Applied
20 lessons in this hub.
Budgeting Basics: How Economists Think About Household Spending
Learn how economists frame a household budget: scarcity, trade-offs, opportunity cost, and the planning systems that turn a paycheque into a plan.
Article · Intermediate · 10 minBuying Your First Home: The Economics of Housing Decisions
Housing as consumption and investment: affordability, leverage, transaction costs, and the true cost of homeownership beyond the purchase price.
Article · Foundations · 8 minThe Economics of Buying a Car: Depreciation, Financing, and Total Cost
Cars are depreciating assets with large hidden costs. Learn total cost of ownership, depreciation curves, and how financing changes the real price.
Article · Intermediate · 9 minCareer Change Economics: Switching Paths Without Going Broke
Human capital, switching costs, and option value: the economic framework for deciding whether — and how — to change careers.
Article · Foundations · 7 minCompound Interest: The Economics of Growth Over Time
How compounding turns time into the most powerful variable in finance — the mathematics, the intuition, and why starting early beats investing more later.
Article · Foundations · 8 minCredit Scores and the Economics of Borrowing
Why lenders score borrowers, what the score signals, and how the economics of information asymmetry shape the price you pay for credit.
Article · Intermediate · 9 minPricing Your Work as a Freelancer: Rates, Value, and Negotiation
Freelance pricing economics: hourly vs project rates, positioning, anchoring, and raising prices without losing the clients that matter.
Article · Foundations · 7 minThe Economics of Taking a Gap Year: Costs, Benefits, and Design
A gap year as deliberate investment: opportunity costs, human-capital effects, signalling to employers, and how to design one that pays off.
Article · Intermediate · 10 minIs Graduate School Worth It? An Economic Analysis
The ROI of advanced degrees: signalling vs human capital, opportunity costs, debt, and when graduate school is — and isn't — a good investment.
Article · Intermediate · 10 minInvesting Basics: Risk, Return, and Diversification
An economics-first introduction to investing: expected returns, the price of risk, diversification, time horizons, and costs — without any stock tips.
Article · Advanced · 10 minThe Economics of Marketing: Signalling, Acquisition Costs, and Returns
Marketing through an economist's lens: signalling theory, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and measuring what your spending actually buys.
Article · Intermediate · 9 minThe Economics of Moving Cities: Costs, Wages, and Quality of Life
Relocation as an investment decision: wage differentials, cost-of-living arithmetic, agglomeration effects, and the hidden costs of moving.
Article · Intermediate · 9 minNegotiation Economics: Bargaining Theory in Practice
From BATNA to anchoring: the game-theoretic foundations of negotiation and how to apply them to everyday deals without manipulation.
Article · Advanced · 11 minPricing Strategy: An Economic Guide to Setting Prices
Cost-plus vs value-based pricing, elasticity, price discrimination, and the psychology of prices — the economics every seller should know.
Article · Foundations · 8 minRent or Buy? A Decision Guide for Housing Economics
The economist's framework for the rent-vs-buy choice: break-even horizons, flexibility value, and honest total-cost comparison.
Article · Intermediate · 10 minRetirement Planning: An Economist's Framework for the Long Game
Life-cycle thinking applied to retirement: consumption smoothing, longevity risk, the savings decision, and how to think about pensions and drawdown.
Article · Intermediate · 9 minSalary Negotiation: Strategy, Evidence, and Behavioural Tactics
How labour-market economics shapes pay negotiations: reservation wages, signalling, anchoring, and a preparation framework for job offers.
Article · Foundations · 8 minSaving Strategies: Building a Cash Reserve That Actually Lasts
Why people save, why saving is hard, and the behavioural strategies — automation, goal structure, and friction design — that make savings stick.
Article · Intermediate · 10 minStarting a Business: Microeconomic Foundations for Founders
The economics of starting a firm: opportunity cost, fixed vs variable costs, break-even analysis, and market structure — before you spend a cent.
Article · Intermediate · 9 minStudent Loans: An Economics Guide to Borrowing for Education
Education as human-capital investment: when student debt is rational, how interest and repayment work, and the economics of choosing how much to borrow.