Ecunomist, Year 21, Issue 3 by Economie Combinatie Utrecht 1992

The Ecunomist year 21, issue 3

Cycles

Join the Forces, Fight the Trash Flood! The Vicious Cycle of Procrastination Taking over World Dominance by Violence

Gezocht: rijkstrainees

Je staat aan het begin van je loopbaan, klaar om te laten zien wat je kan. Als rijkstrainee ontwikkel je je in twee jaar tot een breed inzetbare beleids-, staf- of projectmedewerker. Je doet op meerdere werkplekken ervaring op en krijgt gerichte oplei-

www.rijkstrainee.werkenvoornederland.nl

dingen. Daarna kun je solliciteren naar een reguliere functie bij een van de ministeries. Meer weten over het Rijkstraineeprogramma 2012? Kijk op www.rijkstrainee.werkenvoornederland.nl. Aanmelden tussen 2 en 16 april.

In this Issue 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 14 16 18 20 23 24 25 26

Newsfeed Snapshots: Lustrum Opening and Reception From the Editor From the Board Solar Weather and the Business Cycle Career Day Committee Fighting the Trash Flood – The Lifecycle of ‘Waste’ Cycles of Life Scary, yet Interesting Taking over World Dominance by Violence World’s Hottest Economists: Glorifying Nerds Procrastination The Vicious Cycle We All Love to Hate Review: Cutback or Invest? The Lustrum Conference ECU’92 is recruiting: Board members ‘12-’13! Snapshots: ECU’92, DSK & UGV FEEST @ TIVOLI Snapshots: 90s now! Introduction Committee

www.ecu92.nl info@ecu92.nl

Printed by Drukkerij Hakker van Rooijen

News Feed Cash4Thesis Former USE student Mark Hup received €3000 as well as praise from all three of his supervisors and his jury for his bachelor thesis on pensions in the Netherlands. His mark, a 9, begs the question, ‘is there such thing as a 10 in Utrecht?’

High Class Crooks While it may not come as a shock to some, new evidence suggests that upper-class individuals are more likely to engage in a variety of unethical behaviors. @UniversityOfToronto @UCBerkely #occupy

Science Economics Is investing in science worth it? Is it going to pay off in much needed economic growth as leading politicians such as Obama are suggesting? At this point evidence is still patchy, so more research must be funded.. #nopunintended

Verde, el Color del Dinero Hotels in Spain that have sustainability certification are more profitable than those in that country that don’t, according to a new study from Cornell University’s Center for Hospitality Research @Cornell

Losing Manufacturing A new study shows that the rapid rise in low-wage manufacturing industries overseas has indeed had a significant impact on western nations, leaving former manufacturing workers unemployed for years, if not permanently, creating a drag on local economies. @DavidAutor @MIT

Lustrum Opening and Reception

From the Editor

Dear professors, board members, and fellow students,

The fact that you are reading this quarterly installment of our humble publication means that yet another two-month cycle has passed. Cycles surround us, are a part of our everyday life, and yet until we pause, take a step back look, we’d hardly notice as our day-to-day activities actually comprise them. Cyclical phenomena have been documented in nearly all sciences, from the microbiology of a cell cycle to the larger picture of life cycles. Physics is saturated with them; light and sounds are both waves, which is a cycle in itself. The social sciences are not immune to their permeation either, notable examples include war cycles and perhaps most renown, the business cycle.

Our authors have collaborated to bring you a variety of interpretations stemming from this broad topic, with some being more figurative and some choosing a more literal approach. Notable articles include a look at a plague of student-kind, The Vicious Cycle of Procrastination by Dea Tusha on page 18, as well as Fighting the Trash Flood by Christina Schenten on page 11. With the success and positive feedback we’ve received from our first two issues, we hope that not only will it be an enjoyable reading experience, but that it also will be a memorable one. With any luck, we’ll be able to keep riding the positive wave that we have been through to the end, that is, until it repeats again next year. Willem Isbrucker, Editor in Chief

