Editorial July 29, 2002 Issue

Economics 101

John Selover

Do any of us remember Economics 101? A little? I do remember a recurring discussion of the "economic man" who would behave in a perfect economic manner in every circumstance.

This economic creature would know all there is to know about cost, price, exchange rates, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, equities, bonds, the World Trade Organization, capital formation, and would be a perpetual guest on Louis Rukeyse's television program.

While I have not pursued a career in economics, enough rubbed off or has stuck over the years to sustain an interest. I have, however, given up tying to ever be the economic man. But even an effort to live a life of progress, charity, and achievement has been brought to a period of serious uncertainty. A deeper demand has come to economic thought and action. The financial institutions that have served us satisfactorily over the centuries of revolution—industrial, electronic, communications, political—have lost a bit of luster.

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