Why Study Economics" Excerpts from The Classics "Declassified" (C) 1977 Dan Peel and Greenstuff: The Money Book (C) 1984 Dan Peel

1. So that we can LEARN from the experience of others WITHOUT PAYING THE PRICE it cost them. (The Great Depression, saving and investing for the future, etc.)
"We may profit by their experience without paying the price which it cost them."
John Jay (1745-1829 A.D.) The Federalist, No. 5

2. In order to IMPROVE OURSELVES by following the examples of great men and women of the past. (The Carnegie Foundation,
Ford Foundation, Mother Teresa, etc.
". . . Select from their actions all that is noblest and worthiest to know. Ah, and what greater pleasure could one have" Or what more effective means to one’s moral improvement"" Plutarch (c.46-120 A.D.) The Lives of the Noble Grecians. . . ---Timoleon

"In the writings of the Ephesians there was this precept, constantly to think of some one of the men of former times who practiced virtue."
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.) Meditations, Book 12

"My method, on the contrary, is by the study of History [includes economic history], and by the familiarity acquired in writing, to habituate my memory to receive and retain images of the best and worthiest characters, I thus am enabled to free myself from any ignoble, base, or vicious impressions, contracted from contagion of ill company that I may be unavoidably engaged in, by the remedy of turning my thoughts in a happy and calm temper to view these noble examples."
Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.) The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans --- Timoleon

"For the love of money is the root of all evil. . . ." I Timothy 6:10
Money itself is neither good nor bad. It is used to build churches, synagogues, schools, and libraries. But it can also be used for evil things. It isn’t good or bad in and of itself. It’s o.k. to spend it, but you should also save some for short term emergencies, invest some for long term goals, and give some to worthy causes. All that is possible if you study economics and learn how to manage what money you do have. Peel Greenstuff: The Money Book

". . . it seems to be likely enough that we shall be all the more zealous and more emulous to read, observe, and imitate the better lives . . . ."
Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.) The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans --- Demetrius

"So that it becomes a man’s duty to pursue and make after the best and choicest of everything, that he may not only employ his contemplation, but may also be improved by it."
Plutarch (c. 46-120 A.D.) The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans --- Pericles

3. In order to UNDERSTAND, LIVE, and EXIST in our present world. Understanding the Business Cycles and Investments improves our standard of living.
"There is, however, no advantage in reflections on the past [economic history] further than may be of service to the present. For the future we must provide by maintaining what the present gives us and redoubling our efforts . . . ."
Thucydides (c. 460-400 B.C..) The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 1, Ch. 5

4. In order to LEARN the TRUTHS of the past WHICH STILL APPLY to our present world. Causes of Recession, Poverty, and Wealth.
"Yet [economic] history is of great use. I would not be thought here to lessen the credit and use of [economic] history: it is all the light we have in many cases, and we receive from it a great part of the useful truths we have, with a convincing evidence."
John Locke (1632-1704 A.D.) An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, ch. 16

5. So that OUR NATION CAN LEARN from the experience of nations in the past.
(Ex. The economic reasons that the Roman Empire fell and how to avoid it from happening to our own nation.)
". . . Let us study what sorts of influence preserve and destroy states, and what sorts preserve and destroy the particular kinds of constitution, and to what causes it is due that some are well and others ill administered. When these have been studied we shall perhaps be more likely to see with a comprehensive view, which constitution is best, and how each must be ordered, and what [economic] laws and customs it must use, if it is to be at its best.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Micomachean Ethics, Book 10

"It is useful, in framing laws, not only to study the past [economic] history of one’s own country, in order to understand which constitution is desirable for it now, but also to have a knowledge of the constitutions of other nations and so to learn for what kinds of nation the various kinds of constitution are suited."
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Rhetoric, Book 1, ch. 4

6. It teaches us to PUT THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE.
(Ex. There have been numerous "recessions", and yet life still goes on. The short term vs. the long term view -- gambling vs. investing.
"So many humours, so many sects, so many judgments, opinions, laws, and customs, teach us to judge aright of our own, and inform our understanding to discover its imperfections and natural infirmity, which is no trivial speculation. So many mutations of states and kingdoms, and so many turns and revolutions of public fortune, will make us wise enough to make no great wonder of our own."
Montaigne (1533-1592 A.D.) Essays, Book 1

7. To help SOLVE OUR PROBLEMS BY defining the problem and SHOWING US WHAT HAS AND HAS NOT WORKED IN THE PAST.
[Ex. Trade barriers made our Great Depression worse. Punitive taxes on "the rich" (nobody thinks they are until someone else defines them as rich!) hinder the creation of new jobs.
"For those who wish to get clear of difficulties it is advantageous to discuss the difficulties well; for the subsequent free play of thought implies the solution of the previous difficulties, and it is not possible to untie a bow of which one does not know."
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Metaphysics, Book 2

8. To AVOID THE ERRORS of past people AND to PROFIT FROM THEIR GOOD IDEAS. [Ex. Avoid the "Buy now, Pay later" mentality and "save for a rainy day". Delay some little gratifications (pleasures) for big ones later on.]
". . . it is necessary, while formulating the problems of which in our further advance we are to find the solutions, to call into council the views of those of our predecessors who have declared any opinion on this subject, in order that we may profit by whatever is sound in their suggestions and avoid their errors." Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) On the Soul, Book 1

