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Jake Garrity

Mr. Tymoteusz Chajdas

19 March 2020

Writing 2: Academic Writing

Economics: The Study of People and Their Actions

At its core, economics is the study of people and the choices that they make in their daily

lives, which requires the discipline to follow a very specific set of conventions. These

conventions include representing information through graphical constructs, the

oversimplification of markets, and the manipulation of these markets to provide insight into how

these changes will affect consumers and producers. These conventions of economics are highly

effective at communicating the subject matter of the discipline, due to the unique study of the

field as a whole.

One of the most common and effective means of communicating data within the

discipline of economics, is the use of graphs. Economics is a social science, which means its

theories and content is based upon massive collections of data on people and their tendencies.

This large body of data can be very complicated, making it difficult to see a pattern or tendency

without that data being expressed in a more visually simplified way. Graphs allow economists to

gather this data and represent it in a way that can be more easily understood by the masses,

making it very effective at expressing the collected data. Two-dimensional graphs are a

simplistic way of indicating a relationship between two variables in a situation. The visual

representation of the collected information is much easier to understand when compared to the

raw collection of data because of its more organized nature. This method of communication is

very common in the field of economics as a whole, but it is especially common in lectures and
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presentations that are aimed at a broad audience. An example of graphs being used to simplify a

fairly complex topic is in Professor Kelly Bedard’s lecture on price elasticity. Price elasticity is a

complex economic principle that is pivotal in the understanding of even more advanced topics.

Professor Bedard utilizes graphical representations of price elasticity because they allow her

audience to better comprehend the topic in general.1 An additional example of graphs being used

to simplify a complicated economic principle is in Professor Jon Gruber’s lecture on budget

constraints. Budget constraints refer to the multitude of factors that restrict a person from having

one thing over another. Professor Gruber’s example compares a person’s budget for two goods:

pizza and movies. The graph that Professor Gruber references throughout his lecture displays the

number of pizzas attained on the y-axis, the number of movies watched on the x-axis, and the

function of a line that connects the two goods based on the buyer’s primary constraint.2 In this

example, the primary constraint is that of the buyer’s budget and the line connects the two goods

from the most pizzas that can be bought with that particular budget and the maximum number of

movies that can be watched with that particular budget. In both cases, the discipline’s focus

allows each professor to employ graphs as a means of effectively communicating more about

whatever the topic in question is. By representing this collection of data into a more simplified

and organized visual, economics professors can more effectively communicate with their

students, resulting in a much more efficient learning environment.

An additional convention of economics, that allows the discipline to effectively

communicate its subject matter, is the practice of explaining a particular topic through the use of

oversimplified situations that people can relate to. Because economics is heavily focused on the

1
Bedard, Kelly. Lecture on Price Elasticity, January 27, 2020.
2
Gruber, Jon. Lecture on Budget Constraints, Fall, 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIWE0DaOlzU&list=PL61533C166E8B0028&index=5
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decisions that people make, the discipline has the freedom to teach through a highly practical

lens. Many disciplines such as chemistry, mathematics, and English require students to think in a

largely theoretical way. It can be difficult to think of real-world examples in which someone

would need to understand the quadratic formula or the atomic number of Iron, whereas

economics focuses on events that people go through every day, which allows the discipline to

teach through real-world examples. Professor Gruber exemplified this practice in his lecture on

budget constraints.3 Budget constraints as a whole can be fairly difficult to comprehend at first

glance, however, Professor Gruber simplifies this by asking his students to imagine a simplified

scenario. In this scenario, a student has a monthly entertainment budget of ninety-six dollars and

will can only spend that money on pizza or movie tickets. The situation simplifies the topic by

providing two variables: pizza and movie tickets, along with a constraint: a budget of ninety-six

dollars per month. It is highly effective at explaining the concept because it is easy to relate to

and therefore, comprehend. Overall, this simplified example allows Professor Gruber’s students

to put themselves in the place of this student, recognize the situation and understand the concept

of budget constraints as a whole from a first-person perspective.

Another common convention of economics that is effective at communicating the

subject’s material is the practice of manipulating a single variable, in a situation, to indicate the

effects that the variable has in regard to the topic being taught. This practice ties into the

previous two conventions of representing data in a graphical format and the teaching of material

through simplified examples that students can relate to and understand. Economics allows an

individual to envision a situation, manipulate a variable of that situation, and take note of the

effect that the variable has on the situation as a whole. This allows economics professors to

3
Gruber, Jon. Lecture on Budget Constraints, Fall, 2010.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIWE0DaOlzU&list=PL61533C166E8B0028&index=5
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easily teach their students about the effect a particular aspect of a situation has on the situation

altogether. Professor Kelly Bedard employs this convention in her lecture on budget constraints

by singling out a particular portion of the situation, adjusting it, and then using that change to

better explain the purpose of that variable. In her version of the lecture, Professor Bedard

envisions a situation in which a student, Andy, has forty dollars a month to spend on either tacos

or burgers. In this example, Andy is constrained by the value of his budget, which results in him

being able to buy a maximum of ten burgers at four dollars each or twenty tacos at two dollars

each.4 To better explain the role at which the price of tacos plays in this situation, Professor

Bedard questioned what would happen if the price of tacos increased from two dollars each to

five dollars each. At this price point, Andy is no longer able to afford twenty tacos, but can now

only afford a maximum of eight tacos. This change in the price of tacos not only decreased the

total number of tacos that Andy could buy, but it also decreased the total value of his spending

power of his forty dollars. This technique can be applied to all other variables within this

situation and serves the purpose of simplifying and expressing the importance of each variable

within the context of the topic. Studying the effect that each aspect of the situation has on the

situation as a whole provides students with a better understanding of each manipulated variable

in addition to the situation as a whole.

