Topic: Does studying Economics in School make one to be economical or what (Read 349 times)

Well, i guess it helps to study economics but it is not necessary. Experience and learning from other people can really help. In these modern times, you can access information from the internet.

That doesn't make a person to become economical in litteral life which we're going to live by purpose. If someone studied economics, everything will be learned through theoritical aspects that could provide him knowledge towards business operations, like handling financial situation of a certain funds that made the business run successfully. Partly, crypto needs this to be part of every persons lives in order to gain knowledge as a whole, and can he applied to their own crypto business.

Absolutely right, studying economics in school will definitely give you understanding of basic of Economics and how to manage your personnel finance but it doesn't make you Professional Accountant. By the wat economics has  very very large spectrum and it affects our life positively or negatively in every role of our life. That is why all governments try to improve economic condition of the country to improve their citizens quality of life.

And economic scope has quite a bit of such a scale, time in school can only be a microcosm at the most basic level, quite a lot of other knowledge is waiting, economics is just a basic point and need to know, maybe the teacher will mention management and how to spend and save but as someone with a college student period, these theories make me very sleepy and less interested. The most economical can only be a social subject and learned when we live in a working environment and have a monthly salary

Nope, only degree related to economics can give you an idea about the finance so all thise general studies in the school is here for nothing. Even people who studied economics are not master in the finance because it needs experience as well along with the knowledge indeed.

If you are talking about financial literacy, it is definitely essential for schools to have such a subject. As without it, when children grow up they don't know how to handle money, so we see so many poor people. That is why economics is essential. Our children must know how the market works, how to use bank accounts and how to earn money! In my country there is no such subject at school, that is why it is an obligation of parents to teach their kids.

What do you mean by being 'economical'?

I find this question very difficult to answer as it does not provide any further details but studying economics can definitely help you understand the fundamentals on how the economy works. If you know the basics, history, origin, and the theories, it can help you arrive at a decision in terms of your finances either short/long-term. Although this may help, studying economics as a major is not entirely essential as people can learn using various textbooks or videos on the internet.

As an analogy, in order to understand the market further, it is very important if you first handedly experience it like driving. No matter how many times you read about driving, the only way to learn is to actually do it.

Lots of the useful things taught in economics are knowledge people know "instinctively". They are just there in the knowledge store for humanity and other creatures. Once you need to know and ask, you obtain them if you are qualified.
That's basically how it's in other field of life. Every good thing that needs to be invented/created by the creatures is already there waiting for someone who need to know and deserves it. People just "discover" what has been designed and stored for them to discover. If this generation completely disappears, another one could arise and discover thesame thing, assuming it is destined for the generation to know otherwise they will never know.

You should make your question more specific to have better interactions and responses from the users here in our community. Your question is somewhat broad and it doesn't convey the straightforward subject. But if you're pertaining to being wise in spending money, my answer would be yes and no at the same time.

Yes, because the principles, beliefs, ideas, and learnings imparted to you at school while studying economics can definitely help you hone your perspective about spending, saving, and investing. It will teach you how to manage your finances well. You have the edge over the people who didn't study economics because you know the basics, fundamentals, and in-depth knowledge about it. You can always utilize what you learned in your favor. For an instance, in entering ventures that's related with money, you know what to do because you have studied the laws and principles in supply and demand, the market flow, and the likes.

However, it's also not always like that. The other side would be, studying economics would not really make you economical because it still lies in your personal preferences and the habits you built along the way. If you are undisciplined, then, being economical won't be one of your traits since you are used to not being frugal. The learnings taught to you won't be as valuable because you don't practice it before. You may also have a hard time being financially literate because like what they say, bad habits die hard. Although, it's just really up to you honestly. Some people who didn't study economics are actually very wise in spending and handling money.

I think that besides understanding, you also teach them awareness of different things that they can use in real life to make a stable economic life.

the influence of school on a person's habits is very large, I'm sure 70% of those who study economics are more economical. I don't study economics, but I often read books about economics, which makes me good at managing my finances and expenses.

You won't totally be economical but you have all the fundamentals to guide become such one. And simply studying economics in school is not good enough. You have to go out from your shell and research and explore the factors that will help you to go through in it. In the end, it all matters in your own life's application and the outcome would reflect how you understand all what you have learned in school.

