Finding My Major

When I first started college I was an economics major, but I did not think I would stick with the major. I was talking to one of my friends about what I would switch my major too and she recommended I read the book Freakonomics. The book was about two variables, that seemed unrelated but had economic ties that made them very much dependent upon each other. For example abortion and crime rate. In 1970 abortion became legal, which increased the number of abortions performed. In the 1990s there was a sharp decrease in the crime rate that could not be explained. The book Freakonomics argues that since the children who were going to be unwanted, neglected, and impoverished (factors that commonly create a criminal) were never born, they could never become criminals. Regardless of one’s stance on the issue of abortion, the theory is quite interesting.

I found myself very interested in how the economy works after I read the book and how seemingly unrelated events affects the economy. I was then excited to be an economics major and was and am still very excited to go to class. The book Freakonomics opened my eyes to how interesting studying economics can be and kept me from changing my major.