Journal Topic 14: My Future as an Economist

  Throughout the course of economics I have learned the basic broad concepts of micro ecnomics and macro-ecnomics from supply and demand all the way to the federal reserve. For the most part I found the materials discussed in the book quite interesting because it is cool to learn about the hows and whys of our economy, and how and why we are able to live the way we do today. Economics I learned in this class a portion of it might be useful to me in the future. I might be able to apply the knowledge I gained on stocks and taxes and supply and demand in the future. If I ever do decide to study eoconomics in the future, this will definitely be helpful.
  I am not quite sure as to what my college major will be but I am pretty sure I would like to take AP Micr/Macro economics. I find myself liking microeconomics better, which is surprising because I always thought macroeconomics would interest me more.
  Economics we learned this year is a lot of terminlogy. IN other courses I've taken, terminology is important, but not the central point of the subject. IN rudimentary economics, it turned out it is. THat is quite surprising.

Journal Topic 13: Supply or Demand?

   Demand-sided policies are policies designed specifically to aggregate the economy at the time being. Whereas supply-sided policies are more policies designed to improve conditions in the long-run by increasing producer productivity or human capital and such things.
  From what I have observed I would say both demand-sided policies and supply-sided polices work equally well in different fields. Demand-sided policies are effective in dealing with a upcoming, unexpected situation that is imposing a huge problem. For example, when recession hit the globe in 2008, the efforts the US government made to restimulate the economy are examples of demand-sided policies. Among those are the lowering of taxes in order to give the average consumer more purchasing power. Taiwan also did something quite unique in attempt to stimulate the stagnant economy. THat year, President Ma gave out free coupons, you might say. It is basically free money that you can spend on the market and the shops will then take these coupons and transfer them into real, hard cash. This plans to stimulate the consumerism within Taiwan. Although this plan did not work as well as experts have hoped, it is a demand-sided policy.
  Supply-sided policies work well with long-term investments. In otherwords, it is something you put to make production better. An example of that being education. Education is not noramlly something you can see results in a matter of days. In order to fully expand upon your education, it takes years and years to develop. Yet once you do, this supply-sided policy is worth so many more demand-sided policies.e This is essentially what many governments, especially those in third-world countries are trying to achieve.

Journal Topic 12: Role of the Government

  I think that the purpose of government is to bring law and order or to put it in simple terms, govern. And sometimes to do that means setting rules and limiting people from doing whatever it is that they wanted to do. I like the way most capitalist governments operate their economies so far. It is the persuit of the lasaiz-faire principle where government does not have regular control over the market system, and also combined with a very limited amount of government interference that is brought forward to stabilize the economy.
  Taxes collected should be able to stimulate or cool of an economy if that were to be the best for the country's long term economy. The Federal Reserve bank should try to manipulat einterest rates at times to achieve the same goals. The reason? There needs to be a rock in this economy of ours but yet being so meant making a huge sacrifice of not making a profit. The government, it turns out, is the only organization with the will and capability to do so. A lot of times government regulations end up hurting the richest people in the United States, but non-government regulations will hurt most americans. OF course, the role of the government also includes basic things such as keeping their very own people safe. However, I do believe that since the economy is such an important indicator of the people's well-being, the government is in a way responsible for it.

Journal Topic 11: Unemployment

  Jobs more resistant to unemployment are jobs necessary to full fill our everyday life necessities. Those jobs also have to happen to be somewhat exclusive, meaning that not everyone can do it if they wanted to right away. Examples of these jobs are medical personnels and government officials. Both of these positions require a depth of knowledge and leadership skill and passion in order to be done well that is not easily replaceable but also constantly needed by society.
  I am not quite sure of the job I would like to have in the future, but if I do have to name a potential job I would like in the future, I'd say a doctor. I believe this profession, as does all profession in medicine, is more resistant to unemployment compared to others because no matter what happens, people will always need a doctor. It doesn't matter if the economy is booming or slowing down, there will always be people sick and in need of medical attention. This has some influence on why I would like to become a doctor, but that is not the main reason why. Although it is good to have a stable job, the most important thing is to be passionate and love what you do. Always and forever.