What is Economics, What is Finance, and What is Real Estate?

What is Economics?  

Economics is the study of how individuals and societies choose to produce, distribute, and consume scarce resources.  Although microeconomics, also known as price theory, is based on the economic behavior of small economic units such as consumers, workers, savers, firms and markets, it deals with some of the most important social issues of our times.  Examples include healthcare and insurance, environmental protection, employment, labor unions and wages, and other hot topics such as energy, taxation, and housing.  Macroeconomics, on the other hand, deals with the behavior of the aggregate economy and considers topics such as inflation, national income, and growth. 

What is Finance?

Finance is a specialized branch of economics concerned with the origination and management of money, credit, banking and investment. Typical areas of study within finance are corporate finance, investments, financial institutions, and risk management. Corporate finance is the study of how firms raise funds from investors, how they invest those funds in return generating projects, and how they distribute those returns back to investors.  Investments is the study of securities (stocks, bonds, etc) and the markets in which they trade.  Financial institutions is the study of banks and other institutions which bring together the suppliers and users of funds, and  risk management is the study of how individuals and firms can limit their exposures to the volatility of existing financial positions.

What is Real Estate?

Real Estate simply focuses on the land and any improvements made to it, comprised of the residential, commercial and industrial categories. A common misconception is that careers in real estate only involve selling houses. It is true that a substantial number of real estate industry participants devote their practice to the residential side of the business, but real estate training opens doors to a wide variety of other career options. Typical areas of study within real estate are building, property and estate management, planning aspects from urban to rural areas, advising on finance, investments and land developments, and appraising and negotiating sales and purchase agreements. Finance, investment, and development aspects all include the sale, purchase and portfolio management of investment property and the financing of real estate projects. Planning is the implementation of plans within a given timescale and surveying budget quantity and cost management. Appraisers and building managers maintain residential, commercial, educational, medical, institutional, hospitality, and industrial property.