Everyone's decision is somehow guided, if not totally governed, by economics. It is thus important to study economics to make a sound decision, one that is built on solid foundations. But the study of economics tends to divorce the theories and principles of economics from real life. And this has led countless students in the past as well as in the present to debate the relevance---or the lack of it---of studying economics.
Principles such as "People think at the margin," "Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns," to name just two, are the usual stuffs students learn in elementary economics (Econ. 101). These are useful economic tools students can use even in dealing with their own realities and dilemmas. But oftentimes students do not see this fact, partly because economics teachers don't show how economics can make our complex lives manageable. When economics teachers start to teach, they create, unconsciously I believe, a comfortable distance between what they are teaching and what is currently happening in the world.
One of the ways to address this problem is to require students to read an article that, say, attempts to marry or shows how theory and practice go together.
For starters, the teacher can recommend to students Why Barriers Don't Matter by Barrett Sheridan to make them appreciate how time was not able to render the Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns obsolete, especially in international trade.
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