Economics “Ask the Instructor” Clip 42 Transcript
Why is economics difficult for some students?
Vocabulary is definitely one reason. Successful students are those who “own” the jargon of economics. The problem is that students are under the impression that they already know what economics terms mean. They have heard terms like investment, capital, cost, and marginal all their lives. However, this familiarity sometimes creates confusion. As with other things in life, economics has its own precise vocabulary.
For example, investment is a term that often causes trouble. In common parlance, it is most often used in the sense of financial investment, such as the purchase of a corporate stock or buying a Certificate of Deposit at your bank. In economics, investment refers to the acquisition of capital goods, such as building a factory or buying equipment for the factory. Marginal, another important term in economics, does not refer to quality, but instead refers to an additional or incremental change in some quantity. For example, the marginal tax rate refers to the rate of tax levied on an additional dollar of income.
Frequent use of graphs may be another reason why many students find economics challenging. Graphs are likely to pose the greatest challenge to students with weak backgrounds in math and science. Although the graphs used in this course are not complicated, you will need to allot some extra time for your reading if you have trouble understanding graphs.
Finally, you will find economics much more interesting if you make an effort to relate what you’re studying to the real world. That’s easy to do in economics. Scan the newspaper on a daily basis. You will see all sorts of stories that relate to what you are studying. Surf the Web. Yahoo!, WSJ.com, and Dismal.com are just a few of the sites that offer news stories with economics content. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, has a great Web site containing data on the money supply, unemployment rate, average wages, worker productivity, the inflation rate, and many other variables.
Make an effort to become enthusiastic about economics. Put into practice those study skills that you learned in freshman seminar. Watch out for the unique meanings of seemingly familiar terms. Finally, set aside sufficient study time. Remember, economics is a bit more quantitative than other social sciences. This means that you will encounter numerous graphs and a few equations. Don’t expect to read economics like you would a mystery novel!