Economics

Course summary

Money. Banking. Finance. You may think you’ve already got a good understanding of what Economics covers. You may be right. But it is important to note from the outset that Economics is not simply the study of the economy. So what is Economics? Well, let’s come up with some other words. Human behaviour. Sustainable development. Monopoly. In essence, there is no easy ‘concise’ definition. Textbooks will try defining it as the ‘study of the allocation of scarce resources to meet unlimited wants’, but this certainly doesn’t do the subject justice. Ever wondered why countries continue to spend trillions of pounds on developing nuclear weapons when no country is ever likely to use them? That’s economics. Ever wondered why much of Africa is still poor despite decades of aid being donated? That’s economics. Ever wondered why corruption exists in organisations such as FIFA? That is economics too.