I am teaching economics at the university. Let's just say it provides a basic understanding of how economies work, how cycles work, when and why a recession occurs, and when an upturn occurs, and due to what.
In particular, all this is shown through examples of history. How useful this information will be will depend on your future occupation.

It could definitely but there's a small percentage in that group of people that studies Economics in school to not become economical themselves which is understandable given that not everyone is interested in Economics but at the very least it makes them aware about the subject and the things that it teaches.

Yeah,we've seen those kind of people that who didnt really step into college nor in school but turns out to be successful because there are ones who do persevere on learning up things

which these people did really succeed and attained up assets and success in life more than into those people who had finished college and have diploma.It all matters on

on how you do deal with the  challenges in life and so self learn and make action and good decisions for you to able to at least make some progress in your life.

With anything in life you can't really learn about something from and objective point of view, every thing that is learned in theory can not be applied to real life, especially in domains like economy where everything is constantly changing and markets are always moving, you have to experience things on your own in order to form your own opinions and make your own decisions, i for example have a degree in  busies management and what i have seen on the field is way off from what i have leaned from collage.

As with anything else you have fools with doctorates and you have geniuses who never stepped foot in a college.  It's all dependent on the person.  Given the same person I would have to think it only helps but if that same person is inclined to learn about a particular subject you don't necessarily need a school for that.

Academically, you sound more in that discipline than some one from another aspect who borrowed it purposely for knowledge.
Academic environment has even made it compulsory for everyone to acquire economics as a course either pure or online with your course of studies.

Nope. I believe economic subjects helps you with tough mathematical problems containing theoretical problems that usually doesn't occur in real life situations. I have studied engineering economic in one of my subjects way back in 2019 but as I still haven't encountered problems introduced in textbooks. I don't know if its just a matter of place and culture but for me, no you cant be economical by just studying. You need experience and help from advisers in outside world.

Well i can't say for every country, but in my country, if you apply for a course of study and after an exam, you are unable to make the required score to be in that department, you will offered admission in another department that can accommodate your score, so sometimes you find people in a department that they have no interest in but are just there because that was what they were offered and they had to just leave the house. So most times the department one finds himself has little or no effect to his or her lifestyle.

In simpler sense, what i am saying is that i may be a huge spendthrift and find myself studying economics, because it is not what i like, i find myself just keeping up just to get the degree and be done with. Because i have no interest in it, the study of economics will definitely not be evident in my lifestyle.

It is also necessary to put into consideration that everyone has a nature when it comes to money that has been propagated by environment, family background, financial status, responsibility and so on...Some are natural spendthrifts that cannot hold money or be economical about it, while some are economical by nature and has nothing to do with their course of study, they simply just like being in control of their financial life. We have others who are misers, that will never want to spend on anything even for themselves, also has nothing to do with their course of study.

The economy is one of the important sectors on which our lives depend and what I can apply every day is that I can manage our personal economy efficiently by using the money we have properly and correctly.
With the economy, we will definitely prioritize the most important needs to take precedence over the least important needs, and can be independent in entrepreneurship and managing needs.

and there are also those who study economics which are not applied in their lives and are only a formality, and there are also those who do not study it but can learn from mistakes because the income factor is not much so that it needs to be regulated and sufficient.

I think some students become economical but some students do not become economical...

each student has different characteristics depending on their background as well as the teachings of their school. To become economic, it requires direct practice, not just theory because it relates to everyday life.

if you take business in college you should economics class. i never learn to trade even after economics 104 but i did learn history and how money works. if you mean by economical like you become frugal, you don't. i'm not sure what you will become if you take economics as a major actually. maybe teach i see some proffesors are majors or phd of economics.


maybe he meant that after eating an apple, he will still find ways to make use of the apple's seed and the leftovers in the middle that he won't be eating are for the pigs. that's still economical.

I study economy at university, there I learn how the world economy works. I also learn how to predict the economy future. There are much more that I need to learn. In my opinion, for now there are many benefits of studying economy, for example we will be able to know about factors that influence the economy and if there is a problem then we know what we have to do to fix it. Usually that job is done by governments. We as citizens can prepare, adapt, and even use that situation to get opportunity. I learn business management so for me learn economy help me to make decisions in my business, for example to decide what product that I have to sell or what innovation is needed. I think learning good thing may ease us to live in this world.

