9

Economics – My First Few Lessons

Never in my whole life have I loved a subject as much as Economics. Even before the school year started I was anticipating this topic the most and it sure hasn’t let me down! Already I’ve learnt so much about the business world that I thought I’d give you a taster of what I’ve been learning in Year 12.

I have 7 Economics periods a week, each of them consisting of 40 minute lessons. Overall I have 3 teachers who are all pretty cool, and that just makes it even more fun to learn. By the way, please correct me if Im wrong about any of the following facts – Im still learning! Anyway, we spend a bit of time looking at macro-economics (looking at a whole economy rather than just one company), and then we look at how the market works (like demand and supply).

I also heard my teachers saying the word “entrepreneur” for the first time in any of my classes before. Just the word sent shivers up my spine, as I don’t talk about my online activity with my schoolmates. Im still not sure why, but I just prefer to keep it that way, at least then if I become successful online, it will come as a complete surprise to them!

I’ve also learnt the workings of interest and inflation. It was really interesting to know how hard it must be the the Chancellor to keep the UK on budget and to continue economic growth at the same time without encouraging a boom period (which is normally followed by a horrific depression) or a shrinking of the economy (which in reality decreases the standard of living). While Im here I might as well go over the 4 main government objectives that were drilled into our heads. Im guessing these are important:

  • Economic Growth – measured in GDP (Gross Domestic Product or National Output)
  • Low Unemployment – and therefore high employment figures
  • A small trade deficit – this means that we’re importing more than we’re exporting here in the UK, but because we have few valuable natural resources, that’s not that much of a problem.
  • Low inflation – measured in RPI

I know this might all sound like jibberish to you, especially if you havn’t studied economics, but simply talking about business in school is a huge tick in my box and with the added project of Young Enterprise (which I will come to in a later post), Im finding myself enjoying every minute of these lessons which is a big change from last year!

Comments are closed