You have to learn economics! This subject will make you look at the world in ways that you would have never considered before. Your friends will be astounded and amazed at your capacity to understand the arcane comments made by politicians, talking heads, and central bankers. When interest rates change, you will find yourself doing mental gymnastics just thinking about all of the exciting ramifications. Not only will you be smarter, you will also sound smarter. Read this book, and the next time you are at a cocktail party start quoting it. Soon you will be the center of attention and the life of the party.
Studying economics puts you in a league with some of the world's great thinkers. Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, Friedrich von Hayek, John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, Ben Stein, Mick Jagger, and of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Every time friends and family start suggesting things or complaining about the government not doing enough, you can sit back, smile, and remind them, “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”
Economics lets you make connections between seemingly disparate things, like the rate of unemployment and dear old Dad's tendency to replace his underwear. You will wow people with the ability to shoot down anyone's argument with cold, calculated logic, and then turn around and shoot down your own argument with the same cold, calculated logic.
When the world panics because of some catastrophic economic news, then you can explain to everyone why they are panicking as you panic right along. In economics, expectations become reality and money is just a social construct. Friends will no longer ask to borrow from you when they are in trouble because they will have heard you warn them of moral hazard. You will throw around new vocabulary like diminishing marginal utility, paradox of thrift, and everyone's new favorite, quantitative easing. If you really read the book, then you will even be able to define what they mean!
Your boss will stand in amazement as you wax poetic on controlling variable costs and maximizing profits. Teachers and classmates will be spellbound as you explain the opportunity cost of not skipping third period. A meaningful discussion of stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, and collateralized debt obligations will no longer sound like some strange dialect of Portuguese.
Exchange rates and savings flows will be like child's play for you. Capital and investment will take on a whole new meaning. Constructing a CPI and deflating nominal GDP will be second nature to you. Your poet hippie cousin that lives in a van and plays guitar will be thrilled when you explain to him why he is technically not unemployed.
Your out-of-work friends will find no comfort when you explain what a jobless recovery is. Every time you go out for dinner you will set the marginal benefit of your decision against the marginal cost in order to maximize your utility. Accountants will shudder in horror when you zero out their profits by adding implicit costs.
By the time you are finished reading this book, you will have become so logical that Mr. Spock from Star Trek will strike you as unbalanced, quirky, and unpredictable. You will hear yourself saying “on the other hand” so many times, you will wish you had a third hand. Put on your seat belt and get ready for a great ride.