July 2, 2015
June 28, 2015
First Post
Hello World-
For my own interest and for those who will be reading this, I'll keep this first post as short as possible. My name is Erik Chiodo and I'm a rising Junior at the University of Rochester pursuing majors in Economics and Japanese and a minor in Applied Mathematics. While in high school, I was required to keep a running blog that focused on topics assigned by my English Teacher. However, since I am going to contribute to my blog based solely on my own discretion, I will have more enjoyment writing and hopefully everyone reading will not only learn something new, but enjoy reading it too. My economics background is sparse, but mostly consists of game theory and theoretical economics. I don't have a breadth of knowledge in the field of quantitative economics. I'm currently interning at a Family Office, which I can't disclose the name of at this time for legal reasons, but I can tell you that I have been assigned a variety of quant-related projects, so I have at least a little exposure. Since this is sort of an informal introduction, I would like to take some time to explain my reasons for studying Economics and Japanese since those are my primary fields of study.
Economics is something that I had gotten into very late in my early life (21 years). Going into college I didn't have a clear or defined path of where I wanted to go. When I say that I had no idea, I really had no idea, despite contemplating some possibilities. Before my first day of classes, I selected some economics classes and Japanese language courses. I had already been studying Japanese for a few years, so I knew that it would be something I was comfortable taking. However, economics was foreign to me. I was under the impression that economics was all about money. I could not of been more wrong.
Not knowing what to expect, going to my first economics class was pretty daunting. I sat down in the middle of this giant lecture hall with roughly 200 other students eagerly waiting for class to begin. The professor walks in and starts the lecture with a brief self-introduction as I expected, however, things took a different turn about two minutes into class. The professor took out his wallet, reached in, and produced a one dollar bill. It was a long time ago, so I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was along the lines of, "what do you think would happen if I said that the first person who takes this one dollar bill will get to keep it?". He then proceeded to throw the one dollar bill on the ground. It took about 20 seconds for the first person to take it. After the student sat down in his chair, he took a five dollar bill out of his wallet. He threw it on the ground and waited. This time, it only took ten seconds for someone to go for the money on the ground. The only difference was that instead of one person going for it, two people went for it. The professor does this for a twenty dollar bill and a fifty dollar bill. By the time it gets to the hundred, people are already standing up eagerly waiting. After this exercise and for most people their actual exercising, he asks the class what they had learned. Although we had a bit of fun, there did seem something interesting about what had just taken place.
The point of the exercise was to show us that economics is essentially the study of how people respond to incentives under the constraint of scarcity. What does this mean in layman terms? Incentives in economics and perhaps in general are anything that motivates people (or anything) to do something. For example, if I were to give a dog a biscuit every time they rolled over the incentive to perform the action of rolling over would be the biscuit (the reward). What is the constraint of scarcity in economics? Quite simple although it sounds wordy. We don't have an unlimited abundance (unlimited amount) of things. If we had an unlimited amount of everything, there wouldn't be a need for economics since everyone could have anything they could want. Maybe the only thing that would require a price would be time. Without trying to deviate too far away from the point that I'm trying to make, I would like to bring it back by saying that I have developed passion for economics over the years. Once I realized that it was more so a social science that looks at human behavior rather than a natural science, I was hooked.
Japanese has been an interest of mine for quite a long time. When I was younger, I had the ability to travel quite a lot, for which I'm very appreciative of. I also have a love for food. I think that many people take food for granted. Food is something that unifies us all, since without it, we would not be able to live. I think that food is a great indicator of one's culture. Every time I try food from a different culture, it is not only a new experience, but it gives me an small insight into their lives. Notice how I say small and not complete. Of course it would be crazy if I said that food is completely determinate of one's life. This is obviously not true, but it does give you a taste, literally. I have always had an affinity for Japanese cuisine, which is one of the reasons why I got into Japanese language. My middle school also offered Japanese classes and a trip to Japan in eighth grade. It seemed like a great opportunity so I went with it. From then on, I have been fascinated by the Japanese Language. It's my opinion that the most genuine experiences you will have immersing yourself in someone else's culture are those where you are most uncomfortable. I thought that if I were to try to go for the most genuine learning experience, I would pick a language that is the most different from my own.
This is going to wrap up my first post. I will try to post once a week during the weekends at the very least. Depending on how busy I am going to be, it could be more or could be less. This post was just about me and my passions. Subsequent articles will be mostly about economic concepts and news that grabs my attention. The last point I would like to make is that I am aware that I am not qualified in the field of economics since I've only been studying it for two years. Any comments that you make will hopefully be constructive instead of spiteful. Thank you in advance to those who read my posts.
