Graduate / Understanding human behavior through the eyes of an economist - Master of Economics Application [3]

Hi, I would be very grateful if you can provide some feedback to my personal statement for my masters of economics application -

Understanding human behavior through the eyes of an economist

Throughout my secondary and post secondary education, I wasn't sure what I was interested in or what I wanted out of life. I studied engineering, as my dad was an engineer. It seemed the natural thing to do. Studying and going through the motion of my education without any passion only result in dissatisfaction in my life and career. My poor grades throughout my undergraduate studies also demonstrated that.

Not long after my graduation, longing for a career change, I started my MBA program. I've developed an interested in Asset management and behavioral finance. This interest and passion motivated me to read books such as super-freakonomics, Predictably irrational, and Malcolm Gladwell's books (from outliers to David and Goliath). I have also developed an interest in game theory. I started learning more and more about the subject via Harvard Business review and "The Art of Strategy: A game theorist's guide to success and life".

After reading and comprehending some of the fundamental theoretical economics knowledge, I was eager to see how it applies to everyday life.

Last year, a friend introduced me to online gaming. He pointed out that there is a rudimentary economy created in the virtual gaming world, where in game items are traded for thousands of dollars. I am intrigued to see how an economy is created and currencies are established in such virtual reality, thus I have decided to pursuit and learn more about the gaming world. One of the most prevalent economics concept applied to in game trading is supply and demand. How much an in game item is worth is based entirely on what the supply is (the likelihood of the item being found in game) and what the demand is (how many players actually sought after this item). Another crucial concept is currency creation. In most online games, using money or actually currencies such as the US dollar is forbidden; as a result a currency in game has to be created. This currency creation process usually takes weeks or even months as the item in game has to be normalized and at an equilibrium where supply is equaled to demand and no noise can affect it. Lastly, negotiation takes places when one player is trading with another. As there isn't any centralized market place or auction house, any transaction will be done via the most traditional negotiation. During negotiation, prisoner's dilemma comes into play as the exact value of an item, especially a brand new item is very difficult to determine. Neither the seller nor the buyer wants each other to know their base line, and at the same time, they do not want to scare the potential buyer / seller away with a super high buyout or low offer.

The more I learn about the development of a rudimentary economy and trading, the more I realize that my economics knowledge is insufficient. I hope to learn more about behavioral economics and game theory in particular so as to further understand human reaction and interaction towards the different situations that life has to offer. Barcelona Graduate School of Economics is one of the best economics school in the world and it offers one of the most comprehensive game theory curriculums. I am confident that with an education with BGSE, I am able to develop an excellent insight in the field of behavioral economics and help different businesses and communities achieve is full potential.