The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.
—Friedrich August von Hayek The human race’s curiosity has expressed itself in the creation of various fields of study that examine specific aspects of the world around us. The ‘natural’ sciences like physics and chemistry study the behaviour of the basic particles and elements of the universe and their interactions with each other. The ‘humanities’, on the other hand, study the creations of humans, such as literary texts and the arts. Interspersed between these two is economics—a ‘social science’ which deploys a highly quantitative, data-driven, problem-solving approach towards understanding the behaviour of human beings.
Economics, therefore, is the field of study that is best placed to track, study, project and predict human behaviour; and as such is one of the most important and relevant skills for the world today, helping us choose wisely when it comes to our personal, social and professional lives
