ENGL 200 D: Reading Literature: Literature in the Marketplace

Hi, my name is Vivian Yu and I am now a sophomore at UW. Currently, I intend to pursue a BA in psychology and a BS in either informatics or computer science. I don’t have much interest in money or economics, but I am taking this class as one of my English prerequisites for dental school.

When I imagine money, I think of actual currency as in coins and cash. But when I think about it, I consider credit, checks, some other forms of payment money as well. Money is something that represents value, something that you use to obtain something else. By that definition, almost anything could be money because you can trade just about anything. However, I don’t consider fruit, services, or computers as money. Those all have value and can be traded for something else, but in my mind, money is something that you can only use to obtain something else that you actually need.

The economy is the exchange and flow of money and resources. It can help indicate the wealth as well as health of an area. When the wealth is sufficient enough and somewhat evenly distributed, everyone will be happy. However, when the distribution is very polarized, there will be people who suffer from not being able to obtain the necessary resources. I don’t understand the economy very much, but I believe that when it is good, people are usually specializing in a good or service. Then they trade with others who have specialized in another goods or services. This creates a strong flow of money and resources, and people will be able to obtain what they need.