The foundations of economics
2 mins
UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once defended her economic policies by saying “there is no alternative”. And in a field as enigmatic as economics, a lot of people simply accepted that as fact. But the Iron Lady’s understanding was perhaps a tad rusty – there are in fact loads of alternative ways to interpret economics. It’s a field that’s been filled with lively debate from the beginning and – luckily for us – there’s no signs of that slowing down anytime soon. Let’s enter the ring.
What is economics? Economists love debating what economics is almost as much as they love debating economics itself – they just really, really love talking... Some will tell you that it’s the study of rational choice, i.e. how individuals make decisions. But that’s a bit broad. We prefer th
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