Considering that it is not clear to us what the OP means by "economical", I will say what I think.

If he means someone who knows economics in a practical way, I would say not necessarily. A relative of mine studied economics and has no idea how income tax works. If you mean someone who knows personal finance, not necessarily either. An acquaintance of mine who is a bank manager (who also studied economics), when I told him that I was investing told me that he lives paycheck to paycheck. His only form of savings and investment is a mortgage.

Saving is a far discussion and topic from economics.

But if someone wants to save and discusses about economics, we're all free to do so. Just as you study economics, people have the way to save and there's always the source who has thought them how to save.

And the same as economics, there's a source who has pushed them to study about it whether it's from school, a relative/friend or just your own thought.

Not everything we learn about economics at school makes us financially literate, and guarantees us to be economical. Most of what we learn in school is
only the basic theory of economics, sometimes in reality financial problems are much more complicated. To become financially literate there must be
more effort from ourselves, by learning from various sources that are directly related to the financial world. To be able to become financially literate
also depends on how we understand the lesson, because some people have to be explained several times to really understand. Now some economists
have their own YouTube channels to educate people who want to understand the world of finance. This means that everyone has the same opportunity
to study economics and become financially literate, not only economics students.

Being educated in economics does not make you a good investor what it does do is make you aware of what can effect the market predicting that is a different story. If you have a economics diploma you are probably a little more knowledgeable on what can effect the market and different trading tragedies but investing at the correct time and taking it out is something that requires a lot of luck and a diploma is not going to help with that.

In my opinion, learning is one thing and living mistakes and thinking is another story, no matter what school you study in economics or go to, the nature of not knowing how to save is still due to the way you live. And everyone's thoughts are not the same.

not really because being economical or good at managing finances is a habit and also the result of practice
I am an economics graduate, out of so many of my friends on campus, only 40% are economical, the rest is very wasteful

In addition, family economic factors also affect a person's frugal habits
On average, those who are born to simple families are very careful about their finances because they think that getting money is difficult

Usually, what we learn from school doesn't really last long and there are also instances wherein we cannot apply it in real life situation. One can be economical or financially literate with or without going to school hence, the individual should put on the work and effort to make himself knowledgeable enough to call himself literate. What we learn in school acts as a foundation or just a warm up on the million of things we can still learn after that. As long as one doesn't settle on what he has learned before, he can be an expert or atleast literate whatever field it is.

Just like many people have pointed out already, you should have explained more as to what you meant by 'economical'
Personally,  I think what you meant would, does someone who studies economics becomes financially literate and  is practical with what he has learnt.
Although,  it is possible that one actually becomes financially literate through what he learn in school but most times, it requires some extra effort on the part of the student. How readily he ready to learn.
However, being financially literate isn't only for students of accounting or economics but for everyone who is ready to learn

This is similar to what happens when people want to lose weight and they set themselves some impossible targets with and incredible harsh diet and too much exercise, if we want to save then we need to do it in ways that are achievable for us.

For example I see a lot of people on my office with a Starbucks coffee which is very expensive, they always claim to have no money but they are always carrying their expensive coffee, if it is an habit that you cannot quit then over the long run it will be cheaper to make your own coffee and buy the best quality coffee beans that you can, this way you are still drinking the coffee that you want while saving money, but this requires effort and thinking outside the box and very few people can do that.

It obvious that career discipline contribute immensely to our life's pattern irrespective of our already existing or embedded lifestyle in the society initially, because from my perception, adoption of knowledge via field career always changes the mentality or the reasoning of a man, basically the answer of your question is YES, from my objectives or observation towards the life character of human, giving another illustration to clarify the fact that even environment of humans causes change to a man.

When I was still at school, I've ignored a lot of important topics and subjects including the economics.

But as I enter bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, that made me love how its economy works. And I think other people would love to know about economics if they've got money involved on it which is important to learn the subject.

