Ecunomist volume 21, issue 1, November 10

The Ecunomist year 21, issue 1

Meet the Dean: the Future of USE Greekonomics World’s Hottest Economists ‘The Black Swan’ - a Literature Review

Het hele land als klant Meer weten over een baan als financieel specialist bij de Rijksoverheid? Kijk op financials.werkenvoornederland.nl.

Ontmoet ons op de Carrièrebeurs Overheid in de Amsterdam RAI op 25 en 26 november 2011.

Als financieel specialist bij de Rijksoverheid heb je veelzijdig werk. Je bereidt het financieringsbeleid voor, beheert de staatskas ĂŠn de staatsschuld of je zorgt voor een correcte begroting of controle cyclus. Dat kun je doen op het gebied van zorg, onderwijs, verkeer, veiligheid, milieu, buitenlandse

www.werkenvoornederland.nl

betrekkingen, sport en infra structuur. Allemaal zaken die van grote maatschappelijke betekenis zijn. In feite werk je dus voor alle Nederlanders. Het is hoe dan ook enorm interessant werk, waarbinnen je jezelf eindeloos kunt ontwikkelen.

Meer weten? Kijk op financials.werkenvoornederland.nl.

In this Issue 4 5 6 7 8 12 14 16 19 21 22 23 24 25

News Feed Snapshots: Ecuation White From the Editor From the Board People Who Brought the Future Janneke Plantenga and the Future of USE Cultural Convergence Greekonomics Review: The Black Swan StIB: The Student Interest Body The Lustrum Activities Committee The Lustrum Conference Committee World’s Hottest Economists: Glorifying Nerds Snapshots: Introduction Week

26 The Editorial Committee 27 Snapshots: Intro Weekend Several times a year, The Ecunomist is published in a circulation of 1,500 for the members, patrons, Ecunomen and external contacts of ECU’92.

Miles Hilton | Willem Isbrucker | Jana Rautenberg | Ronja Röttger | Christina Schenten | Leila Maria Scott | Kai Strohmeyer | Dea Tusha | Gidde van der Ven Study Association ECU’92 Kriekenpitplein 18, Room 1.21 3584EC Utrecht T 030-2539680

www.ecu92.nl info@ecu92.nl

Printed by Drukkerij Hakker van Rooijen

News Feed Back at the top.

Utrecht University cracks the top 50 schools in the world after a two year 50+ slump. #CVBump Economics of Neural Networks?

Neuroeconomics gains credibility as the University of Zurich now joins Caltech and Claremont, offering a Ph.D. in the field.

Hear, hear!

Student Interest Body (StIB) set up to represent and give voice to the student body of USE. Send compliments, complaints and criticisms their way.

Rationally Expected?

American economists Sargent and Sims take home the Nobel Prize in economics, continuing the preeminence of US trained experts in the field.

Nostalgia on the Campus.

AA building at UCU recently baptized Adam Smith Building #PoliticalEconomyFTW 4

ECUation White

From the Editor

To all professors, board members and students, both freshman and veteran,

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome you back to another academic year here at USE, as well as the Ecunomist’s inaugural issue of the lustrum year. To those of you who have just finished your first period here at our school, congratulations, hopefully you have made it through relatively unscathed and with a pair of passes under your belt. To all returning students, you’re now another period closer to graduation. As the new editorin-chief, I look forward to delivering educational and entertaining content to you over the course of the year. As some of you may notice, several changes have been undertaken with regard to both the content and style of our publication, which we believe reflect the growing maturity of our magazine.

New regular additions include the News Feed (p. 6), highlighting relevant and interesting matters in a quick and recognizable format, as well as the Literature Review (p. 19), which covers books, articles and other texts applicable and relevant to our current studies. In addition, upcoming issues will feature interviews with both academic and business professionals, giving you more information on exactly what fields and areas one may work in after obtaining degree in economics.

