Understanding Economic Dimensions

This is my first blog to start with, my plan of this blog is to share the economic dimensions of the news we read and watch every day. Being the economist and the student of economics since 1990 I rarely find any difficulties in reading and understanding the news related with the economy. At the same time I never realized that a common educated man might not be aware of or knowledgeable enough to take away the true wisdom after reading the economic bulletin.

Therefore this blog is for the educated society which may sometimes misinterpret the facts of the economic news and takes it to some other dimension than the real meaning, implications and impact of the facts identified and present in the news.

My share and write-up would be completely from the point of view of academics: theory and practice, without being biased towards any party or nation. I wish and hope to give the reader the basic understanding of the economic terminology, concepts, phenomenon related with the current economic affairs in very easy and simple way.

Why I think it is important?

Media now days, is not unbiased and unsold, it shows only what it wants to show the public. Human mind on the other hand is having limited cognitive abilities, therefore it doesn’t carry full rationality as we economist initially used to assume, and so unable to take the right information from the news. This double-edged sword is killing the decision making power of the educated lot.

Rationality in the above context mean an individual is fully aware of the problems and the solutions to the problems present in front of her. She can easily find out the best solution for the problem without having any difficulties in approaching the solution.

As we all know that ‘little knowledge is dangerous’, the same is applicable to the information gap, the misinterpreted information and of course the wrong information. Such information unevenness can be the source of mal-adjustments in the economy and surely dangerous for the society. Most of the nations in this world are democratic where, the fate & the future of the economy is decided by the people, for the people and of the people.

Therefore, it is important for all of us to know the facts and its ‘pros and cons’ exactly the way they are and not what the media, the political parties and the government want us to perceive. It is also required from the social scientist to project the unbiased situation in front of the people. Let the people judge it correctly and decide what they want to choose for their personal and societal welfare.

For e.g. many times there is a news or report about the inflation rate going on in the economy and generally it is taken as negative phenomenon by the layperson, innocent or ignorant reader. What if I tell you that some percentage of inflation is good and required in the economy for its growth? Whenever there is a sudden price hike in the market for short period of time, for reasons like shortage of the supply etc. media start blaming the government for not controlling the inflation rate. What if I tell you that such an unexpected increase in price for a short period of time is not called or considered as inflation?

Many such things would be discussed in my blog in my successive writings, all the comments, queries and suggestions by the readers will be most welcomed.

I am Professor of Economics in one of the reputed institutes in Bangalore. This blog will be my effort to inform the less informed and innocent readers about the economic dimensions of the policies specifically economic affairs happening across the nation and the world.

By: Dr. Anu Singh

Economist