I’ve recently found a new love for finance and how the world works in my macroeconomics class this year. Economics is a mixture of both history and math, and analyzes the intake and outtake of “goods”. For anyone in high school and college, I would strongly recommend putting economics on the top of your list for classes; it will surely make you think twice about the value of a dollar!

Our country runs on a cycle of money; it goes in, it goes out, in, out. But how? Why? If you want a new phone or want to go to the movies with your friends, you have to pay for it one way or another. Financially speaking, wanting an item or a service is called “demand”. The amount of product that sellers are willing to provide is called “supply”. Obviously, the price of an item can be a deal-breaker, right? In economics, the higher the price of an item goes, the less people will want to buy it. The lower the price, the more people want it!

On the other hand, production companies will make LESS of an item if the price people are purchasing the item at is low, and vice versa. The correlation of supply and demand in the market can be shown on a graph called the “supply and demand curve”, Factors such as personal preference, future prices, and advancements in technology can change the demand of consumers, and/or the supply of producers. I know; it’s a lot to take in!

I never knew money could be so detailed and complex. Everything you do has a cost to it. The dollar you have in your pocket can eventually travel to the hands of CEO of a large corporation. Because of my economics class, I now analyze every decision I make when spending. Believe it or not, our American dollar is worth a lot. How will you spend yours: Spend it? Save it? Invest it? Take economics!

-Christina