As an undergraduate commerce student who had transferred across from a specialised science research course, I was searching for inspiration in my new degree. I wanted to major in a field of study that would lead me to a “real job” (no more waiting around in a lab for litmus paper to change colour) and still be able to stimulate my over-active mind. During the summer of 2006-2007, I read Freakonomics, Stephen Levitt and J.S. Dubner’s collection of weird and wonderful economics anomalies, and found exactly what I was looking for.

Hungry to learn more, I remember hanging off the edge of my seat while I was reading the book, waiting for the next whacky phenomenon to be explained by incentives. I had no idea how much this book was going to change my life.

When I came into my first year microeconomics class (for the second time, I might add), I was armed with curiosity and passion- the best weapons a student brings to war. As someone who had, up to that point, spent a majority of their existence volunteering (here and there and in plenty of other places) and thinking about ways to contribute to others, it seemed bizarre that every decision (no doubt, everything) in life could be explained in terms of net benefits and being self-interested. The idea was completely foreign to me, but as I learned more and more in class, I came to realise that it was entirely true. People really did make decisions based on net benefits and even more so, the study of incentives was the key to understanding how society worked.

“Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” – J.M. Keynes (The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money)

I started to understand people and I became addicted. In short, economics blew my mind.

I didn’t stop at micro either. I studied macro, public, competition, industrial organisation, history, environmental, labour, growth, international, monetary and touched on many other topics in my personal reading or in other subjects along the way. The way I thought about life changed and it was fantastic. Suddenly everything made sense and at the same time, I became one of the biggest nerds I know. I think in economics terms all the time and am one of only a few people I know who throws words like “externality” and “glut” into everyday sentences.

During my intellectual adventures, I fell in love with behavioural and experimental economics. They explored the idea that there could be other motivations for decision-making and I was immediately attracted to these areas since they related to where I had begun my personal economics thought process.

A few years later, since completing an undergraduate degree and an Honours degree in economics, I am now studying a Masters of Econometrics with a minor sequence in mathematics to prepare me for a future PhD in microeconomics. My academic CV includes some amazing experiences which I am eternally grateful for including being fortunate enough to run my own economics experiments on campus, present my work at conferences, meet and work with some of the wisest and wonderful people the world has to offer, and be inspired by what I believe is the most intriguing field of study I could ever have asked for.

My passions for changing the world, music and performance and interests in religion, philosophy, wellness and nutrition are here to join me as I share with you some of the joys of my life as a current grad student and more importantly, as a student of life.