I’ll be honest, walking into my first economics lesson, I was skeptical, questioning if I had made the right choice. Growing up in Hong Kong, the city’s position as a major hub of finance and trade was an unavoidable fact, with both my parents working in the financial sector; the sound of the talking heads on television discussing the housing market and stock prices, one economic problem after the next; providing the soundtrack to my mornings as my parents prepared me for school. I couldn’t understand a word at the time, tuning out the tangle of voices and tucking it into the back of my mind; choosing instead to divert my curiosities elsewhere for the time being. However, when it came time to pick the subjects I would be taking post-iGCSEs, I chose Economics as one of them. During the period of intellectual drought that followed my iGCSEs, I felt aimless. I was yearning for something to fulfill my hunger for knowledge. I recalled the burning frustration of not knowing, of not being able to understand what I had felt growing up. It was then I decided to take up economics, hoping to find answers.
I had held many misconceptions about the nature of Economics going into that first lesson. All of them had been swiftly dispelled by the time it was over. When my teacher introduced economics as a social science, I was surprised, to say the least; curious, and eager for more. As more concepts were introduced, my curiosity only grew, which led me to realize that this subject was the right choice for me. All of the facts and figures I heard on the morning news suddenly started to make more sense, opening my eyes to the economic and political issues around me: Why is housing unaffordable for so many?, What is the root cause of the high level of income inequality? Why do people not always make rational decisions? These were some of the questions I began to ask myself as I progressed further with my studies.
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Looking back, I think what ultimately led me to embrace economics as a subject was that it had a human element I thought was lacking in subjects I had previously studied, like maths. While mathematical problems deal in absolutes, economics is mired in uncertainty. There are often many possible solutions to any given economic problem; economics being a field of study that is constantly evolving, with many often contrasting schools of economic thought having been conceived since the inception of the discipline, each with their own flaws and benefits; forming the bedrock for modern economic policy. But despite this progress, there still remains a great many economic problems that lack a definitive answer. Economics, being a study of human problems, perhaps reflects our flaws and imperfections, having inherited both our best and our worst. Like us, “The Dismal Science” has yet to reach its ultimate form and may never do so, but for me at least, that was good enough.
My studies in Computer Science have allowed me to cultivate my problem-solving skills and adopt a logical mindset, which has been useful when considering the various interlocking pieces that make up an economy. It has also granted me insight into the background workings of the internet and computer encryption protocols which may prove useful, given the increasing number of economic transactions that are performed online. Studying English has sharpened my analytical and research skills. Studying texts and exploring their many possible interpretations prepared me for the subjective nature of economic policies. These skills will serve me well as I transition to higher education and beyond, into the world of work, where I aim to build a career in the financial sector.
After years of simply memorizing facts, I found a subject that demanded my effort and encouraged me to think in a more well-rounded way; to understand the multifaceted nature of economic problems. I had been living in a world of black and white. But for the first time, I saw a hint of grey.
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