Sofie Franslay
Sofie is a Student Champion from Lancaster University, where she is second-year Economics major with a minor in International Relations. She is from Indonesia and enjoys all things related to global markets, finance and economics.
Why did you choose to study economics?
As someone who initially started as a Politics and International Relations major, I shifted to Economics when I became drawn in by my economic modules and realised the profound impact of economics on the world around me, from my daily life to global politics. Economics provides such indispensable insights into the problems of our world, making it such an essential field of study.
How would you describe economics?
Incredibly engaging. Economics is truthfully a lot more practical than abstract, and you’re going to find yourself constantly reshaping your mind to create everyday economic decisions and actions that really enlighten you to all the underlying mechanisms of how society is built, reasons to why businesses succeed and fail, and why the prices of your favourite goods constantly rise and fall.
If you had a time machine and could meet your 16-year-old self, what advice would you give them?
Always look for new opportunities! It’s never too early and opportunities will lie everywhere. Never stop yourself from pursuing anything before even trying, because you’ll never know how much you would enjoy something if you stay stuck to preconceived judgements.
What is your favourite part of economics?
I would be guilty of being common, but I am absolutely always enthralled by Microeconomics. It’s my favourite Econ subfield because of all its market dynamics, its game-like environment, its relevance to our real lives, and its need for analytical insights to maximise all our pay-offs.
Is there anything you would do differently if you had the chance?
Definitely pursued Economics early. Even though I had taken a Higher Level Economics study in high school, I never really pushed myself to pursue Economics as I always saw it as a serious and lifeless study, but I was definitely wrong.