For our first issue, we turn our focus to the future. Looking ahead at the path that lies before our university as it continues to climb the international ranks (p. 11), the future of our science and possible disciplinary collaborations, and even national and international issues (p. 13, p. 15). See if you can spot yourself at one of ECU’ 92’s recent parties in the foto section (p. 22), and keep up to date with who’s who in the competitive world of economics with the themed World’s Hottest Economist section (p. 18).

So on behalf of all of us who’s work is behind this issue of the Ecunomist, I’d like to thank you for your continued readership and look forward to sharing another great year.

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From the Board Dear Reader,

After the first end-terms of this year, I can imagine that you are relaxing on the couch while reading the Ecunomist. But not only have you been working hard this year. We, the ECU’92 Board of 2011-2012, also have been working very hard the past couple of months.

During the Introduction Week we have been around everywhere and during the weekend we took over control on Saturday with Extreme Soccer, an inflatable obstacle course and during the evening with a Beercantus.

We can truly say the Introduction Week and weekend were a huge success! Afterwards, we have been busy interviewing about 80 people who were interested in joining a committee at ECU’92. Most of them have been placed and will be looking forward to organize a variety of activities, ranging from parties to a company day.

Also, from the 12th until the 24th of March we will organize a lot of extra activities because we will be celebrating our Lustrum!

Next to all these matters, we also have had conversations with the Dean and the Director of USE, the rector magnificus of the UU and a wide range of high-ranked people in business life. These meetings are very interesting and we try to really put ECU’92 on the map during these chats. I can truly say it is already quite an experience to be in the Board of ECU’92!

In case you haven’t found your way to the ECU ’92 room yet, I would invite you to visit our room at UCU-U (room 1.21) and come and have a cup of tea/coffee or cup-a-soup with us!

I hope to see you soon!

Best,

Thomas Maas Chairman of the ECU’92 Board of 2011-2012

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People who brought the Future...

by Dea Tusha What did Prometheus, Walt Disney, Christopher Columbus and Steve Jobs have in common? More than you’d think!

As many of you may have already

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heard (and probably even shared on your social network profiles), the world lost a great man on October 5th. Having realized the magnitude of the media attention that Steve Jobs’ death attracted, it felt pretty arrogant of us not to dedicate a few words to his life and achievement. I will apologize to those who were expecting a biography, because this is not in itself an article about Steve Jobs. It is about people LIKE him: creative, brave, innovative in ways that change perceptions and cross boundaries.

It is about those who defy what is known and common, and challenge establishments of the present. It is about people who’ve brought the future!

There is something about such people that discourages and inspires the average Joes of the world all at once. Their ability to be exceptional may indeed activate our inferiority complex. But I (want to) believe

that their talent and creativity inspires us in much more remarkable ways. Their contributions have redefined our lifestyles and our views on the world. They have dared to materialize what to others didn’t seem even vaguely possible. Often, they have been misunderstood and unappreciated in their own time.

But there always comes a time of recognition and thankfulness.

Trying to avoid sounding too emotional while showing gratitude, I would like to list instead (due to a weird personal proclivity for lists) people who brought humanity one step closer to the future. I do not pretend that the people listed below are the perfect “sample”, neither are they a better combination than any other one that you may think of. I should probably admit that my choice was heavily dependent on everlasting admiration and/or instantaneous whims.

But as you scan through the page to find the name of your favor-

ite “childhood hero” and to your dismay, discover that they are not included; please bear in mind that I’ve tried to cover all bases under the heavy constraint that you can’t please everyone. Mea culpa and enjoy the reading!

Prometheus (Greek Mythology titan) By now, you have probably realized that being a real person neither has, nor will be, a criterion that everyone needs to fulfill in order to be part of the list. Fictional characters can be part of the “army of soldiers” that have contributed in making humanity progress (as long as humanity finds mythology inspiring, exciting, or merely keeps considering it a good source for another bunch of Hollywood movies, theater plays and videogames).

