Learning Economics: Student, Dabbler, and Grifter.

An easy step for those new to learning Economics.

“It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a ‘dismal science.’ But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.”

Murray Rothbard

The first thing you should do in learning economics is to identify if you are a student, dabbler, or grifter. Doing so saves you time, frustration, and possible humiliation. It saves you time by narrowing material to what’s important to your goal. The narrowing is key because the material differs among each classification.  Additionally, the identification step helps prevent frustration because by aligning the material with your goals you avoid road blocks. For example, if the dabbler is recommended student material first, they may grow frustrated and quit because its more detail oriented, dry, difficult, and seems disconnected from the questions they are trying to answer. Knowing if you are a student, dabbler, or grifter can also save you from humiliation. For instance, identifying brings about self-awareness of your level of knowledge, which may act as a restraint from voicing ignorantly driven “voracious opinions” about economics in public. An additional benefit of identification occurs when asking for recommendations from knowledgeable people. Clarifying your level of interest in the topic and skill level allows a person to make a more effective recommendation. Moreover, it is your responsibility, as a learner, to put your best foot forward. There is no shortage of poor recommendations that will lead you stray. In short, the identification process saves you time, frustration, and humiliation through clearly identifying your goal in learning economics. Armed with clarity you can cut through the noise and pick a means best suited for achieving your ends.

Although there is overlap; the student, dabbler, and grifter are distinct in their goals and approach. The dabbler is interested in the conclusions of economic theory and its applications, such as minimum wage, inflation, rent control, differences between capitalism and socialism, and topical issues. They are not interested in the nuts and bolts of economics and do not wish to invest a great deal of time but is willing to put forth a modest effort. Simply put, they want to dabble. On the other hand, students are interested in spending a great deal of time and effort in learning the science. (i.e., the nuts and bolts behind how those conclusions are formed.) Moreover, Students understand the fundamentals may seem disconnected from the questions which inspired them to learn but simply trust the process will eventually provide them a deeper understanding of the answer. In brief, Students don’t want turn key answers for the bigger questions. They want to earn it. Students walk the path of mastery if even for a short while. Conversely, the grifter differs from both the student and dabbler as they only want turn-key answers to be used as instruments to satisfy their ends. A clear example of a grifter’s behavior is asking someone who is knowledgeable “How do I respond to x?” with the intention of immediately applying the answer to a debate, school assignment, or diatribe. For the grifter, what’s important is the outcome of using the instrumental information and not seeing reality for what it is. In other words, the grifter is a an opportunist, plagiarizer, and shell.  

If you are a student read Man, Economy, and State by Murray Rothbard. If you are a dabbler read Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt and watch some videos that interest you on the MisesMedia YouTube channel. If you are a grifter, watch debates of intelligent people or maybe a read a book. Any book. Most importantly, no matter what category you fall under, if you want to learn economics you have to read books.

Which one are you?