From the Board

Dear member,

When Spring starts and the first sunny days appear, automatically everyone’s mind starts thinking about summer holidays. But this is also a perfect time to reflect on the year so far. So I would say go outside, to one of the lovely parks Utrecht got, close your eyes and think about the last 6 months. It might have happened that the student life seemed more interesting than Microeconomics and that your grades are not on the level your parents would like to see them. Or that you did not spend enough time on thinking about your career, which was your big plan at the start of the year. But do not get too stressed there are still 2 exams weeks to come and there are enough business courses left. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes and successes and if needed try to get out of the cycle you are in. With the board we spend an entire weekend on a so called ‘’half year evaluation weekend’’. This was the ideal moment to look back on the year so far. So what went completely wrong or what was the greatest success. We also brainstormed about new ideas. These are the moments you finally can take a step back and realize you are already more than half way through the year and also a new cycle is starting, namely the cycle of finding 6 successors for the Board of 2012-2013. At least I will never regret breaking the cycle of studying by doing a board year and can recommend it to everyone. So whichever cycle you are in, enjoy reading this edition! Kind regards,

Jorrit Hendriksma

Coordinator External Affairs of the ECU’92 Board of 2011-2012

Solar Weather and the Business Cycle by Willem Isbrucker Perhaps there is no more interesting a theory of business cycles than Jevons’ Sun Spot Theory, which he put forth in his 1878 article “Commercial crises and sun-spots”. Perhaps too, there is no better an example to epitomize need to heed the importance of the axiom of logic that ‘correlation does not imply causation’. Although, given their current knowledge base at the time, you must commend both his creativity and innovative take on a phenomenon, which to this day remains at least partially shrouded an air of mystery. Although well regarded for his contribution to the marginal revolution, it was his affinity of statistical investigations the resulted in an idea that became the bane of his career and today remains as one of the most prominent examples of the dangers of looking exclusively at the numbers. The theory itself attempted to provide an explanation for commercial crises based on the periodic cycle of sun spots and allowed Jevons to integrate his passion of astronomy and meteorology into his work in political economy. Three years previous he published 8

a paper called ‘The solar period and the price of corn’, in which he put forth the foundation for his subsequent work intertwining the two distinct yet seemingly related cycles. In this work on page 185, he stated: “If the planets govern the sun, and the sun governs the vintages and harvests, and thus the prices of food and raw materials and the state of the money market, it follows that the configurations of the planets may prove to be the remote causes of the greatest commercial disasters.” According to his own research, he had determined the complete sunspot cycle to be 10.44 earth years, a revision of his previous estimate of 11.11 earth years (in actuality, a solar cycle as it is known varies in length but is approximately 11 years, making his first estimate more accurate). His new estimate had a much higher correlation than his previous one, which proved to be too tempting to avoid jumping to a conclusion: “…we know that there is a cause, the variation of the solar activity, which is just of the nature to affect the produce of agriculture, and which does vary in the same period, it becomes almost

certain that the two se¬ries of phenomena, credit cycles and solar variations, are connected as effect and cause.” (Jevons, 1878, p. 196) This was an unfortunate turn of events for the academic, as what he though would be his magnum opus turned out to be his downfall. That being said, the theory may have some merit in purely agrarian societies, it is now known that business cycle determinants are far more complex and Jevons (as well as his predecessors)

had originally thought. Despite the slight hiccup that the sunspot episode represents, Jevons’ overall work and career was monumental. While his sunspot theory may stand out as one of the more eccentric theories the sciences have produced (by no means is it the most ridiculous), it is his statistical prowess and contributions to the marginal revolution for which he is truly remembered. ■

Career Day Committee What is this committee? We are a solid team consisting of 6 member: Thomas, Cyriel, Diederik, Martijn, Rutgher and Paul, baby-sitted by the board member Jorrit. We try to fulfill the expectations of every years students during the Career Day. We have a balanced team with each member having itself specified in a different area of expertise. Having respectively a Coordinator Promotion, Coordinator Companies (2x), Treasurer, Secretary and Chairman enables us to create the Career Day you deserve! This Career Day, what is it exactly? It is an annual event where selected companies get an early chance to meet the future millionaires, you guys and girls. This Career Day is an opportunity for you to find- & check-out, personally meet and/or work with the companies you might become part of later and how to accomplish that! For who is this Career Day? Thinking this event is just for third years, master students or Alumni is wrong! The main purpose of Career Day is to enlighten, enrich, and orientate you for what awaits when you are done with your study. This is your chance to get tips, trick and recommendations on how to succeed your future mind-blowing ideas! So, why should I you come? 10

We got more! We not only bring the High-Rolling companies to the numerous students, but we also provide the necessary CV-checks, Solicitations Skill Workshops and Elevator Pitches. Whatever your plan, vision or quest for the upcoming years is, this Career Day is where it starts! And when does this Career Day take place? The exact date is still to be announced, all we can say it is in end of November. More information about this matter will be provided shortly, either by mail, person or Facebook! The questions: “What to do with my life after I’ve got my paper and no longer am a student?” Will be answered in November, until then hang on partying! ■