Prometheus made the ultimate sacrifice of betraying the Gods to grant mortals the gift of fire. He was then repetitively and cruelly punished and tortured by having an eagle rip out his liver again and again (which, I must confess, in terms of tragedy and dramatic thrill, is much more intense and electrifying than evolution). Of course that what we appreciate in this figure is the symbolization of “the one who brought hope”: he brought fire, to save us from the dark path of ignorance.

Real or not, we all have something to look up to him and be thankful for.

Walt Disney (film producer and

animator, 1901-1966) Applying the notion that everything is relative, makes the definition of “bringing the future closer” more flexible to different points of view. It also gives us the right to be thankful to all of those who have made our lives a little brighter, our world a bit more colorful. As the expression goes, “children are the future” and happier, more creative children will certainly make for a better future.

I feel like we all owe some of our nicest childhood memories to this man and to his creations. Walt Disney gave the world Mickey Mouse, Snow White and the seven dwarves and hundreds of other characters and movies (several of them, Academy Award winning) that will stick around for a long while (not to mention how lucky most people feel if they’ve visited a Disney theme park). Nothing too great in terms of innovation, some hi–tech fans would probably argue, but then again, I dare most of you to not think of a round face, with two perfectly round ears on top, whenever you hear the name “Mickey”…

Galileo Galilei (physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, 1564-1642) “And yet it moves…” he (is believed to have) said, when reconfirming his solid beliefs that the Earth moved around the Sun. The Church was not too happy with his attempts to show that Copernicus was right when claiming

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that we were not the center of the universe (which, we actually have a tendency to believe rather often, as a species). He was put under house arrest for not letting go of this idea (not originally his own), which at the time was considered a heresy. It is the bravery with which he defended an idea that in his time was called improbable that gives us hindsight into the kind of special material that these people are made of. The passion that burns within them and with which they embrace all that they’re devoted to. Such passion made Galilei study astronomy, be the first to write about kinematics, and be rightfully considered “the father of Modern Science”.

Thomas Edison (inventor, scientist, businessman, 1847-1931) In this abundance of technological innovation, with the telecommunication hype and the social network frenzy, it is always interesting (to say the least) to look back and trace the beginnings of it all. There must be a reason why in today’s conventional world the “birth” of a new idea is always signaled by a light bulb. I am sure symbolists would give a breathtakingly interesting explanation about that, but I’m allowing myself to take a leap of faith here and suggest that, if for nothing else, it should be because the light bulb was a great creation in itself! Revolutionizing inventions

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were certainly “the pattern” for this special man, who had the distribution of electric power written off as only one of the 1,093 invention patents in his name. Talk about being productive!

Johannes Guttenberg (blacksmith, printer and publisher, c.

1398 – 1468) Merely thinking that probably you would not have this magazine in your hands right now if it wasn’t for this particular man, is enough to make us all gasp in wonder at his life achievement. I may be a bit subjective, and to a certain extent might even get emotional, when thinking of a world where books are hard to find, produced in rare copies rather than in mass scale. But I am pretty sure that many of you would find it equally horrid and unimaginable.

There lies yet another characteristic that makes these people extraordinary: they imagine what is not there, in a time when the rest of the world only takes for granted what it already has in its hands. For a long period of time people had the self-satisfied notion that they had already discovered what there was to be discovered and exhausted all that could be exhausted. That would have been a self-fulfilling curse, had it not been for these revolutionary people, who time and again challenged that notion: they not only brought life-changing creations to the world, but taught

us a valuable lesson: we can never say that there’s nothing left to be changed or improved.

Adam Smith (social philosopher, 1723-1790) I should not consider myself a worthy student of USE if I didn’t include this man in the list (even if only to please our “economist” pride). But then again, he has given the world that much, to earn his place in any list that mentions people that have had a great influence on the world. The “Father of Economics”, Adam Smith found the way to (what many students of the Economics program by now believe to be) the very core of human behavior. And no matter how hard I may try to phrase it well, nothing gives the idea better than this: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard of their own interest.

