One of my first major research projects developed during my MBA. A fascination with economics slowly crystallized into a specific study of Monetary Economics. I think the most revealing anecdote was my effort to acquire a 1956 issue of International Economic Papers where Schumpeter (famous for coining the term “creative destruction”) discussed his theory on money.
I was refining my theory on money long before I was introduced to his line of thought. My effort to acquire the paper arose specifically from a reference that sounded similar to my theory. Indeed, his theory was was almost exactly the same as the one I had (essentially independently) developed. This sort of occurrence is not uncommon to people working within a field and many, who believe they have found their mark, find it defeating. Since I was not a professional economist, I found that it validated my skills at learning a subject and applying my critical skills.
I was shocked to find that his principles had been largely lost to modern monetary theory. Indeed, I took the subject several steps further. I carried the basic principles through to an explanation of the Phillips Curve and based on a simple assumption about the limits of knowledge. While the document needs updated based on some critical feedback, a draft of my paper can be found through several academic search engines.
My work has also included several Knol articles (a Google knowledge base soon to transferred to Annotum) that may still be visible here and an extensive list of LinkedIn answers (frequently selected as Best Answer including 32 in economics alone).