Don't think so but they will be aware of what they should've done but have completely ignored it. There's a likely chance though that they will be economical though but some of the people I know don't employ what they learn to be economical personally, they work more on theory rather than the application.

Someone around told me that economics is useless, but economics is not completely meaningless. It does not necessarily only allow you to make money or know how to make money, but it allows you to understand how other people succeed and learn economics. People who study economics do not necessarily become rich, but they will guide others how to become rich. I think the ultimate goal of economics is to let us understand the world and see the real world clearly.

Well, obviously you would be better than most regular people who didn't study. Just like in life, in these type of "what should I study?" type of situations there are people who didn't study and still better than many other people who studied economics, and there are people who studied economics and still fail to understand and just go do some other business.

However these are just one part of it, normally the average economics student is better than a regular citizen who didn't study it. Which is why I personally believe that there is a good amount of chance you would understand how to do it. That is definitely something that you should check out only if you really want to, there is nothing that should be interesting about it if you are not really wanting it, and if you wanted it then you wouldn't really ask about it neither.

You mean that studying up economics just because you do tend to jump in into crypto bandwagon? Knowing that this had been a part of the curriculum for long time and i can say that it would really be enough
for you on at least knowing with the basics and the rest would really depend on common sense of law supply and demand.

For me it isnt really that needed to go back in school unless if you are still schooling for you to get involved in crypto.Its not really that technical or hard to understand.

So, why wont you just try? Be more specific and try to ask out if you do have questions in mind.

“Economics is scientific economics. The core of economics is economic law; in the view of symmetric economics, the optimal allocation and optimal regeneration of resources are only the development and concrete expression of economic law, the object of economics should be the economic law and essence behind the optimal allocation and regeneration of resources, rather than the optimal allocation and regeneration of resources.”

Can you get rich from the knowledge you learned in school? However, the learning in general schools has very little to be used in the society, so I still learn to practice by myself.

I don't exactly understand what you mean by "economical," though studying economics in school makes you look into the bigger and the smaller picture of economics. It doesn't make you take all the right choices and decisions in life when it comes to money, but it does help you understand several scenarios which you may never really wrap your head around when you didn't study economics.

While some people may tell you that the academe doesn't really help you out in real life situations, I beg to differ. You'd still pick up a neat trick or two in the academe that you will not pick up anywhere else.

I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

- The economics they teach at the school level is quite basic and doesn't go into much depth compared to the ones they have in Universities.
- You'll have to select an economics subject in higher studies with special focused attention on economics, where you get practical assignments regarding the subject, then you can call yourself economical unlike with school teachings where there are no practicals.

I don't think studying economics will significantly affect our day-to-day life. It mostly explains economic phenomenon so that student know why/how the society works in the present day. However, its branches, such as finance, business, management, etc., can make you more economical to some extent, and somewhat useful in our day-to-day life.

First, what kind of school are you talking about? High school, undergraduate education, graduate school? It makes a huge difference. If we're talking about general school study, to be honest, it's all pretty useless in real life. There are a lot of people in the class, a teacher is probably a person that failed in his specialty (economics, in this case), so he/she became a teacher, you don't get nearly enough information to go on with at school.

The upper you go - the more it makes sense because there are more specific courses and more qualified professors.
However, keep in mind that just having studied something doesn't automatically make one a professional. I'd say that much more depends on your environment, how you spend your spare time, whether or not you take additional courses, masterclasses and, generally, just smart enough to apply the knowledge in real life.

When it comes to economics I love the following quote and think it is very true in many cases:

"An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today."

To sum it up, an economist is great at reading patterns in old data but is far too often used as a source of reference like they can predict the future. Oftentimes most people with "economics" training are as hopelessly lost as a random stranger on the street. It is only once you've started to combine economics with real world experiences and other skills (such as deep financial or business knowledge) that the practical usage can actually be helpful. Training for one economics qualification can be pretty useless by itself.

I think by economical you mean: Financially literate. Truth is that personal financial literacy isn't really taught in schools, especially in mid-income and low-income countries. Economics taught at school is entirely about the macroeconomic and microeconomic concepts of the Economy which are barely important for anyone unless he wants to make a career in Economics. More important concepts like personal wealth management are often ignored. The job mindset is inculcated that if you want to be successful there is just one route study, get a job and earn active income and that's life.

