Better Next Week by Olivia Wang

hero_image

BNW002 - Learning more about economics

One of my new year's resolutions is to learn more about the economy.

Last year, I read Morgan Housel's book The Psychology of Money. It's one of my favorites of 2022. After each chapter, I could write a summary of what I learned from it. For me, this is a clear indication that it is a useful book.

While I learned a lot about a healthy attitude towards money and investment, this book also reminded me how little I know about economics.

This is kind of strange since the economy plays such a fundamental role in my life and modern lives in general.

One of the explanations I recently read is the one from the book Economics: The User's Guide. We usually view the economy as a science, something similar to Physics and Math. Therefore, we subconsciously think that there's one correct explanation. So when an expert says something we automatically take it as the correct answer and stop further thinking. In reality, however, economics is more similar to astrology than astronomy. Every "expert" provides their own model to explain how economics work. Their models are often inaccurate or even completely wrong. For example, how many have predicted the 2008 recession based on their model? So it's crucial for everyone to learn about economics and judge for themselves.

I think the authors of The Psychology of Money and Talking to My Daughter About the Economy would agree.

Another motivation for me to learn about economics is to understand why some in-game economy work and some don't. In some games, a virtual item could cost hundreds and thousands of real dollars. What gives that item value? What gives Bitcoins value? I have so many questions.

There are many intro-to-economics books, but it's hard to find one that explains in-game economy in detail academically. I would love to know how I can learn more about that specific topic.

📚 Book

Talking to My Daughter About the Economy

CA

As a computer science major, I learn about how the economy works in tiny fractions. I often feel frustrated when I try to make sense of how things like Bitcoins work. Why do they have value?

We learn 1+1=2 in math and everything basically builds on top of that. In Computer Science, we have number and logic operations, loops, and conditionals. Even the most complicated programs start from there.

I don't have a starting point for my reasoning process about finance and the economy. So one of my new year's resolutions is to learn about economics.

This book, though it is aimed at a 15-year-old, is not a very easy read for me. I know the meaning of each word, but I constantly have to reread some of the paragraphs to understand what the author was saying. The author used the movie The Matrix to explain some of his ideas. I have never seen The Matrix before but I think I will watch it this year.

Techo Toiu Buki Wo Kaban Ni Shinobaseyo

CA

I skimmed the whole book in 30 minutes. Handwritten planners are different from digital ones, but I still got some inspiration from this book.

Should I write my events and tasks once in my weekly planner and once in my monthly planner? We can focus on plans with other people in our monthly planner and more personal things in our weekly planner. When somebody wants to make an appointment with you, you should have no trouble showing your monthly planner to that person.

Use different colors for different kinds of events and tasks.

  • Blue: Work
  • Green: Private, leisure, something to look forward to
  • Red: Health-related, important things
  • Black: Miscellaneous

How to write a reflection journal?

  • Action: The proposal was rejected because of typos
  • Result: Feel upset
  • Reflection: Next time, check thoroughly before handing in proposals

The author mentions "one green a day" which is something simple, fun, and enjoyable for the day. This is the equivalent of "Highlight" from the Book Make Time.

🔖 Article

Year Review Templates

Simulating Virus Transmission with Python

These articles and video tutorials are from 2 years ago but are still quite useful.

💌Subscribe and/or 📧Email

Referred in

BNW002 - Learning more about economics