Mention economics to most people and their eyes glaze over and they lose the will to live – but the topic is one that impacts on everyone’s daily lives.
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A group of think-tanks from all over the world has got together to help improve the understanding and appreciation of economics.
Rethinking Economics has a mission to explain a complicated subject in jargon-free terms that are easier to understand.
The group is also part of a new online learning project Economy.
A new study by Economy revealed almost two-thirds of British adults did not understand discussions about economics in newspapers or on TV and radio.
Making sense of the jargon
Only 12% of people felt politicians and financial experts talked about economics in an accessible way that was not too hard to understand and 1% believed economics had no relevance to their lives.
Despite all the media exposure to quantitative easing, less than a third of people (30%) understood what the term meant.
“Economics is simple really,” said Economy’s Joe Richards. “It’s just about making sense of everyone’s daily choices about money and if only one in eight people realise that, we must change the perceptions of as many of the rest as we can.
“To do that, we have to get rid of the jargon and make how economics works simpler for everyone to grasp”
Test your economics knowledge
You can test your knowledge of economics with a quiz from Economy:
- What does GDP stand for?
- Is the UK voting on leaving the Eurozone on June 23, 2016? True or false?
- Whose job is setting the interest base rate and inflation targets for the UK?
- What does Brexit mean?
- What is universal credit?
- What is quantitative easing?
(Answers below)
“We want everyone to take part in learning about economics and the important role the subject plays in our lives,” said Richards. “We all know about economics, but just overlook when we choose to take a job, buy something or save money that we are taking part in the science.”
Quiz answers
- GDP – Gross Domestic Product, which is the total value of goods and services generated by a country in a specific period of time
- False – Britain is voting on leaving the European Union
- The Bank of England sets the official interest rate and inflation targets
- Brexit – The name for Britain exiting the European Union
- Universal Credit – A single welfare payment replacing a system if separate benefits
- Quantitative easing – When central banks buy government bonds to increase the money supply in a country’s’ economy
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