With the overall focus of economics being the study of people’s decisions, economists

are allowed the freedom to simplify and express a variety of complex topics through conventions

such as graphical representations of data, the simplification of real-world examples, and the

manipulation of a single variable to explain its effects on a multi-variable situation. These

techniques have proven to be highly effective in explaining and teaching advanced economic

4
Bedard, Kelly. Lecture on Budget Constraints, February 23, 2020.
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principles to a widespread audience. Further study on the effectiveness of conventions and

literacy practices within the discipline of economics may help provide educators with insight into

the types of practices that they should employ within their own lectures, thus improving the

education of students everywhere.

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Bibliography

Bedard, Kelly. Lecture on Budget Constraints, February 23, 2020.

Bedard, Kelly. Lecture on Price Elasticity, January 27, 2020.

Gruber, Jon. Lecture on Budget Constraints, Fall, 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIWE0DaOlzU&list=PL61533C166E8B0028&inde

x=5

Callois, Jean-Marc. "Social Interaction and Economic Organization: Toward an Integrative

Microeconomic Model." Economics Letters 121.1 (2013): 98-100. Web.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176513003376?via%3Dihub#f00

0005

Markey‐Towler, Brendan. "The New Microeconomics: A Psychological, Institutional, and

Evolutionary Paradigm with Neoclassical Economics as a Special Case." The American Journal

of Economics and Sociology 78.1 (2019): 95-135. Web.

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=e753c2d8-348a-4402-ab23-

8ba265863df1%40sessionmgr4006&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#bib3up

Pentland, Alex. "Simple Market Models Fail the Test." Nature 525.7568 (2015): 190-91. Web.

https://search.proquest.com/docview/1712128269
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Writing Project 2: Reflection

My second Writing Project of the quarter aimed to discuss the effectiveness of the

conventions that are used within a microeconomics class, along with an explanation as to why

these practices are unique to the discipline. When I was directed to select a discipline that is

based off of one of the classes I am currently enrolled in, the choice was clear to me. I’ve

decided that I would like to be an economics major and, thus far, I have thoroughly enjoyed my

class. I will admit, however, that there continue to be seeds of doubt planted in my mind about

my major considering I have minimal understanding of what economics is and whether or not I

would enjoy it in the first place. My immediate feeling of wanting to pick this class helped

reinforce my belief that I enjoy and want to pursue a degree in economics. This made it much

easier to write about and research because I enjoy going to my class and I love to talk about its

subject matter.

As for the writing process, in particular, I found the most difficult part to be that of

deciding on what argument I wanted to talk about. The prompt gave us the freedom to create our

own thesis however, that same freedom made it difficult to decide on an argument that was open

enough to be explored in detail, but concise enough that it could still be argued. In addition to

this I found it difficult to include a wide array of sources that would back up my arguments. For

example, I primarily relied on in-class and online lectures for my paper’s evidence which

managed to support my argument fairly well, however, I knew that sticking to one type of source

may limit my argument in the long run. I decided to research more academic journals through the

UCSB library database, and I managed to find one that could, possibly, support my argument on

graphical representations being included within the discipline from a perspective that was

different than that of an economics class. I believed that this would help strengthen my overall
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argument that this convention belonged to the discipline as a whole, rather than just within an

economics classroom. During the process of peer-reviews I asked the question about whether or

not I should replace one of the original sources with that of the academic journal in order to

provide further diversity among my sources. Their feedback told me that the lectures did a great

job at supporting my argument, and that I should only replace one of them if my other source

was as good, or better, at providing evidence. I decided to not exchange my references because I

did not believe the academic journal was as strong at supporting my argument as the lecture was,

and that the diversity of sources would not strengthen my paper as much as leaving in my

original sources. My primary goal was to argue for the effectiveness of the convention, and I

believe the sources I employed did the best job at explaining that.

My biggest concern regarding my Writing Project 2 is my possible misinterpretation of

the term “literacy practices” which could ultimately lead in the failure of my essay as a whole.

My only comfort comes from my continued discussions with Mr. Tymoteusz Chajdas because he

seemed to agree with me in that my listed practices can be considered conventions of the

discipline. Despite this, if I were to go back and restart the entire process, I would try to focus on

solely the practices and conventions of economics that occur within the writing portion of the

class. This would have required me to conduct more research into the peer-reviewed academic

journals in order to find such techniques, however I think it would result in a stronger overall

paper than the one I have completed so long as the peer-review journal provided a clear example

of the conventions. In addition to this, I would want to adjust my thesis statement to be a more

simplified version of what it currently is. My concern is that my current thesis is difficult to

narrow down to a single argument. I believe it can be interpreted in one of two ways: that each of

the mentioned practices is effective and here is why or that each of the mentioned practices is
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effective and that is because of the nature of economics. My goal is not to define these

conventions as unique to economics, but rather explain that these conventions are effective at

communicating the subject matter of economics because of the discipline’s unique study of

people and their decisions.

This writing process has helped me realize that from this point forward I should do a

better job at organizing my thoughts and arguments before I begin the writing process. Rather

than decide on an argument and then search for evidence that supports that argument I should

have conducted my research and then drawn overarching conclusions that would lead me to

being able to create my own thesis. This project has also led me to the realization that, while I

spend a considerable amount of thought in all aspects of a paper, ranging from the research to the

final draft, the best way for me to improve my writing is by spending this same amount of

consideration into the planning stage of my writing. Developing a plan that guides my writing

will allow me to better stick to the prompt of the paper as well as support my arguments in a

more effective way.