The study of economics is incredibly important on the macro level and the micro levels alike.
It’s important to understand at least the most basic economic concepts in your personal life as they relate to personal finance or starting your own business. After college, the learning doesn’t end! That is why it is crucial to get help with economics homework from an online hw helper, if you realize that economic fundamentals are something you are missing out on during your studies.
It’s important for governments and world leaders to study and understand economic conditions on a world level. The global economy is so interconnected, and a government that doesn’t understand economics will be doing a huge disservice to its citizens. As this is important at the highest scale in the world, it’s also important for us to consider as citizens in our own lives and homes.”
It’s important for business leaders and entrepreneurs to understand economics because they are the backbone of the economy.
The types of study and the amount of information that any of the above groups needs will vary. For instance, a regular person doesn’t need to understand the intricacies of the economics of running a country, but if they understand the basics of personal finance they can help themselves out a lot, in a way that directly impacts their well being. All of this can be learned online, too!
With all of that said, we’re going to be talking about why studying economics is important for teenagers in particular.
6 Reasons Why Studying Economics is Important for Teenagers
Studying economics is important for teenagers! Here’s why…
1. It helps teenagers to understand the world
Many of the things that happen in the world and appear on the news can start to make a lot more sense when someone has a better understanding of economics. The same is true for all subjects, really, but economics plays a big role in many different things.
If someone is ignorant of economics, they could form opinions based more on bias compared to someone with a better understanding of economics, the economy, and the world around them.
This is helpful for teenagers to understand since it can give them a huge head start, and a much better perspective during their formative years when they’ll start learning how to think about things and how to reach conclusions.
2. It helps teenagers prepare for jobs and careers in life
Whether or not a teen is thinking of a job related to economics, this is still an umbrella subject that is going to play a big role in their jobs and careers as the years and decades pass. A teenager doesn’t have to aspire to being an accountant or a banker for these skills to be used daily in the career.
There are many jobs that can be challenging and fun at the same time, in fact many workers appreciate a challenge, and that’s a great skill to instill in a younger person as they’re preparing for their careers.
Max Malak, Studybay writing expert, has said “I believe that challenges are what make my job fun and exciting.”
There’s more to life than just careers and jobs, but it’s never a bad thing for teenagers to learn new skills, to understand how the world around them works, and to position themselves for more comfort and success later in life. The formative teenage years are an important time to explore, try different subjects, and to find a good balance between what interests them and what’s going to help them the most in life.
Some people don’t make these discoveries until later in life, and that’s okay too, but having a solid foundation in the earlier years is something that a mindful and thoughtful teenager will be very happy to look back on.
3. It helps teenagers to think critically
The more you know, the better you’ll be at thinking about things critically because you’ll have more information to draw from. This additional knowledge of economics can help a teenager, or people of any age for that matter, to think about things critically.
Learning to think critically is an incredibly valuable skill. It’s really, really difficult to genuinely approach things in a critical way, trying to look at the facts of the situation and avoiding any of your own bias that could mislead you while still wanting to take advantage of the bias you hold that could be correct.
Teenagers who learn critical thinking can harness it in many ways throughout their lives, but it’s not the only way to think. Understanding how to navigate situations emotionally is important, too, and understanding the emotions that impact our economies and how people think and act can also benefit a teenager.
4. It gives teens a head start in growing their wealth
An understanding of economics can go a long way in helping a teenager to make good financial decisions, even beyond their own personal finance. They’ll understand better how the job markets are looking at different times, when they can negotiate harder for a raise or a better starting salary based on the economic conditions at the time, and more.
Money isn’t everything, but when you work hard for your money, you don’t want to waste it. Economics is a broad subject, but even a surface-level understanding can help a teenager to make the most of their wealth that they acquire throughout the life.
5. A different perspective on social issues
Beyond just the money aspect, a better understanding of the economy can give a young better a great foundation for understanding various social issues through a more nuanced and thoughtful lens, rather than relying on their first impression or “common sense”, which isn’t always accurate when it comes to complex things.
6. Making wise decisions as a consumer
Understanding things like compounding interest, when it makes sense to borrow money to buy something and when it makes sense to spend it in cash, and what happens when they invest money are skills that aren’t necessarily directly related to a young person’s employment, but that carry a lot of weight throughout life and can give a teenager an upper hand as they advance in life.
Your Next Steps as a Parent
If you want your teenager to study economics, either in school or just to learn the basics on their own time, there are some ways that you can make this fun and interesting for them, which will greatly increase the chances that they stick with it.
If it’s presented in a dry and boring way, it will be tough to keep their attention, even if you tell them about all the benefits.
So, finding a way to connect economics with their existing interests is a great path to start down. If they enjoy playing video games, for example, there are plenty of video games that have in-game economies, or that mirror real-world economies. The SimCity or Skylines games are good examples of this, but even games like World of Warcraft have economies. In those cases, it’s a matter of taking some time to understand their game, and drawing parallels between the games and real-world economies.
Even games like The Sims are good for a very simple take, granted the shopping and money-management in a game like that is going to a very, very basic example.
To summarize, if you can think of ways to make economics interesting and to tie it into things your teenager already likes, they’ll naturally gravitate towards it as a subject of study.
