Jimeno, John Kenneth A.

SOCSC 001 – Economics, Taxation and Agrarian reform

Economics has always been one of my favorite subjects. I was very

fascinated to discover how I am implementing the principles of economics in
my daily life. Basically, it is a very important subject because it helps me to
understand many human interactions like production and sale of goods and
services. It's not a boring subject, as it teaches you about the world and you
can gain a better understanding about Philippines’ economy. It is also a
dynamic and interesting subject that will expand my understanding of the
world as well as my reasoning and problem solving abilities. Moreover,
economics is closely connected with vital subjects like sociology, politics,
business studies, mathematics, psychology and history. Economics is truly
all around us, present in almost every aspect of our lives. Studying the
subject gives students a generalist understanding of the world and its inner
workings. Students learn everything from what determines the price of
goods and services to why the average standards of living vary so widely
within and between countries, etc. In my course which is Civil Engineering,
studying economics is important because it will develop habits of careful
thought, the application of mathematics, and practice in clear writing.
Economists engage the world of current affairs. Studying economics
includes learning to use statistics and to read critically. Civil engineers are
experts at infrastructure design, but one of the key controlling factors is cost.
How much does it cost for construction materials? Labor? Permitting?
Which companies sell the most cost effective products? Knowing how to
calculate demand for any particular good may not be necessary, but
understanding how markets work and operate, and knowing when you have
the option of looking for a cheaper alternative are highly underrated skills in
the engineering fields, especially when it comes to civil engineering design.
We might not be able to predict the importance of the Economics when we
are dealing with a smaller projects but when we go for larger projects, it
affects the total Economics of the project. For example a Civil Engineer
Manager needs to predict the fluctuations in inflation so that u could judge
when is the correct time to buy raw materials. A 20 peso variation on one
bag may not seem much but for 1000 bags it is 20,000 peso variation. So
Civil Engineer Manager needs Economics in his /her background. Moreover
demand for particular project variates according to the Economic conditions

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of the country. For example in poor economic conditions most of the people
are unemployed, so it implies no income. His/her desire to buy an apartment
is not backed up by buying power due to lack of income. So demand goes
into depression in the market. A true Civil Engineer manager needs to
forecast the Upcoming Economic situation in order to know the feasibility of
the project. In the real world, more so if you are a design engineer in the
private sector, Economics can make or break the length of your career. Any
engineer can overdesign a structure using a textbook, but minimizing costs
in the design is going to be what gets job contracts from developers,
institutions, or other people willing to pay your company for structure
designs. Of course, this is based on the specific type of contract, the costs
other firms charge, political climate, etc. Nevertheless, cost analyses
between alternatives become very important. Not only do you have to take
into account the upfront cost of all materials and shipping, but you also have
to take into account the construction worker having to piece the project
together with specialized equipment/laborers. From what I've heard from
engineers in the field, the chances of the contractor doing something the
opposite or otherwise not intended by you, the designer, are pretty high. As a
result, you will have to make a judgement call if a particular structure is built
wrong. Do we remove said structure or do we redesign the whole structure
entirely? Depending on equipment and labor costs, a redesign may be more
economical for the client. Saving the client money is a good way to earn
future business in my opinion. With all this being said, knowing the
principles of economics and what clients are willing to pay will influence
your ability to provide customer service, which is essential in winning future
jobs for an engineering firm over local competition. Winning jobs makes
you and your employer happy.
In my opinion there is no topic in Economics which is a so called easy
one. It all depends on to what extent the topic can connect you to the reality.
Initially, I used to think that basic of demand and supply are very easy to
understand but after digging deeper and trying to apply the concept to write
something I found it kind of confusing but interesting, also this is my
favorite topic in Economics. Supply and demand is perhaps one of the most
fundamental concepts of economics and it is the backbone of a market
economy. Generally resulting in market
equilibrium where products demanded at a price are equaled by products
supplied at that price. Demand depends on the price of the commodity and
refers to how much (quantity) of a product or service is desired by buyers.
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The quantity demanded is the amount of a product people are willing to buy
at a certain price; the relationship between price and quantity demanded is
known as the demand relationship. Supply depends not only on the price
obtainable for the commodity but also on the prices of similar products and
represents how much the market can offer. The quantity supplied refers to
the amount of a certain good producers are willing to supply when receiving
a certain price. The correlation between price and how much of a good or
service is supplied to the market is known as the supply relationship. The
relationship between demand and supply underlie the forces behind the
allocation of resources. In market economy theories, demand and supply
theory will allocate resources in the most efficient way possible. How? By
the following of demand and the law of supply. Generally, if there is a low
supply and a high demand, the price will be high. In contrast, the greater the
supply and the lower the demand, the lower the price will be. Also, I`ve
learned the basic laws of supply and demand that I can apply in my life
when I decided to start a business. If demand increases and supply remains
unchanged, a shortage occurs, leading to a higher equilibrium price. If
demand decreases and supply remains unchanged, a surplus occurs, leading
to a lower equilibrium price. If demand remains unchanged and supply
increases, a surplus occurs, leading to a lower equilibrium price. If demand
remains unchanged and supply decreases, a shortage occurs, leading to a
higher equilibrium price. This topic helps me to develop my problem solving
skills and critical thinking by explaining how a business can become
successful or unprofitable. For example a construction company sets the
lowest price of its house at 1.5 million pesos. No one wants the product
because the price is too high for a small house, so the price is lowered to 1.3
million pesos. Demand for the product increases at the new lower price point
and the company begins to make money and a profit. The company could
lower the price to 1 million to increase demand even more, but the increase
in the number of people buying the product would not make up money lost
when the price point was lowered from 1.3 million to 1 million . The
company leaves the price set at 1.3 million because that is the point at which
supply and demand are in equilibrium. Raising the price would reduce
demand and make the company less profitable, while lowering the price
would not increase demand by enough to make up the money lost. Social
responsibility and ethics apply in both individual and group capacities. It
should be incorporated into daily actions, decisions, particularly ones that
will have an effect on other persons and the environment. This topic also
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helps me to make proper decisions and behavior which can affect the
performance of a person around me. It improves myself in terms of
analyzing decisions, beliefs and actions. Before, I considered myself as
socially and ethically irresponsible because sometimes my actions or
decisions caused harm to society.
As a final note, Economic is an essential topic for life. If you are
working, understanding economics will help you understanding how are the
products and services of your company relate to the markets and consumers.
Why some products can mark the price so high and still there are demands
on purchase? How services and products decrease its value? All of those
questions can be answered by basic economics knowledge. Economics is
truly all around us, present in almost every aspect of our lives. Studying the
subject gives students a generalist understanding of the world and its inner
workings. Students learn everything from what determines the price of
goods and services to why the average standards of living vary so widely
within and between countries. With economics pervading every element of
our lives, it follows that the subject complements others so well. This equips
students for life in the real-world, where people are expected to take
responsibility for their own development.

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