Cost effectiveness

"Can ethics be monetized?" was the first question when I was going through the lecture slides and the note that I wrote during Dr. Johnson's lecture.

The lecture by Dr. Johnson was an eye-opener for me. This was the first time that I was attending an economics lecture. Dr. Johnson hover around the basic (but very important) concepts of economics. The first lecture started from cost-effectiveness. It's something like "is it worth buying at this price" rather than "is its price the cheapest?". He also mentioned that economics doesn't give any answer for acquity or income distribution, and also that ethical values don't affect economics.  Direct, Indirect, Opportunity Costs were discussed in detail. What is the difference between cost and transfer was very important. Perspective was introduced then. What I do might not be worth doing for others. The evaluation of cost effectiveness should always be done from a single perspective throughout a study. The examples given by Dr. Johnson were simple but effective. Then I realized that economics is everywhere. The first lecture was mainly on "who pays the cost and who gets the benefit".

The second lecture started from where the first lecture ended. There was discussion on transfer, efficiency, benefit, discount rate, and reservation price. I still remember the joke cracked by Dr. Kanav, which nobody understood at that time except himself. I went through the NY times website and I found it there. The difference in theories from Keynesian vision and Neoclassical purists. The article was worth reading. I still have to go through the terms that were mentioned in the class in detail. But overall it was a nice exposure to the field of economics.

Posted by
Prabal