MACROECONOMICS

Rosete, Minerva B.

TF 4:00-5:30 PM

AB-Economics

Prof. George Villarico

THE GREAT GATSBY Reflection

At first, I had the thought that the movie would be entirely about
economics. But as the story went over, the love story between Mr. Gatsby and
Daisy seemed to have taken over the story. It speaks of a reciprocal love, which
ended in a very one-sided love, with Mr. J Gatsby suffering a terrible fate.
Mentioning economics, the movie is not about the Great Depression which took
place in the late 1920s to the late 1930s. It portrayed Americas condition prior to
the Great Depression, which is the greatest economic downfall in the United
States history. It affected everyone, rich or poor, black or white, etc. As reports
claimed, even the wealthiest in the beginning of 1920s werent even capable of
putting bread into the stomachs of his family members. Moving on, the movie did
not fail to portray reality; the ubiquitous dilemma of poverty. The film was able to
portray the two faces of the United States economic conditions in the early
1920s: the good (prosperous) and the bad (poverty-stricken). The prosperous
was showed in the parties and grand events that Mr. Gatsby was throwing, not
losing hope that Daisy would one day attend to, so they could start a new life.
And now, the bad side. This was portrayed in the scenes containing the character
of the mistress of the husband of Daisy. The mistress lived in a depressed and
terrible area in the United States. I could say that it was a coal mining area,
where people are getting ill, earning but not enough to sustain a decent living.
Also, in the movie, the very well-known phrase American Dream was portrayed.
This was seen in Mr. Gatsbys ambition despite the odds he encountered during
the growing years when children are expected to be innocent-thinkers. He left
home; he went on a journey alone, to achieve that dream of being something
from nothing, as our Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao says.

MACROECONOMICS
We can trace the emergence or the roots of Macroeconomics after John
Maynard Keynes publication of his famous book: The General Theory of
Employment, Interest and Money. But we must clarify that this macroeconomics
pertains to the more formalized or modern thought. I can say that the informal
macroeconomics started when the governments in large-scale territories started
to arise; since the officials were tasked to look after the general welfare of the
inhabitants of the area, especially in matters concerning livelihood. Going back to
the formalized macroeconomic thought during Keynes times, the book seemed
like a response to the ailing economic condition in the United States as the result
of the worst economic downturn of the US economy, the Great Depression. This
was a support for the abolition of the laissez fair system that was in effect that
period. He claimed that market failures could only be remedied by proper state
intervention.