Teach a parrot the terms supply and demand and you ve got an economist. -Thomas Carlyle.

I hope that he was wrong or just joking-parrots can fly, but they don t solve today s debt crises. Yesterday, we were fixing a crisis propagated by a housing boom and moral hazard. Today, we are fixing the crisis caused by governments fixing the one before. So much for Keynesian Economics, the fact that we have neglected where governments get money for stimulus spending has come to haunt us today. More importantly, while it has been able to prevent a depression, it has created a culture where all is reliant on them to clean up yesterday s mistakes and instill greater irresponsibility for our actions. (Look at the tea parties demanding greater deregulation as the answer to sluggish growth).Consequently, Keynesian Economics has been the cause rather than the answer to today s economic quagmire. America s economy has its merits, innovation and entrepreneurship has improved productivity and dominated markets, however one cannot underestimate the magnitude of unhealthy consumerism fueled by cheap credit and misplaced confidence propagated by asset inflation. Indeed, looking around me, economics dictate our lives and can explain so much. Identifying myself as an economist, economics should be applied even in the subtlest of events in daily phenomena. Utilizing skills imparted from A levels, I ve began to see. I ve began to see why Singapore banned chewing gum to keep pavements clean, (although I don t support a ban and would prefer alternatives) how micro financing brought televisions and chickens to a village in India and how structural unemployment and a general lackadaisical attitude (partially caused by extensive welfarism) compelled youths to riot in the UK. I now know of my superiority over the parrot. Mathematics is the language and servant of economics-it is imperative for the establishment of basic economic theory. (Imagine where demand and supply would be without quantifiable measures such as price and quantity) More importantly, in the context of today s economic mess, it summarizes and gives meaning to intangible economic theory for the irresponsible speculator and unintelligent politician to fathom.I have found mathematics to be exhilarating, challenging, sometimes frustrating but always intricate and beautiful. I have won 1 merit and 1 bronze at the Singapore Math Olympiad (Junior Category). Being an outperformer in H2 mathematics, I had the privilege to read H3 Linear Algebra at NUS, an opportunity only extended to 5 students at my college. The application of Linear Algebra to Economics lies in its use of matrices to solve a large number of linear equations, where variables are economic indicators or factors. An example is input output economics where linear algebra analyses how inputs and outputs of production interact. Academically, I have been awarded the Edusave Scholarship for 6 consecutive years, placed at the top 5% of my cohort and subsequently won the ACJC merit scholarship for 2 years. Moreover, my team came 2nd at the MOF budget competition, where we had to digest data and derive conclusions and solutions to today s economic quandaries. As a student entrepreneur, I ve initiated Unnecessarily Intimate , a cake shop which raised a $6000 profit in my school s funfair. Initially pressed to lower average costs to maximize seed funding, I ve looked for the minimum efficient scale to maximize economies of scale (bulk ingredients are cheaper). Eventually, I had to bake 200 cakes. Feeling ambitious, I ve failed to appreciate the scarce resources such as time and more importantly passion in undertaking this challenge and incurred higher costs instead. Young people have a dream to change the world, but little do they realize that often it is the world that changes them. I strongly believe that the study of economics will provide me with the discipline to change myself so I can impact the world.