Friday 1 April 2011

It's all very artificial ...

I've spoken about this before, but it's only in the last week that my thoughts have coalesced into something that made me stop and think.

We all know the current economic climate in the world. Credit crunches; redundancies; cost cutting; austerity measures; bail-outs; these terms almost manage to fill the everyday conversations around the country, and around the world.

So what made me stop and think? I realised that it's all very artificial .... and more so, JUST how artificial it is. You see, what many people don't know about me is that I studied economics for four years. This means that I have a better handle than most on just how artificial economies are. Monetary policies (that's the interest rates and exchange rates), fiscal policies (that's the tax stuff) ... they're all based on theories - theories on how the masses will react to the policies that governments and central banks decide to enforce. And as with all theories, there is a basic assumption that people will react in a particular way, and that their behaviour will follow predefined patterns.

If all that just went completely over your head, just take one thing away from this post: never forget that it's artificial. There is a real world beyond the money and policies that govern our lives!