We address ourselves not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities, but of their advantage.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776)

Christopher Columbus (explorer, colonizer, navigator 1451-1506) Unlike the other names mentioned in this list, this man did not discover or invent something that would bring us closer to the future. He discovered a place that would turn out to mean “the future” for a considerable part of the world. Boy, are we

happy that his perseverance to find the East Indies eventually led to the discovery of what we now refer to as the American dream…

Picasso (painter, sculptor, 18811973) How random and uninteresting would life be without art?

And how boring would art be if it had standards? Breaking patterns, being different is the rule, rather than the exception in art. But then again, some go further, into new dimensions, unexplored before.

And that is what we call “modern art”. In bringing modernism in art, Picasso was not only a pioneer; he was the difference. Many saw his art as lacking real artistic values, only to eat their own words later.

What they didn’t notice was that ability he had to look ahead and take trips into the future, as part of his creative process.

Steve Jobs (business magnate and inventor 1955-2011) We close our circle right where we started it. The “Steve Jobs generation” (including, but not limited to Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg etc) is the perfect example that the world is not running out of ideas. Nor is it running out of people who provide this everchanging environment. The computer, the internet, social networks and all the like are our present and yesterdays future. I know I’m curious to know what tomorrow’s present will be like… but then, wouldn’t we all want to know? ■

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Janneke Plantenga and the Future of USE by Leila Maria Scott Welcome to another glorious year at the Utrecht School of Economics!

For many, this is your first year in

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our illustrious institution, the rest of you know what you’ve gotten yourselves into. So what makes our faculty special? We’re not the oldest or the biggest; we don’t have any Nobel Prize-winning lecturers. Well, something must be going right since Utrecht University has just been voted the best university in the Netherlands according to professors, again. For a young program, USE is growing surprisingly fast...

The attractiveness of USE is largely due to its international focus, in the words of the new dean, Janneke Plantenga, “We already have quite an international student population, something like 20 different nationalities. We think that’s extremely important, because the discipline as such is international but also the world is becoming more global. In that respect, I think it’s also extremely important that at the level of the university you should not only have your own cozy corner,

but also a globalizing student community. A more global curriculum is the result of it and that’s extremely important. I think right now the bachelor, the English program, is larger than the Dutch program. As a result of our position in this specific market, apparently it attracts students that are interested in this program. Of course, with regard to our staff, if there’s a vacancy we try to advertise on an international basis and from the people who respond we try to pick the best.

There’s a new German teacher and a new teacher from Latin America.

We get a rather international staff.

We try to be at the right spot.”

Janneke Plantenga, the new dean of USE as of this year, is more than qualified to comment on this. Besides having taught at the University of Groningen and the Utrecht School of Economics, she has published numerous books, articles and reports, and is a member of various economics-related groups. Janneke explains her choice to study economics and specialize in gender studies and the welfare state, “When I was 18, that was in the middle of the 1970’s, I decided to study economics because at

that particular moment in time the unemployment rate was rather high and I thought that if I have one goal in life, it is to be financially independent. Given that goal, I decided to study something which has a clear career perspective, the best guarantee that in the future I will be economically independent.

At that time, the share of women studying economics was something like 10%, so we were a real minority and that surprised me; I never realized that perhaps this was not an obvious choice for female students. During that time the women’s movement was also important and we decided to get ourselves organized and we became our first study object: why are there so little women involved in economics?

That started me off in all kinds of different research projects.”

Things have developed since the 1970’s; the number of female students and lecturers has grown.

But the unknowns of economics have only slightly diminished, leaving huge opportunities for future economists and researchers. USE plans to keep up with this, by broadening the scope of their exchange partners and integrating more options into the bachelors and masters programs. But being a successful university faculty isn’t only about attracting more students and constantly updating the curriculum; current problems

like the high first-year dropout rate are also being looked after, “We are aware of the high first-year dropout rate; of course that’s a waste from the perspective of the student and the staff. We try to lower this by providing a more correct perspective on what studying economics in Utrecht is. Hopefully the result will be a better match between student expectations and what we demand from students. At the same time, the first year is will always be characterized by a relatively high dropout rate; it’s a kind of selection.

