About me and why did I start this blog?

Hello! My name is Parul Verma and I love Economics. I got fascinated by this course in high school when I was first introduced to it.

My educational background and experience

I have an M.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, and a B.A. (Hons.) in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi, India.

I always wanted to teach economics or work in policy making. Coming from India, giving quality education to unprivileged children in India would have been my dream job.

But, destiny had some other plans. My first job after completing college was in New Delhi, India. I was writing content for a website called economywatch.com.

Later, I came to the U.S., got married, and worked in economic and financial consulting for 6 years. In that industry, I worked on a wide variety of cases involving economic and financial analysis and learned many new skills.

Motherhood happened

Even though the job I did was enriching, I was facing this continuous guilt of not spending enough time with my firstborn. She would stay in the daycare 9-6 pm since she was 5 months old.

After the birth of my second child, working in a fast-paced industry with loads of overtime work, like consulting, wasn’t working for our family. The opportunity cost of working in that setup was huge for me. Wait, what is this fancy term, I just used? I just introduced you to a fundamental economic concept called opportunity cost. Don’t worry if you never heard of it before, I will explain that in detail in a separate post.

Coming back to my story, I decided to take a break from consulting, and focus on raising my kids. I love helping them with their homework and learning new things with them. I also do part-time work for my in-laws’ clothing business in the US. If you like hand-beaded clothing, please check out my collection online at AdritiCouture.

I was looking to use my education and knowledge

However, being an economics major, the best use of my time and knowledge is very important to me. At the same time, my goal isn’t just to make more money but to live life on my terms doing something I truly enjoy. So, I started weighing the options of doing a job vs. starting my business. I was looking for something to do that would do justice to my education, my experience, and my time. Something I like and could continue for a long time, while still enjoying special moments with my children.

This blog was the perfect solution

Recently, my husband gave me the wonderful idea of starting this blog. The hidden teacher in me got so excited!!! To be able to jot down my thoughts on economics topics sounded very interesting to me and I sensed my calling in this venture. My husband is a tech-savvy guy and made the perfect website layout for me, which I couldn’t have done myself. Thank you, dear hubby, for all your support.

I also want to thank all my economics teachers, in particular Prof. S C Panda (Univ. of Delhi), and Prof. Jeffrey Nugent (USC) for cultivating my passion for economics. Last but not the least, I also want to acknowledge the support of my family members who encouraged me to start this blog. All the various economics books and online articles I have read (must thank the internet for that) helped me gain enough knowledge to share my thoughts with you all. Together, they all gave me the inspiration to start writing without any further delay.

In this blog, I will explain everyday economics and personal finance topics that I think people should know about. Alongside, I will be writing about the current US and global economic events, and explain the economic rationale behind them.

I will keep it simple so that even someone with no economics or finance background can understand.

Some of my articles might be more relevant for students who are currently studying or plan to study economics in high school or college.

Hopefully, through my videos and blogs, you will gain some useful knowledge and can make informed decisions. At the very least, you can have intelligent conversations about our rapidly changing economy at your dinner table.

I’m happy to receive your feedback and will try to answer any questions you may have. So, enjoy reading!