to spend more time doing what he loves to do, which is music. According to the writer, people spend their scarce time and money on doing things that endow them with higher utility or provide them with relatively higher remuneration. Nobody has enough time and money to invest in learning everything. That is why people choose to pay others for the products and services they avail from them, by spending the money they earn doing things they love to do or that provide them with higher remuneration. Division of labor is the direct outcome of the scarcity of time and resources.
The given article teaches much about opportunity cost. Thereby, as per the article, if a person chooses to do the work he loves, she is not left with enough time to spend learning a variety of other things. Hence, to be able to do the things a person loves, one has to forgo doing many other things, which is the opportunity cost of choosing to do one specific thing. Hence, while procuring services, people act as the typical economic man and resort to rational thinking. They assert the objectives they intend to achieve in life and allocate their time and money in a way that harmonizes with and furthers the objectives they intend to achieve in life. For example, a musician may choose to learn to play guitar instead of learning to cook or repair cars because she loves music and it is her profession. To make the best use of their time and money, people resort to trade-offs and chose the best possible alternatives that suit their liking and pocket, while choosing a profession or acquiring skills. With the money they earn for this work, they prefer to pay people who specialize in other vocations or skills, that they don’t know and don’t have the time to or aptitude learn.

This article also teaches much about the scarcity or limited nature of means and the unlimited ends that human existence desires to achieve. Certainly given the scarcity of time and money at the disposal of an individual, one cannot invest them in learning everything. To bear with the scarcity that is the limited availability of resources like time and money, people invest these resources doing such works that accrue them maximal satisfaction and monetary returns. Then they can barter the money they earned while doing the things they love, to exchange them for goods and services that they do not know how to manufacture or do.
This article does indeed dispel the myth that economics is merely about maximizing profits. Read More