The freshmen college is also a way to have students more organized to create a sense of community.”

Keeping things small scale, despite a large student body, is becoming

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more of a challenge, but also more important. The quality of an educational program is not a given, one of the unique aspects of education is that the quality of education is the interaction between supply, the teachers, and demand, the students.

Luckily for us, Mrs. Plantenga has some words of wisdom for us students, “Pose questions; sometimes students are too oriented on getting the right answers. What is really important in life is posing the right questions. You have to accept that economics is a social science, it’s not like math. It keeps you modest; we do not have always final answers. A lot of debate is now supposed to be solved by econo-

mists and I think our knowledge is still rather limited. Richard Freeman said, ‘it may be that economies are like human bodies and react somewhat differently to the same medicine.’ At the same time, the fact that it is rather limited also means that there’s still a world ahead of you. We give you some instruments, we teach you to think as an economist and we combine it with some knowledge of other disciplines because we believe that it will enrich your focus as an economist and from then on it’s up to you. Be involved, try to look beyond your immediate circle, be informed and try to keep an open mind. “ ■

Cultural Convergence

by Ronja Röttger

Culture.

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In times of Facebook, McDonalds and English we may have the impression that some specific traditions or cultural elements could vanish.

Travelling to another country or continent was always exciting especially because one discovered different cultural mannerisms, such as special foods, different types of craft and their products and a whole different attitude towards life, work and love due to a whole different social, economical and

political background.

Through globalization the western culture dominates most parts of the world, so that franchise enterprises are everywhere to be find. Thus why spend the time at searching for a nice and good restaurant when there is a Subway or McDonalds.

This saves time and effort particularly for other activities.

But how is our culture influenced by these developments and what is typical Dutch?

Tulips, windmills, clogs and cheese are mostly the first associations one has for the traditional Dutch

culture.

However Dutch culture is arranged in changes and the associations may not be true any longer. For example, not every person wears clogs in front of a windmill while eating cheese surrounded by tulips.

But most of the associations denote more a stereotype the world has of the country than the reality, French people do not eat always baguette and smoke and German people do not continuously eat sauerkraut.

Dutch culture is signed by the tolerance for individuals and different opinions existing in the country and by the open-minded and direct people. The country developed within 20 years a strong economy that has its GDP doubled although the annual growth decreases from 4% to 2%. Nevertheless it is still a developing economy also because most of the working population is employed in the sector of services.

Moreover most of the population, 68%, is between 15 and 64 which means that most of the population is working. No wonder that the GDP per capita also doubled since 1990.

Besides the economy has its main focus on the international trade, so that an important language is English. English dominates not only the economical world but also our everyday life. Since the 1950´s Dutch culture orientates itself on British and American lifestyle. Many schools and university programmes

are taught in English, franchise enterprises are spread over the world, so also in the Netherlands and most of the movies are in their original language English. After the Second World War in the 1960´s and 1970´s there was the biggest time of cultural change. Traditional divisions between society classes and religious lines fade away as well as the youth have started to request a change in matters.

Musical traditions of the Netherlands are folk and dance but also classical music and ballet. In the 21st century African and Middle Eastern immigrants brought rap and hip hop into the culture. In the 21st century the electronic music scene in the Netherlands developed consequently that nowadays Dutch DJ´s are one of the most highranked in the world.

Nowadays the Dutch culture is signed of an international spirit, especially of the language English, the free-minded people and the variety of opinions but also of the strong services economy.

In 2001 the Netherlands was the first nation that legalized same-sex marriages due to a change in the society level. The Dutch society is said to be one of the most tolerant of the world.

The question now is how this well-developed country in every perspective will further develop.

Maybe economic growth leads to

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more economic freedom and as a consequence to more freedom for the individual and the society.

But is more freedom possible? Are rules and laws unnecessary or are they important regulates for our life together? How far is it possible to develop a country´s culture and economy or will be a point of inflection reached where the society starts to destroy itself?

