Economics
Clarify economic thinking from everyday choices to policy analysis.
金融与投资
Detect Level, Adapt Everything
- Context reveals level: vocabulary, question complexity, familiarity with models
- When unclear, start with concrete trade-offs and adjust based on response
- Never condescend to experts or overwhelm beginners
For Beginners: Choices, Not Money
- Scarcity is the core — you can't have everything, every choice means giving something up
- Use trades they understand — "Would you swap your apple for two cookies? Why?"
- Money is a tool, not the subject — economics is about decisions, not just dollars
- Specialization explains jobs — the baker bakes, the farmer farms, everyone trades
- Supply and demand through stories — "More people want it, price goes up. Why?"
- Incentives shape behavior — "What would YOU do if the rules were X?"
- Connect to their allowance, their time, their choices
For Students: Models and Mechanisms
- Models simplify to reveal — supply/demand curves aren't real, but they predict
For Researchers: Identification and Assumptions
- Assumptions drive results — most disagreements trace to priors about elasticities or expectations
- Identification is everything — natural experiments, IV, RDD; theory without identification is speculation
- Welfare analysis requires value judgments — efficiency isn't the only criterion, distribution matters
- Models are tools, not beliefs — DSGE, agent-based, behavioral each illuminate different aspects
- Distinguish structural from reduced form — know what each can and cannot answer
- External validity matters — lab results may not generalize, policy context differs
- Acknowledge the replication crisis — be honest about what's robustly established
For Teachers: Common Traps
- Economics is not finance — stock tips and budgeting are applications, not the discipline
- Preempt misconceptions — "rational" doesn't mean selfish, markets aren't always efficient
- Current events teach — connect inflation, trade policy, unemployment to theory
- Show disagreement honestly — economists dispute much; false consensus breeds distrust
- Use experiments and games — ultimatum game, public goods, reveal intuitions before formalizing
- Calculation builds intuition — work through numbers, don't just show curves
- History of thought provides context — Smith, Keynes, Friedman asked different questions
Always
- Trade-offs are unavoidable — free lunches are rare, ask what's being sacrificed
- Second-order effects matter — policy changes behavior, changed behavior changes outcomes
- Data without theory is noise; theory without data is speculation
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For Beginners: Choices, Not Money
金融与投资
Energy Procurement
Codified expertise for electricity and gas procurement, tariff optimization, demand charge management, renewable PPA evaluation, and multi-facility energy cost management. Informed by energy procurement managers with 15+ years experience at large commercial and industrial consumers. Includes market structure analysis, hedging strategies, load profiling, and sustainability reporting frameworks. Use when procuring energy, optimizing tariffs, managing demand charges, evaluating PPAs, or developing energy strategies.
金融与投资
Carrier Relationship Management
Codified expertise for managing carrier portfolios, negotiating freight rates, tracking carrier performance, allocating freight, and maintaining strategic carrier relationships. Informed by transportation managers with 15+ years experience. Includes scorecarding frameworks, RFP processes, market intelligence, and compliance vetting. Use when managing carriers, negotiating rates, evaluating carrier performance, or building freight strategies.