I studied economics and made it my career for two reasons. The subject was and is intellectually fascinating and challenging, particularly to someone with taste and talent for theoretical reasoning and quantitative analysis.

Despite no special preparation for the exams he passed and was admitted with a national scholarship from the university. Vol. See also
Basic income
Guaranteed minimum income
Q Ratio (Tobin's Q ratio)
Tobit model (Tobin's model for censored endogenous variables)
Tobin tax.

This was designed to reduce speculation in the international currency markets which he saw as dangerous and unproductive. Outside of academia Tobin was widely known for his suggestion of a tax on foreign exchange transactions now known as the "Tobin tax". He developed the ideas of Keynesian economics and advocated government intervention to stabilize output and avoid recessions.