Erik Chiodo
For my own interest and for those who will be reading this, I'll keep this first post as short as possible. My name is Erik Chiodo and I'm a rising Junior at the University of Rochester pursuing majors in Economics and Japanese and a minor in Applied Mathematics. While in high school, I was required to keep a running blog that focused on topics assigned by my English Teacher. However, since I am going to contribute to my blog based solely on my own discretion, I will have more enjoyment writing and hopefully everyone reading will not only learn something new, but enjoy reading it too. My economics background is sparse, but mostly consists of game theory and theoretical economics. I don't have a breadth of knowledge in the field of quantitative economics. I'm currently interning at a Family Office, which I can't disclose the name of at this time for legal reasons, but I can tell you that I have been assigned a variety of quant-related projects, so I have at least a little exposure. Since this is sort of an informal introduction, I would like to take some time to explain my reasons for studying Economics and Japanese since those are my primary fields of study.
Economics is something that I had gotten into very late in my early life (21 years). Going into college I didn't have a clear or defined path of where I wanted to go. When I say that I had no idea, I really had no idea, despite contemplating some possibilities. Before my first day of classes, I selected some economics classes and Japanese language courses. I had already been studying Japanese for a few years, so I knew that it would be something I was comfortable taking. However, economics was foreign to me. I was under the impression that economics was all about money. I could not of been more wrong.
Not knowing what to expect, going to my first economics class was pretty daunting. I sat down in the middle of this giant lecture hall with roughly 200 other students eagerly waiting for class to begin. The professor walks in and starts the lecture with a brief self-introduction as I expected, however, things took a different turn about two minutes into class. The professor took out his wallet, reached in, and produced a one dollar bill. It was a long time ago, so I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was along the lines of, "what do you think would happen if I said that the first person who takes this one dollar bill will get to keep it?". He then proceeded to throw the one dollar bill on the ground. It took about 20 seconds for the first person to take it. After the student sat down in his chair, he took a five dollar bill out of his wallet. He threw it on the ground and waited. This time, it only took ten seconds for someone to go for the money on the ground. The only difference was that instead of one person going for it, two people went for it. The professor does this for a twenty dollar bill and a fifty dollar bill. By the time it gets to the hundred, people are already standing up eagerly waiting. After this exercise and for most people their actual exercising, he asks the class what they had learned. Although we had a bit of fun, there did seem something interesting about what had just taken place.
The point of the exercise was to show us that economics is essentially the study of how people respond to incentives under the constraint of scarcity. What does this mean in layman terms? Incentives in economics and perhaps in general are anything that motivates people (or anything) to do something. For example, if I were to give a dog a biscuit every time they rolled over the incentive to perform the action of rolling over would be the biscuit (the reward). What is the constraint of scarcity in economics? Quite simple although it sounds wordy. We don't have an unlimited abundance (unlimited amount) of things. If we had an unlimited amount of everything, there wouldn't be a need for economics since everyone could have anything they could want. Maybe the only thing that would require a price would be time. Without trying to deviate too far away from the point that I'm trying to make, I would like to bring it back by saying that I have developed passion for economics over the years. Once I realized that it was more so a social science that looks at human behavior rather than a natural science, I was hooked.
Japanese has been an interest of mine for quite a long time. When I was younger, I had the ability to travel quite a lot, for which I'm very appreciative of. I also have a love for food. I think that many people take food for granted. Food is something that unifies us all, since without it, we would not be able to live. I think that food is a great indicator of one's culture. Every time I try food from a different culture, it is not only a new experience, but it gives me an small insight into their lives. Notice how I say small and not complete. Of course it would be crazy if I said that food is completely determinate of one's life. This is obviously not true, but it does give you a taste, literally. I have always had an affinity for Japanese cuisine, which is one of the reasons why I got into Japanese language. My middle school also offered Japanese classes and a trip to Japan in eighth grade. It seemed like a great opportunity so I went with it. From then on, I have been fascinated by the Japanese Language. It's my opinion that the most genuine experiences you will have immersing yourself in someone else's culture are those where you are most uncomfortable. I thought that if I were to try to go for the most genuine learning experience, I would pick a language that is the most different from my own.
This is going to wrap up my first post. I will try to post once a week during the weekends at the very least. Depending on how busy I am going to be, it could be more or could be less. This post was just about me and my passions. Subsequent articles will be mostly about economic concepts and news that grabs my attention. The last point I would like to make is that I am aware that I am not qualified in the field of economics since I've only been studying it for two years. Any comments that you make will hopefully be constructive instead of spiteful. Thank you in advance to those who read my posts.
Erik Chiodo
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