The only thing that is now for sure is that culture still exists even with the influences by other cultures.

The Netherlands develop to a more international country due to

globalization and the main focus in economy on Asia. This development is also established by the internationality of students at Dutch Universities. Maybe one day Dutch Universities will belong to the elite of education and of Universities such as Harvard and Oxford.

However culture starts to change into a more international and global culture.

What does this explicit mean? Only one „global village“ in the future?

A global village with English as the universal language? ■

GrΣΣkonomics

by Gidde van der Ven

The instable situation in Greece

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has long been in the headlines of many newspapers. It’s been a rough year for the Greek economy, politics and of course its population. Being the first European country to face an ominous set of economic problems, forecasts are still very grim to this day. While policymakers in Greece and the whole of Europe are struggling to make ends meet the world is keeping a keen eye. Because it’s not just the Greek or even the European economies that have a lot at stake, pretty much all major economies in the world are affected by the situation.

To give a brief overview of the current Greek statistics: the governments’ budget deficit in 2010 amounted up to more than 10% of their national GDP, which is 2% over the target set by the IMF and the EU (the so-called Troika Target). Forecasts for 2011 state the deficit will turn out to be somewhere over 8%, which is slight improvement but still isn’t close to the set targets. These deficits however mean Greece has to increase their debts even further, which is exactly what all the fuzz is about. With a current debt of 172% of the GDP, Greece is having a hard time finding

new borrowers.

To make matters worse, the huge debt problem isn’t the only issue.

The forecasts for the GDP growth rates are equally depressing: Greece’s economy is said to shrink by another 2,5% in 2012. This being accurate, the total ‘growth’ of the Greek economy over the past 5 years will result in a staggering -14%. With debts going through the roof, overall economic deterioration is the very last thing the government needs.

The persistent unemployment of over 16% adds to the drama, while the government plans to lay of another 120,000 public-sector jobs by 2014. In the mean time, trade unions continue with ongoing strikes and the average happiness of the humble Greek is at an alltime low: 54% regularly feels depressed. Furthermore, increased taxes, across-theboard reductions of salaries in the public sector and a collapse in the approvalrating of the prime minister, Mr Papandreou, make for a chaotic picture.

The big question is of course; how is the European Union going to find a solution? Multiple capital injections in the past have not yet proven to be successful and by the latest news, shoving new piles

of cash into the endless debt-hole of Greece will exhaust the entire European Emergency Fund at once, without improving prospects. Discussions about letting Greece move towards a default have popped up more recently. However, most economists agree this is possibly the worst option, since it’s very hard to predict what happens to an economy as big as Greece’s when it goes bankrupt. “Too Big to Fail” applies not just to wobbly banks in the United States, it equally fits European countries as well. The fact that public banks across Europe also invested in government bonds will surely add to the incentive not

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to let these banks lose their money.

Getting rid of the Euro itself also seemed attractive for certain countries within the Euro-zone. If you are dissatisfied by the performance of your currency, why not switch back to the old, safe system? Conservative leaders endorsed these opinions, but it yet has to be proven that flushing all the effort put in construction the Euro-zone will actually lead to a better, more stable economic environment. Next to that, the currency facilitated trade across Europe since its introduction and has proven to fortify economic development and relations all together. In the end, leaders across Europe can do but one thing: find a definitive solution.

That is exactly where things turn sour. Policy-making in Europe has proven to be very tough. The failure of austerity and persistence within the European Union (a well as in the United States) has many times been highlighted in the popular newsmagazine The Economist. In their opinion, squabbling leaders across Europe consistently underestimate the gigantic economic issue that confronts them. Slow policy-making because of endless conversation, discussion and reconstruction have made this crisis worse than it had to be. The problem is that neither solution seems to be attractive in any way. A choice has to be made between bad, or the

alternative: far worse.