9. To LEARN FROM OUR OWN PAST MISTAKES.
(Ex. High credit card debt and Impulse Buying.)
"Sometimes a man desires to know the event of an action; and then he thinketh of some like action past, and the events thereof one after another, supposing like events will follow like actions." "But this is certain: by so much also he is more prudent, and his expectations seldomer fail him."
Hobbes (1588-1679 A.D.) Leviathan, Part 1 (Of Man), ch. 3

10. In order to SEE WHICH LAWS HELP TO PRESERVE OUR COUNTRY, which ones are useful and good, and which ones are no longer useful. To help us in making laws.
(Ex. High tariffs hinder trade and encourage retaliation. High taxes reduce incentives to produce and save.
". . . we are able to discern what is well or ill settled, and what laws are the salvation and what are the destruction of cities, and what changes would make a state happy . . . ."
Plato (c. 428-348 B.C.) Laws, Book 3

". . .let us study what sorts of influence preserve and destroy states, and what sorts preserve and destroy the particular kinds of constitution, . . . we shall perhaps be more likely to see with a comprehensive view, which constitution is best and how each must be ordered, and what laws [economic influences] and customs it must use, if it is to be at its best."
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Nicomachean Ethics, end of book 10

11. In order to KEEP OUR PRINCIPLES ALIVE by keeping those thoughts alive. (Freedom, Capitalism, Free Enterprise, etc.)
"How can our principles become dead, unless the impressions (thoughts) which correspond to them are extinguished" But it is in thy power to continuously fan these thoughts into a flame."
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.) Meditations, Book 7

12. In order to JUDGE WHAT CAN BE DONE by what has been done.
(Ex. Just $100 a month from age 25 to retirement = $1,030,970
at the historical average stock market return for the past four decades!) Remember to diversify and to use the P.E.E.L. Principle.
(Pennies a day, Ease in, Ease out, Learn all you can.)
"There is a [economic] History in all men’s lives, figuring the nature of the times deceased; The which observed, a man may prophesy, with a near aim, of the main chance of things as yet not come to life, which in their seeds and weak beginnings lie intreasured."
Shakespeare (1564-1616 A.D.) Second Part of King Henry IV, Act III, Scene 1

"Let us judge of what can be done by what has been done." ". . . it is good logic to reason from the actual to the possible."
Rousseau (1712-1778 A.D.) The Social Contract, Book 3 (Authority Maintains Itself)

13. To help (to some extent) PREDICT THE FUTURE.
By observing past events we can predict more accurately what the future will be. Another economic boom and/or a recession -- There will be one!
Death and taxes are certain.
Napoleon said, "Impossible is the word of a fool."
"Nothing is impossible with time."
". . . exact knowledge of the past [economy] is an aid to the interpretation of the future, which in the course of human things must resemble if it does not reflect it . . . ."
Thucydides (c.460-400 B.C.) The History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 1, ch. 1

"consider the past [economic history]; such great changes of political supremacies. Thou mayest foresee also the things which will be. For they will certainly be of like form, and it is not possible that they should deviate from the order of the things which take place now: accordingly to have contemplated human life for forty years is the same as to have contemplated it for ten thousand years. For what wilt thou see"" (Human nature and motivation to produce and save is the same.)
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.) Meditations, Book 7

14. In order to ADVANCE MAN’S KNOWLEDGE.
By studying Economics and Personal Money Management we can improve our lives and the lives of those around us.

"It is different for man, made only for infinity. He is ignorant in his lives of first age, but he never ceases to learn as he goes forward, for he has the advantage not only of his own experience but also of his predecessor’s, because he always keeps in his memory the knowledge he has once acquired, and that of the ancients is always at hand in the books they have left. And since he keeps his knowledge, he can also easily increase it, so that men today are in a certain sense in the same condition in which those ancient philosophers would be if they could have prolonged their old age until now, adding to the knowledge they had what their studies might have won for them by the grace of so many centuries. Hence it is that by a special prerogative not only does each man advance from day to day in the sciences, but all men together make continual progress as the universe grows old, because the same thing happens in the succession of men as in the different ages of an individual man. So that the whole series of men during the course of so many centuries should be considered as one self-same man, always in existence and continually learning."
Pascal (1623-1662 A.D.) Preface to the Treatise on the Vacuum

15. To LEARN PATRIOTISM and our Political & ECONOMIC IDEALS.
"In order to appreciate the vast amount of freedom and opportunity that we have in our country. There is far more that is right with our country than what is wrong. We need to appreciate that fact. (Especially in light of the lack of freedom (both political and economic) that is offered by other countries in the world today and in the past.
We also need to work to bring about the ideals put forth in our Declaration and Constitution.
We gain appreciation and motivation by studying economic history. Studying Economics is our responsibility if we are to continue to grow and to enjoy our economics freedoms. Responsibility is the other side of the coin of freedom! Peel The Classics"Declassified"

16. IT’S FUN! ECONOMICS IS THE STUDY OF HOW GOODS AND SERVICES ARE PRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, AND USED. IT’S ALSO THE STOCK MARKET AND PERSONAL MONEY MANAGEMENT. If you don’t learn how to manage your money, it will manage you!
". . . for it is the business and duty of historians [and Economists] to be exact, truthful, and wholly free from passion, and neither interest nor fear, hatred nor love, should make them swerve from the path of truth, whose mother is history[includes economics], rival of time, storehouse of deeds, witness for the past, example and counsel for the present, and warning for the future."
Cervantes (1547-1616 A.D.) The History of Don Quixote de la Mancha

17. IT’S THE ______. Our government has realized the importance the above reasons for studying Economics. There are some things in life that we must do. (Work to eat, etc.)