Have you ever heard the saying, “time is money”? This holds very true for Economists. They basically try to figure out the most efficient methods to produce raw goods in a timely manner and as cheaply as possible. Most economists apply the laws of supply and demand to carry out their goals. These laws predict that the equilibrium market price for a certain amount of a good should be in direct correlation with a consumer’s demand and the producer’s supply. Economists also predict consumer trends. So not only are they figuring out the most efficient production, they are also predicting what and how much should be produced. Economists do a lot of research, and collect and analyze data to be able to forecast future trends. They also study how people make use of scarce resources. Scarce resources are land, labor, raw materials, etc. People use scarce resources to produce goods. So, Economists study what is being used to produce a good, how to produce that good, the quantity demanded that should be produced of that good, and how much of that good should be produced in the future. Economists research usually focuses on energy costs, inflation, interest rates, etc. These are all very important issues. Energy is very significant to the production of goods. You need energy to make machines work. A big corporation needs to know how much energy is going to be needed to produce this good. If they don’t know how expensive it is, the could end up losing profits. The corporation needs to know if the cost of production will be less than the profit they make off of the produced good. Once again you see the basic laws of supply and demand. Economists define inflation as a persistent, substantial rise in the general level of prices related to an increase in the volume of money and resulting in the loss of value of currency (http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/inflation). This is a very big problem facing the United States and Economists. The value of a dollar has decreased significantly in the past decade. Its part of an Economists job to do research on historical monetary trends to learn the value of a dollar today and what that value may be in the future. They need to know if the goods produced will be affordable to the consumer.
In my opinion Economists are a very important part of society. I decided that I wanted to major in Economics while I was in my senior year of high school. Basic economics was a required class to graduate. I ended up being really interest in the subject. Plus, it has very good pay. And businesses and corporations around the world need Economists so I can get a job basically wherever I want to live. After I am done with my education, I plan to move to New York city and find a good paying Economist job in a big corporation. Hopefully, you have learned a little bit about what Economist’s jobs entail.
