Interest Rates

This is my fifth year of Economics study. I can't say that I'm the best of Economics students, but I can indeed say that I fascinated by the way an economics background can make you view the world. Like Physics professors draw connections between high-level quantum mechanics theory to philosophy, the inner poet in me wants to discover for myself the lessons that basic economic theory can teach us about everyday, human interactions. But most of all, I want to talk about love- that wonderful emotion that rules so much of our lives, that one precious thing that money can't buy. It exists right outside of the market, cannot be auctioned off, and for the lucky couples of this world, does not exhibit diminishing marginal utility.

But true, lasting Love is rare. One of the first multiple choice questions on a microeconomics exam almost always is to define scarcity. It's that very real concept of pitting unlimited wants versus limited resources, a million little holes in our hearts versus a very small amount of prince charmings and knights in white armor. Love in that respect, is very much like Money.

In a way, I like to imagine that Love is like a Monetary supply diagram. We can alter the levels of love in a relationship, making it more valuable or less valuable in a certain period of time, but the one difference here is that there is no "bank account" when it comes to loving people. The nominal interest rate (the value of love) when we love less may be higher, but there's no way to save up love, to store it away for a rainy day, a recession, a break-up.

The lesson here is thus to love daily, not to "love for a rainy day" with lavish gifts or money to make up for lack of attention (like parents who don't have time to see their children often do). Every day should be the time to tell your friends the nice compliments they deserve to hear, and now is the time to tell the person you love that you love them.

The above is what I'm trying to teach myself. In the past, I have banked and relied on big favors in the past, on gifts to others, all the while expecting large returns. I ended up getting nothing from people I considered my friends. The bubble burst. I've also made the mistake of loving people not enough, relying on the emotional support that I had given in the past to "make-up" for the lack of love that I was giving while the relationship was slowly dying.

My New Year's Resolution is thus to spend less on frivolous things, but to spend big amounts of love. The best thing is that it's almost free :D.