Just a couple of points...

I'm back from the wilderness with a couple of points for this week. Nothing too technical just a few ideas and views i have.

I started working for a firm which produces labels and tags last week and seeing the economics of the business in real life stimulated me to doubt economic models which i had learnt at A level. I'll give you an example, at this firm to produce a label there are many steps involved in the production process which means that finding the marginal cost of producing a label is hard to calculate. It is not simply the cost of the materials that make up the marginal cost but also the cost of electricity used and more importantly, the cost of the labour used. Determining the productivity and opportunity cost of the labour force involved in the multi-step  production process makes finding the marginal cost of the products hard to work out. Relating this to economic theory, this causes me to doubt the models of a monopoly and perfect competition. If it is difficult to calculate the costs of producing the output, how can you accurately determine the profit-maximising point?

Secondly, i was listening to radio one this week and they had gone out on the streets to find out what the opinions of the general public were of the on going crisis in the eurozone as it emerged this week that Greece was to receive another bail out package. The general consensus was that people didn't care about the situation in europe as Britain isn't part of the eurozone and so we would be unaffected by the chaos. This really scared me as i know that 40% of Britain's trade is with the eurozone and that British banks own assets within Greece and the rest of Europe. That is why i think economic modules need to be included in the National Curriculum so that people are aware of how an economy works and so misconceptions such as the one described above are avoided. Im not saying that economics needs to become mandatory for children but more along the lines that certain macroeconomic modules should be included in subjects such as geography at GCSE. Already, tourism is included in GCSE geography and so theories on trade could easily be integrated there. It's just an idea but i was frightened by the misconceptions that the general public displayed and feel that if people were more aware of real picture, their choices and behaviour would be different.

Any thoughts anyone?