Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Award Date

1951

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department / School

Agricultural Economics

Abstract

Thorstein Veblen is said to have remarked, when asked how he was able to retain and recall such a wealth of information, that his mind contained a framework into which each new fact took its proper place, and recall merely amounted to examining the correct section of this framework To the student, the various economic concepts may come as a group of unrelated segments, none of which appears as a definite component of the whole. Concepts of money may not relate to concepts of goods; static views may be confused with dynamic, etc. If a framework for the ideas of economics is given to the student in advance, he will have a receptacle into which may be fitted each new unit of study as it appears. The problem is: How can the student of economics be presented with a mental framework to use in categorizing the concepts and segments of economic theory? How can this picture, which is to replace a thousand words or more, be devised so that it is simple, yet complete enough to show the main forces operating within the economy? If the student can be made to visualize a picture of the main forces of the economic system, he, likely. will be better able to grasp the ideas of the various parts. More than that, he will have a greater chance of retaining what he has learned if he can fit each new idea into the general scheme. As each new division of economics is studied, the student may orient himself by finding the proper place for the division on the general framework. The purpose of this study is to formulate and to explain a graphic representation of the main forces of the economic system so the student may have a view of the economy as a whole before he attempts to study the parts. To this heuristic device has been given the name "Econometer" (accent third syllable), a measure or indicator of the effects of economic activities.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Economics -- Study and teaching
Economics -- Graphic methods
Macroeconomics -- Study and teaching

Description

Includes bibliographical references

Format

application/pdf

Number of Pages

72

Publisher

South Dakota State University

Rights

No Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Only
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/

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