Economics is one subject we cannot avoid. It is something that in a way dominates a majority of the activities around the world. Going by the same logic, it is meant to dominate the written world as well, and a number of passages appear every year from the topic. Keeping in mind the importance of Economics-based reading for CAT/GRE/GMAT reading comprehensions, it is imperative that you as a student explore its concepts in details. To assist you, we provide a series of reading links, suggestions, author recommendations and subject-terminology on this page. These would assist you to understand the subject and its related writings, and help you master passages from this area.
Article Compilation for Economics
- ‘Defining Prosperity Down’ by Paul Krugman
- ‘War on the Unemployed’ by Paul Krugman
- ‘How to reduce our rotting mountains of grain’ by SA Aiyar
- ‘Big trade deficit with China? Excellent!’ SA Aiyar
- ‘Globalisation isn’t just about profits. It’s about taxes too’ by Joseph Stiglitz
- ‘So-called free trade talks should be in the public, not corporate interest’ by Joseph Stiglitz
- ‘The free-trade charade’ by Joseph Stiglitz
- ‘A many-headed beast’ (The Economist)
- ‘The capitalist manifesto’ (The Economist)
- ‘Beyond bootstraps’ (The Economist)
How does this section work?
Well, it is simple. We will keep adding fresh reading links to this page, in the column given on the right of the page. The column would carry fresh articles every month that you should explore and read. Also, we would be adding fresh RCs from the area, as and when they are uploaded on the website. All in all, this section of the website would be constantly expanded to offer you the best possible reading suggestions.
Authors to explore in the field of Economics
The world of economics has a host of amazing writers and commentators, who should be read and explored. These authors offer wonderful insights into the world of economics and help us understand the problems of everyday economics in a much better way. A few of the authors that we recommend you should explore are:
1. Paul Krugman: Paul Krugman is an American economist, Professor of Economics and International Affairs and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times. In 2008, Krugman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Krugman is known in academia for his work on international economics (including trade theory, economic geography, and international finance), liquidity traps, and currency crises. He is the 21st most widely cited economist in the world today and is ranked among the most influential academic thinkers in the US. (source: wikipedia)
2. Joseph Stiglitz: Joseph Stiglitz is an American economist and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979). He is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, and is a former member, and Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He is known for his critical view of the management of globalization, free-market economists (whom he calls “free market fundamentalists”), and some international institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.(source: wikipedia)
3. Thomas Friedman: Thomas Friedman is an American journalist, columnist and author. He writes a twice-weekly column for The New York Times. He has written extensively on foreign affairs including global trade, the Middle East, globalization, and environmental issues and has won the Pulitzer Prize three times. His most famous book is ‘The World is Flat.(source: wikipedia)
4. SA Aiyar: Swaminathan Aiyar is a prominent Indian journalist and columnist. He is consulting editor for the Economic Times and writes regularly for the Economic Times and The Times of India. The name of his section is ‘Swaminomics’. (source: wikipedia)
Terminology for economics
Here is a list of words and their meanings that are often used in the world of economics.
- Demand: Demand refers to a consumer’s desire, willingness and his ability to buy a good or service at a specific price. Demand signifies a person’s willingness and ability to buy a specific good or service at a given point of time.
- Supply: Supply refers to the quantity that the producer is able to and willing to sell in the market at a given price while other factors remaining constant.
- Balance of Trade: Balance of Trade(BOT) refers to the difference in value of a country’s exports and imports over a given period of time. India recorded a trade deficit of 1108.11 INR Billion in May 2013.
- Business Cycle: Business Cycle refers to the series of cyclic changes of economic expansion and depression over a period of time.
- Barter system: Barter system refers to the exchange of goods and services without using the money as a medium of exchange.
- Collateral: Collateral refers to the thing that is pledged as an additional security for the repayment of a loan or debt.
- Depression: Depression refers to the state of long term downturn in the economic activity of one or more economies of the world.
- Dividend: Dividend is the money that is paid by a company to its shareholders out of the profits of the company.
- Engel’s Law: Engel’s law states that given a set of tastes and preferences, as the income of the consumer rises, the proportion of income spent on food falls, even if the actual expenditure on food rises.
- Exchange Rate: Exchange rate is the rate at which the currency of one country is exchanged or converted into the currency of another country,
- Factor Cost: Factor cost refers to the total cost of all the factors of production used in producing a particular good or service.
- FDI: Foreign direct Investment or FDI refers to direct investment into the production process of a country either by buying a company in the targeted country or expanding its business in that country.
- Forward Contracts: Forward contracts are agreements that are traded through a broker or a dealer to buy specific number of shares at a specified price on a previously decided date.
- Frictional Unemployment: Frictional Unemployment involves people in the midst of shifting between jobs.
- Hedge Funds: Hedge Funds is a form of limited partnership of investors that uses high risk methods.
- Insider Trading: Insider Trading is sort of an illegal practice of trading on the stock exchange by having access to the company’s confidential information for the benefit of the self.
- Indifference Curve: Indifference Curve is a graph that represents different combinations of goods that can be bought by the consumer at any given point on the curve giving equal utility to the consumer.
- Market forces: Market forces refer to the economic factors that affect the price, demand and the availability of a product for a consumer.
- Normative Economics: Normative Economics refers to that part of economics which expresses value judgements about the economic fairness or the outcome of the economy.
- Oligopoly: Oligopoly is a kind of a market consisting of a small number of producers and limited competition.