You should ask specifically about this thread so as not to make assumptions about economics, economics is very broad in scope and I think the title of the thread above is asking about individual financial management. If how to manage finances individually, you only need to allocate financial management to basic expenses, savings and unexpected expenses.

Economical is not a final degree or a professional target from studying economics, so it depends on how they apply the results of their lessons and even then it is not a requirement. Even if they enter a special class to become an economic specialist such as a marketing expert, financial advisor etc., they will find many new and different cases of what is taught at the school desk which makes it difficult for them to be economical.

studying economics in school is only limited to the basics of how to earn money, but not as studied and quite complicated when only theory and theory. all just refers to how we earn money from working part time. nothing explains managing finances financially for future survival.
Studying economics today requires an evaluation that leads to the modern financial system. no longer study conventional finance. and I haven't found a lesson in school about it all. we need a new curriculum that explains digital finance in high schools.

Maybe you can check the life status of people teaching economics class in school and use it as basis? It's probably not the case if those instructors aren't financially literate and financially stable. I mean if they are still slave to their stressful 8-hour day job.

Yes, but you need to understand that you cannot be taught every in school and to take some advance class that will upgrade you professional cause the purpose of schooling is to have social equality,mindset development etc.
But, what I said seems complicate. I will advice to do some online search about how to be professional economical.

First and foremost, it's pertinent you construct your thoughts articulately for easy assimilation, as well as to stimulate discussions. Going by the dictionary definition of economical, it means "prudent with money, so you don't spend more than you ought to", thus to answer your question, taking/studying economics as a course in school doesn't actually mean it'll help you curtail your spending, being frugal in spending is somewhat a personal decision or as a result of actually not having the money to spend.

Having said that, there are quite a lot of people who have never even been to school before, but can properly account for their spending, and then people who take economics as a course being wasteful in spending, it doesn't depend whatsoever on whatever you study in school or anywhere else, it's more of a responsibility inherent in responsible individuals.

Wonder why you ask the question.
Well, depends on what you mean by being Economical. Searched for the word on the internet and it's a bit of what I do when dealing with money, paying people for services or providing paid services to people, but I'm not sure I learnt that from school. Always felt  it's right to pay for things according to there real worth and I prefer not to spend to much on things when there are cheaper alternatives. I didn't learn that in school.

If you mean I job wise, most science studies do open up the possibility of being paid higher and getting better job satisfaction. Economics can allow you to go into financial fields as well as general company management too - and anything else a normal qualification at the level you're going for might open up.

I think we've all seen the memes of people studying economics degrees making the most irrational/impulse purchases out of everyone.

If you want to save money, find ways how to. Work out how to do things like budgeting but don't stick to a budget, show yourself what you might have at the end if you did manage to cut out some sstuff - but don't make it something you won't stick to.

Depending on where you are, you don't need much to live off and still enjoy life - eg switch going for a drink or for coffee for having a picnic in the park then you've still got the same level of social interaction but for much cheaper.

Imo electric, Internet, food, water and gas should be less than $5000 a year in Europe so it's probably cheaper elsewhere. (this figure is just for educational purposes only as it might vary but it is an overestimate - I got all those for about £2k last year).

as far as I understood the question, in general, studying at an institution with an economic bias does not mean that you will become an accountant, but you will definitely have a certain financial literacy and this is now a useful thing

You might want to add some more content to your topic as the term economical could have a broader scope to it and one cannot completely give an opinion that would be more directive to the scope being targeted. I don't know if you get what I mean but then, I suppose your economical in this case to be about, how a person apportions his resources to accommodate his needs and wants, correct?

Well, in that case, its often not about studies. Sure you might get some ideas on scale of preference, giving you a direction to creating a pattern but then, it takes real discipline to follow it up. Something that could be self built and controlled. In essence, its all you really.

What exactly do you mean by economical though? I assume that it's probably financially stable, and if so I do think that studying could make you but that all depends if the person wants to employ what they've learnt in their studies because you can learn about economics and all the stuff about it but if you as a person only care about the theoretical and not the application then you won't be as economical as you might wish.

Your opinion is needed concerning the above topic.