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Most of what you've described here is about politics and finance, not economics. Econ has pretty much nothing to do with sitting on a board or high-frequency t

Most of what you've described here is about politics and finance, not economics. Econ has pretty much nothing to do with sitting on a board or high-frequency trading. HN is full of users who don't know what econ is but want to explain how wrong it is to one another. It's like a parody of itself.

stevenhuang 4y ago
But taking "economics" in isolation like this ignores much of what actually happens in reality (the politics part). It's a large part of why economics as a field is made fun of when its models are too simplistic to accurately describe reality.
- SantalBlush 4y ago
  You're just piling one non-sequitur on top of another. The question on this thread is "How can I learn macroeconomics properly?" The comment to which I replied was an uninformed diatribe that doesn't even come close to answering the question. Now you're doubling down on it. When someone is asking how to learn economics, it would be helpful to take it more "in isolation" instead of regurgitating the same complaints that we see on HN and don't even answer the question.
  - stevenhuang 4y ago
    You can learn economics to learn economics, sure that's not in dispute. But the OP's original premise was to learn economics _to become a better investor_. If both our comments are non-sequitor to you, consider it's you who lost the plot.
    - SantalBlush 4y ago
      Other people have effectively addressed the disconnect between learning econ and investing; the comment to which I replied did not at all. So no, I did not lose the plot.
goodpoint 4y ago
More like: HN is full of users who don't know what $thing is but want to explain how wrong it is to one another. (Having said that, Economics is still quackery)
mikewarot 4y ago
Economics is based on the theory of a free and open markets. When I took Econ 101, they had a stock market simulator for us to try out. I colluded with a classmate to game the market, and we won. The only surprising part was that our fellow classmates didn't consider the triviality of it's pricing model, which was strictly based on the last transaction prices. The Professor was convinced we hacked the computers, to cheat, which we didn't. We just used the rules as presented, picked a portfolio of stocks to sell at the minimum price to each other... then when the price dropped, our fellow students sold ... and we bought, slowly selling off our other stocks, until we had all those shares. Then we sold each other those stocks at the maximum price. The only effective difference between that simulation and the real world is the 1-10% of the profits that we'd have to pay for "the biggest fine in history". The regulators have been captured.

stevenhuang 4y ago

But taking "economics" in isolation like this ignores much of what actually happens in reality (the politics part). It's a large part of why economics as a field is made fun of when its models are too simplistic to accurately describe reality.

SantalBlush 4y ago
You're just piling one non-sequitur on top of another. The question on this thread is "How can I learn macroeconomics properly?" The comment to which I replied was an uninformed diatribe that doesn't even come close to answering the question. Now you're doubling down on it. When someone is asking how to learn economics, it would be helpful to take it more "in isolation" instead of regurgitating the same complaints that we see on HN and don't even answer the question.
- stevenhuang 4y ago
  You can learn economics to learn economics, sure that's not in dispute. But the OP's original premise was to learn economics _to become a better investor_. If both our comments are non-sequitor to you, consider it's you who lost the plot.
  - SantalBlush 4y ago
    Other people have effectively addressed the disconnect between learning econ and investing; the comment to which I replied did not at all. So no, I did not lose the plot.

goodpoint 4y ago

More like: HN is full of users who don't know what $thing is but want to explain how wrong it is to one another. (Having said that, Economics is still quackery)

mikewarot 4y ago

Economics is based on the theory of a free and open markets. When I took Econ 101, they had a stock market simulator for us to try out. I colluded with a classmate to game the market, and we won. The only surprising part was that our fellow classmates didn't consider the triviality of it's pricing model, which was strictly based on the last transaction prices. The Professor was convinced we hacked the computers, to cheat, which we didn't. We just used the rules as presented, picked a portfolio of stocks to sell at the minimum price to each other... then when the price dropped, our fellow students sold ... and we bought, slowly selling off our other stocks, until we had all those shares. Then we sold each other those stocks at the maximum price. The only effective difference between that simulation and the real world is the 1-10% of the profits that we'd have to pay for "the biggest fine in history". The regulators have been captured.