Hello, my name is William Haden Chomphosy. I am currently a PhD student in the economics department at Colorado State University. This blog will feature insights about economics, the environment, education, and much more. In this first post I simply want to provide some background on the roundabout way that I came to find a passion in economics.
People frequently get caught up in the work or activities that seem to dominate our everyday lives. This can be a good thing, especially if you are happy and enjoy the work that is being done. However, there is also value in reflecting on the experiences that lead us to our present endeavors.
If nothing else, taking some time to think about the past may be nostalgic, humorous, or fun (and the marginal cost of taking a fifteen minute break from work to think about your past is near zero). You might surprise yourself, as I often do, to find that your life today is nothing like what you would have expected ten years ago.
On one hand there is a lot of uncertainty in life and it should be no surprise that plans made a decade ago may not come to fruition, but that is not my point. What I find most valuable about these brief moments of introspection is that it can help reveal the things that you care most about in life; things that are all too easy to take for granted when focusing on meeting deadlines, preparing for future commitments, or any of the other things that occupy racing minds. I will briefly share my recollection of the path that took me to truly value and appreciate economics.
Just about ten years ago I was entering high school in Fayetteville, Arkansas. I will admit that I was far from a model student. In fact, I was frustrated with a public education system that I felt did not care about actual education as much as it did so-called “evidence” of learning.
I found myself enrolled in an AP Macroeconomics course, with no real reason for selecting the class beyond a casual suggestion from a friend while I was filling out my schedule. What I found was that economics was a very intuitive approach to examining the world around you. I enjoyed the class sessions and even began exploring economics on my own time, joining extra-curricular economics clubs, and even reading some popular economics (Freakonomics by Steven Levitt).
When I entered college at Hendrix College it had been a few years since I took that first economics course in high school. I decided to enroll in the survey-level economics course to see if I was still interested in the field. I was quickly reminded of why I enjoyed studying economics so much.
To restate something that is taught the first day in almost any principles of micro course, at its core economics is really just the study of human decision-making. This gives economics a unique position in that it can be applied to almost any interest. Whether you want to determine the best way to grow a business, combat wildfires, or assess the social impacts of wealth inequality, economics provides powerful tools to address these questions.
While I am somewhat ashamed to admit it, this simple but powerful fact about economics took me years to fully appreciate. Today I think about this characteristic of economics frequently and do my best to communicate it to my students. As such, I expect that this will be a recurring theme of this blog.
I look forward to sharing this blog with my readers and welcome any questions, comments, or suggestions. I hope that that the posts made here prove to be informative, entertaining, and fun.
William