Advice for young people: Don't study economics | Steve Keen and Lex Fridman

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GUEST BIO:
Steve Keen is a heterodox economist and author.

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[DG-mkkd]

Econ 101 is pretty good. Supply, demand, and money is just keeping score.
The trouble with advanced economics, is people start to believe the model controls reality rather than the model is just a rough description.

[DrakeRose]

The chair of the econ department in my school was stunningly frank when he said "I'm responsible for teaching you mainstream economic theory, not reality."

[nigel]

I am age 31 and I never studied economics until about 5 years ago. I studied politics and history for alot of my life but it wasn't until I studied economics that my understanding of the world got even better. Its like all connected.

[Mutual_Information]

I studied econ in undergrad and left with a bad case of physics envy.

All the lessons for economics felt like.. "When this goes up, this other thing goes down.. sometimes.. maybe." That never felt very satisfying.

[James-gmcs]

BSc Economics graduate here.... What i will say is that during university experience, the most disappointing thing was that everything I learned was theory and the lecturer made little-to-no effort to apply it with current real-world scenarios, which made it more difficult to conceptualize and understand in my brain. However, when I left university and started applying the theory to real-world scenarios, suddenly it shifted the way I thought about a lot of things, I considered things from perspectives I wouldn't have though to had I not had that education. So it was quite valuable in the end for enhancing my understanding of the world, business, and politics in general. But if I had the chance to go back to University, in hindsight, I do wish that I had done some kind of engineering degree...

[randoroo]

Studies in microeconomics are more grounded in reality and provide a useful mental model. Most people that have an issue with economics have a problem with the macro side of the house

[mckenzie]

I studied economics as part of a business degree. I always found it fascinating how even seemingly random unconnected phenomena can affect commodities.

[tpsblqf]

You should interview a Michelin starred chef. You’ll learn what a real chaotic career is.

[MojoMachin]

I maybe biased but I loved studying for my Economics BSc it help me get a much better understanding of a wide range of economical, social and geopolitical issues that affects us all. The knowledge learnt can be very helpful in providing you with a good framework on how to make good informed financial decisions. That being said, you do not need a Bachelors Degree to get an understanding of said socio-economic and political issues or make informed decisions but if you can study Economics do it with another worthy major and do not stop at a Bachelors Degree.

[dennisbembenek]

Economics is great if you get down supply vs demand and then focus on the trade off in any decision. I had really good professors who didn’t harp on any particular worldview.

[wanomarfwanmahmudk]

As an exonomics student, I really encourage you to study economics especially the basis principles of it in bachelor degree. It will tremendously help you to understand business landscape, geopolitics, economic issues, wages issues, inflation, trade, etc. But then, in an advanced economics, you need to start be critical. Supply yourself with the knowledge of philosophy of econs, psychology, politics, and diff school of economics so that you will get a correct understanding of reality. Good luck! Learning economics is very fun. You will easily understand the economics news that you will read everyday!

[sandplasma]

I graduated with Economics and have worked in retirement analysis and now data analysis. Its not all that bad if your'e willing to update with the times.

[PrimaImperator]

Actually the classical economic models taught in universities provide a lot of intuition for how real people behave. It’s just that many professors are unable to illuminate this to their students.

[bane]

I self studied economics. I read a ton of books on the subject and I'm still reading books on it. Such a fascinating field to study.

[jbj]

There’s a deep issue with academia. Theory is prioritized and practical application is almost nonexistent. You spend 4 years learning theory and learn a little bit about varying subjects that may or may not be related to your major and may or may not be related to career options after obtaining the degree. Then you show up to a job with no practical experience but you can tell them what definitions mean and maybe have a grasp on theological models. Academia need to focus on practical application like all of these tech boot camps focus on. You can learn theory after you have practical skills. AND you’ll probably understand theory easier because of the perspectives learned from practical application. You can argue for or against theories much better having a practical background. As a new student to subjects, you don’t know up from down but your expected to write research papers based off information detached from reality in some cases. Your expected to somehow analyze research as if you even have the qualifications as a new student to criticize research design and methodologies. It’s really a joke when you realize that.

[roc]

Beg to differ. Study economics as it was in history and go beyond the models made by purists. Learn about how economic change happened not how the models say what should happen.

[masterchief]

I earned a BA in economics. I agree it is an outdated technology and universities don't do it justice. However, I find the basics of economics quite useful in guiding your decision making and financial decisions. Concepts like: elasticity, scarcity, supply and demand, marginal productivity, marginal benefit, indifference curves, budget constraints, current vs future consumption, perfect compliments and substitutes, equilibriums, economic loss or surplus for producers and consumers, organization of industry, tradeoffs, just to name a few, will give you a very strong understanding of why people make the choices they do. I think with just these basic concepts you will have a strong guide to follow and these concepts apply to more than just finance.

[Iisdabest]

Idk. Maybe I'm biased since I majored in econ but I've found it to be a pretty good predictor for consumer behavior.

[hakeem]

steve was my lecturer at uni. absolutely destroyed the system from within

[TreasureTownCoins]

Interesting perspective - I'm currently an Econ major and have found it frustrating at times.