Many economists have demanded this for a long time, but in the last couple days I had to explain things to really educated people that I thought were totally clear. I’m really glad I already learnt some basic economics in business college. But it wasn’t until the third term of economics at university and after reading Freakonomics that I really started applying economic principles to almost any imaginable situation in life. And trust me: there are many. Some examples I came about in the last days:

  • Why do glaziers earn less than opticians?
  • Why is it so expensive to go by train?
  • Why are houses in Austria are scattered all over the place with public transport far, far away?

All these questions can be answered using simple concepts like opportunity costs or supply/demand. I believe that people could make a lot more sense about the world if would be taught a little bit of economics in secondary school. Maybe instead of teaching them the difference between a pig’s and a cow’s leg. (Yes, I learnt that.)Read on:Freakonomics-Blog at NYT