Economics 15.015

It's great to be at the home of so many Economics nobel prize-winners and great minds like Modigliani, Stiglitz, Samuelson, Krugman, etc.

There’s possibly another one waiting in the wings, our brilliant and nutty professor called RR...very inspiring however. Yesterday we learnt one of the best kept secrets in Macro- the BBNN- a powerful model which can be used to predict where a country is headed (in theory at least). All economies move from overheating and balance of payments surplus, to overheating and deficit, then to unemployment and deficit to surplus and unemployment...and so on round the economic cycle...forever or until equilibrium and then it starts again. It maps labour productivity against balance of payments and was developed by Rudi Dornbusch. It is usually only taught to PhD students. I definitely had never come across it in Economics undergrad or in any textbook. Apparently that's cos it is so difficult to explain.

I really like the fact that RR is trying to highlighting to us our own political biases, which we may not even be aware of. He's also trying get across to profit-maximizing MBA students the ideas of sustainability and social welfare . Many Sloan students, though they might believe in these ideas, in their professional lives have not focused on it at all. Sloan seems very pro- sustainability and indeed it's the theme of our convocation this year. It's easy to be cynical as to why this may be the case, as everyday behaviour here does not necessarily reflect this (all lights left on, overuse of plastics everywhere), yet I don’t believe it’s for bad reasons. Yes Sloan needs to be seen to be ahead of current thinking and have something new to sell to businesses but also it is THE most crucial thinking to get across, and being here, I do actually believe in the integrity of the people here.

RR is someone people will listen to, as he is completely irreverent and politically incorrect - he slams all countries (including his own), governments in general, international orgs, students’ egos, clothes, faces...nothing is sacred..and so when someone like him advocates the future of the planet and warns against over-consumption, people might even believe him, rather than a more typical eco-warrior. So he's the best hero the movement could've found…

The thing is, it is not just a movement, but is simply common sense and what anyone using their heart and head would conclude we need to do - so let’s all slow down on the consumption, darlings...what about a holiday chilling out with friends instead of one where you go shopping?

I am happy someone is teaching business leaders morals and also putting some much needed realism into Economics.