Bouncing Back

I was an Economics major in college. Economics is a social science that bridges mathematical-statistical concepts and human behavior. You heard that right... human behavior. Economics is almost entirely about human behavior and how people react in a world of limited resources. Think about the core economic premise of supply and demand. If there is a surplus quantity of an item, the price will fall; and if there is surplus demand for an item, the price will rise. But what does that really mean in human terms?



Let's say there is a surplus quantity of corn in the marketplace. Everywhere you look, there are corn vendors hawking their wares and trying to entice buyers to purchase their corn. They begin to discount their corn and/or offer incentives for the purchase of their corn. Notice the human element? There is a surplus only because we perceives that corn is readily available -- there is price movement only because the sellers are motivated by the human drives of survival and greed.

Once we understand that economic forces are truly a reflection of human behavior, we can see how the natural limitation of all resources affects our daily lives. After all, every farmer can only grow so many crops, every manufacturer can only produce so many goods, and every person has only so much time in the day to attend to business and home responsibilities. We each rely on economic principles to make dozens of daily decisions, trading off between our needs, wants and assets to accomplish the perfect balance that defines our lifestyle.

As you work to shape your ideal lifestyle, keep the economic principle of limited resources in mind. Specifically, if the things you can buy are limited, and if the time you have to spend is limited, where will you put your focus in order to get the most bang for your buck? Trust me, even if you're stumbling along from time to time, economics is the science of balance in human behavior, and sometime soon you'll find the right answers for you.