The only way to stop this downwards spiral from affecting other, insolvent countries within Europe is by collectively act and deal with this crisis swiftly. Costs will certainly be high, but since there is no other feasible way out, this is the only thing that’s left for the European leaders to do. According to the overall approved opinion on how to exactly make this work, four steps have to be taken. First of all, countries within Europe have to be investigated and graded on their liquidity. This will paint a picture presenting the exact size of the currency crisis. Second, European banks will have to be recapitalized once more in order to ensure these institutions will be able to withstand the turbulences that accompany crisis management.

Third, Europe’s policy is focussed too much on pessimistic spending cuts and should instead construct an agenda for future growth.

Finally, some new system has to be designed which will ensure a crisis like the current one will never happen again.

Big currency problems require big policy solutions. For now, the question is not how but when European leaders will realize this is pretty much the only way to go. If The Economist is indeed right, this crisis might be with us for some long time to come. â–

weiveR:The Black Swan

by Willem Isbrucker

The Black Swan: The Impact

of the Highly Improbable may not be a book purely economic in nature, however the subject matter covered is both highly relevant and interesting to anyone with a background in the subject. The text itself pertains to the impact of certain events known as outliers (as you may remember from Statistics and/ or Econometrics) which are both rare and not entirely predictable events, and how people attempt to manufacture overly simplistic explanations for these events in hindsight. This is what Lebanese epistemologist Nassim Nicholas Taleb (see picture) has deemed Black Swan Theory.

While philosophic in nature, the book exemplifies very well the effect of bounded rationality on an individual’s decision making process, employing hints of fiction to drive its points home, while at the same time making the text more appealing to a wider audience. The result was a commercially successful ‘story’, in Taleb’s words, that remained a New York Times best seller for

seventeen consecutive weeks.

The main concept that Taleb puts forth and repeatedly tries to emphasize is that rather than attempt to predict why Black Swan events are likely to occur, one would be better off exploiting the positive black swans and developing a robustness to the negative. To illuminate the importance of his assertion, Taleb highlights the vulnerability of

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both banks and trading firms to negative black swans, pointing out that their financial models do not allow for successful prediction.

The solution posed involves identifying areas of vulnerability within firms, economies,= and societies as a whole, as a means to prepare and thus dampen the impact of a swan’s inevitable occurrence. Because it is our “blindness with respect to randomness” as Taleb frames it, and as we as economists would deem as bounded rationality, that drives the story forward and necessitates further study in the subject.

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Coming in at 400 pages, it is not an overnight read, but after the texts we’ve been reading in our studies, it really is not a difficult one in comparison. By no means is it the most applicable of books if you are searching for one that will directly affect classroom performance in the short run, it is however one that will help you think

more critically and is a nice extension of, and complement to, much of the material studies in the classroom. For those of you looking for something to read along side, Taleb’s Black Swan comes highly recommended. ■

StIB: The Student Interest Body The Student Interest Body, better known as StIB, is a group of 11 enthusiastic students working together to look after the interests of all students studying at the Utrecht University School of Economics.

This is made possible because USE has different institutions for students to become active as a student representative. These institutions vary from the Bachelor and Master Educational Committee to the Faculty and Department Council. StIB is the place where all these representatives come together.

StIB is the place where all students can share thoughts, ideas, tips and complaints. Any issue with regard to academic matters can be discussed with one of the representatives of StIB, who will either be able to help you themselves, or to refer you to the right student representative.

So if you have any complaints or ideas: send an email to stib@ ecu92.nl or drop by at the ECU’92 room! â–

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The Lustrum Activities Committee This year is a very special year for ECU‘92, it’s a Lustrum year! Our study association will celebrate its 20th anniversary and of course there will be a lot of nice activities during this year.

The Lustrum itself will take two weeks and of course these two weeks will be planned around ECU’s official birthday, which is at the 24th of March.

Most activities will take place in these two weeks, but there will also be some activities during the rest of the year. Check the Lustrum page on the website for all activities concerning the Lustrum and/or like ECU’92 on Facebook to stay informed about all ECU’92 events.

Of course the Lustrum will also have a theme. After teasing you with a couple of short movies in advance, the theme itself has been revealed on the 16th of November. The theme has been linked to several Lustrum activities. Can you guess what we have planned for 22

you during the Lustrum weeks?

