Welcome, first year students! This is our Economics blog. Here, I will post information related to the topics we have discussed in class. Also, I will share interesting newspaper articles, magazine articles, videos, and other readings. Feel free to comment, share, recommend, make suggestions, ask questions. Let's build knowledge through collaboration!

Economics is a social science concerned with the way society chooses to employ its limited resources- which have alternative uses- to produce goods and services for present and future consumption.

Economics is also known as the science of choice. It is a social science- and not a natural science (like physics, chemistry, biology and astronomy)- because it studies human behavior. But what about human behavior? Economics studies human choices and decisions regarding how to use scarce resources wisely, so that every individual can obtain all the goods and services that he/she needs or expects. Can you name other social sciences?

So, no. Economics is not about the money, money, money. Well, at least it's not ALL about the money. Even so, when we mention the word Economy, we immediately think about money. Money makes the world go round and comes in many forms, from shells and beads to gold coins to plastic or paper.

According to The Economist's glossary, money has three main qualities: as a medium of exchange, buyers can give it to sellers to pay for goods and services; as a unit of account, it can be used to add up apples and oranges in some common value; and as a store of value, it can be used to transfer purchasing power into the future.

A farmer who exchanges fruit for money can spend that money in the future; if he holds on to his fruit it might rot and no longer be useful for paying for something. Inflation undermines the usefulness of money as a store of value, in particular, and also as a unit of account for comparing values at different points in time. Hyper-inflation may destroy confidence in a particular form of money even as a medium of exchange. Do you know any case of Hyper-inflation around the world, which is destroying the confidence in a particular currency?

Now, talking about money, check out these interesting videos. Do you think money can buy happiness?