Hello @marshbella. When reading Bylund’s chapter, “What Economics Is,” I had the similar reaction to you about the definition of economics. I never truly understood the meaning of economics when people discuss it until Bylund explained it as human interactions working together through exchanges. We have such a big impact on keeping the economy in motion by what we buy and sell through different means, and showing businesses what we like and do not like so that they know what to pursue and what not to.
When discussing economic theory, I agree that Bylund wants us to understand how the economy works and does so by sharing several examples of what motivates us to do what we do to interact with each other. However, you lost me after the inserted quote from the chapter. I feel like you missed some of the other main points he had discussed in this section, such as human action and values. I think you had a typo when talking about the bridge analogy because in the article he is comparing steel and paper, but I like how you brought it up with the discussion of the importance of economic theory. You would not walk across a bridge made of paper because it is not strong enough to withstand weight, so why would you support a theory that is not backed up with reliable support, or like you said, trust someone who does not support their claims with experience and evidence on the topic? I think that going more in depth with the support on economic theory would have been better for this section because there is so much evidence to why learning about it is important.
For your final section, I really liked the quote you used to describe the processes that go into making the economy the way it is.
For example, a producer of candy usually does not produce the sugar, flavoring, or coloring that is in it (Bylund, 2022, p. 42).
This quote perfectly helps visualize and understand that a product is not just easily accessible to everyone but has assistance from many other sources to get it to its final stage. I agree with what you said in this section about how to look at this in relation to economics because there are many parts that must work together to also make the economy work. It also relates back to how the economy is created due to human action. Later in this article, Bylund mentions innovations and the processes that entrepreneurs use to create new products that can lead to “creative destruction.” I wish you had mentioned this in your analysis because I like the explanation of how we shape the economy based on what we create or buy to determine what works and what doesn’t. Overall, I feel like you had some good explanations to support a few of the points Bylund had mentioned in his book. However, you missed one of the main readings, “The How of the Market,” which applies the market to the economy.