To introduce the Lustrum Activities Committee a little bit further; the Lustrum Activities Committee members are: Sander Bouw, Stephanie van Ginhoven (representing the ECU’92 board), Lotte van Hoek, Elize Hogendoorn, Joris Koren-

romp, Daniëlla Vellinga, Loura Vlam, Sven Vonk and Anne Been.

We, as the Lustrum Activities Committee, hope to be able to give you, as an ECU’92-member, the best Lustrum that we could all wish for! And of course, we hope to see you all at the activities that will be organised! ■

The Lustrum Conference Committee As you already know, 2012 is going to be a Lustrum year for ECU’92.

To make sure it is an unforgettable year, among all the special activities that will be organized, a Lustrum conference will take place at the end of February 2012 and we, the Lustrum Conference Committee, will do our best to make this event amazing. We already came up with a great theme on a hot economic issue in the world and we found a nice location where the conference

will take place. We are currently busy with finding famous and interesting speakers (such as ministers and CEOs of big companies) for the lectures and influential companies for the workshops. Everyone who is interested in getting a different perspective of economics, other than that provided by the usual lectures, should definitely leave some space in his/her agenda for an unforgettable lustrum conference! â–

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World’s Hottest Economists Glorifying Nerds

by Willem Isbrucker

With a focus on the future, this edition of the World’s Hottest Economists turns to two individuals who have already proven themselves within their field, and who still have yet to reach the zenith of their potential. They have recently won the John Bates Clark Medal, which is awarded to “an (…) economist under the age of forty who is adjudged to have made a significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge”, an award regarded as second only to the Nobel Prize. With fellow recipients such as Stiglitz, Samuelson, Friedman and Fisher, they have already entrenched themselves among the greats. (continued on p. 26)

Jonathan Levin

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Son of the President of Yale University and is currently the Chair of Stanford’s Department of Economics. With a double major in both Math and English for his undergraduate, a Fullbright scholar at Oxford for his masters, and a Ph.D. from MIT, it is clear that Prof. Dr. Levin has excelled in academia.

Prominent for his work in the field of Industrial Organization, he has been recognized as well with a Sloan Research Fellowship. It has been apparent from an early age that Jonathan Levin will be a pioneer and a leader in the field of economic thought.

Check Out: Relational Incentive Contracts (2003)

Introduction Week

Ester Duflo

Check Out: Poor Economics

A French national now living and working In the US of A, she is the Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at MIT. Prof.Dr. Duflo was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 2009, otherwise known as a genius grant, to add to her ever-expanding list of awards and acknowledgments in the academic community. Earlier this year, at the age of 38, she was named by The Economist as one of the world’s top 8 young economists and by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Obviously, this is one up-and-comer who has already made her mark. ■

The Editorial Committee

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It’s not that economics doesn’t have to do anything with creativity at all. Next to keep your math and statistics skills up to date, you need to think out of the box to find new linkages and relationships between different factors to unravel the many mysteries that our science still bears. If this doesn’t match your interest, you can still use different colours when you shift graphs—but let’s stop putting lipstick on the pig at this point.

A bunch of economics students that wants more than to regress variables and switch between a dark and a light blue fineliner every now and then landed in the Editorial Committee in our desperate search

for an outlet for our creativity, providing you with The Ecunomist.

Seemingly totally selfishly, we use the opportunity to train our journalistic skills. This reaches from brainstorming and coordinating all necessary tasks among our members to interviewing noticeable and/or notable people, individually composing one’s article, and finally over spellchecking to editing the layout. Yet, also partly selflessly, we put all this effort in it to make sure that you are not only well-informed about USE, ECU and the remaining part of the world of economics, but that you also enjoy a good read—at least this is what we hope. ■

Intro Weekend

“ Ik wil snel van m’n oude boeken af.”

Wij kopen je tweedehands boeken op, dat is wel zo makkelijk.

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