Fighting the Trash Flood – The Lifecycle of ‘Waste’ by Christina Schenten

The

greed for more: More food, more toys, more electronic devices, more clothes – that is the consumption society of the 21st century. What we often forget is what happens after our purchases are emptied or outdated and thrown away. With a growing world population, the mountains of trash are also increasing with alarming speed. Will we all drown in the trash flood in a few decades? Not necessarily. The life of most products does not have to end in a dump – the word of the hour is recycling. Living in the Netherlands, the country with the highest percentage of household waste recycling in Europe and the lowest level of land filling, here are some interesting facts about recycling. - 65% percent of all waste is recycled in the Netherlands. - In California, about 40 million tons of wastes are not being recycled every year. This will be enough to fill a canyon 24km long, 400m wide and as deep as a 20-story building within 15 years. - Within eight months, the largest lake in the UK could be filled completely with the country’s waste. - If every US household would re-

place one role of virgin fiber towel with a recycled one, 544,000 trees could be saved. - Recycling is not only good for the environment, but also for the economy: One recycled ton of waste adds $101 in salaries, produces $275 in goods and services and generates $135 in sales than if it was left in a landfill. - The value of the global recycling industry is €121 billion. More than 1.5 million people are employed in this industry. - In 2005, 79 million tons of ‘waste’ were diverted away from disposal through recycling and composting. - From one ton of broken computers more gold can be extracted than from 17 tons of gold ore. - Recycling paper rather than making it from raw materials saves 70% of energy and produces 73% less air pollution. - By recycling one ton of cardboard, 8m2 of landfill space are saved. - Recycling one tin can saves enough energy to power a television for 3 hours. It takes only 6 weeks to recycle a can and make it ready to use again. It takes 95% less energy 11

to recycle aluminum than to mine and refine it. - Recycling one glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes. Glass is 100% recyclable and if it is just thrown away, it will never decompose. - Recycling one plastic bottle provides the energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours. It takes no less than 500 years for plastic to decompose. - Western European plastic consumption is increasing by 4% every year. - Over a year, an average dustbin contains enough energy to keep a TV running for 5000 hours. - On average, you spend 16% of your money on rubbish in the form of product packaging that is not recycled afterwards.

Cycles of Life

Coffee 2go in the morning, snacks

from the cafeteria during the break and a sandwich on the way to the library. Oh and what if you notice that you’re out of cigarettes? Just make a short detour to the next tobacco store and spend five euros without even thinking about the amount of money you are spending. These purchases often happen without us even realizing it, instead we’d rather pay attention to the more important things on our minds; the upcoming exam, the latest fight with the boy 12

- Advice for the government: 9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it was easier and regulations were clearer. These facts were derived from treehugger.com and recyclingguide.org.uk, where many more facts and tips to contribute to decreasing the trash flood can be found. ■

by Ronja Röttger – or girlfriend, the latest party, the idea of being too late for sports or the really hot guy that has just given you his number. Times of thoughtful appreciation are rare, especially in the fast, loud and exciting time we are all living in. How fun it can be to put on a new dress and new heels and to go out with some friends for a glass of wine. A last glance in the mirror, fortunately you did not forget to put your lipstick on, and you are ready to leave your apartment and start biking to the nice bar you

and your friends discovered. As the night extends, you and your friends become more awake, you become happier, louder and more cheerful with every glass of wine you consume. And then eventually you hit the club where dancing is a must. Dancing until the club closes will probably make you hungry, hence you get the last bit of money out of your purse and spend it on some food while you are heading home. The next morning, disenchanted, you wake up finding your purse empty. But damn it, you are late for class, so forget the breakfast and get some food later at the university. Noticed something? This is a typical night in a studentÂ´s life. One might say it just happens and it is so much fun as well as standard in our society to keep on having these nights - spending money as if there is no tomorrow. But is it all about desire and consumption? Desire for this light, checkless, fabulous feeling you receive while being surrounded by friends and strangers? And are not most of the advertisements, movies and lifestyle magazines about such a life full of fun? Buy this, buy that, you consume without thinking: Cycles. Being caught in a spiral of what society wants you to do and what you really aim to do. Cycles of life. You start as a baby needing diapers, you get through stations such as childhood with a lot of toys, be-

ing a teenager with all the different desires and self-finding processes, growing up and starting to work a full-time job in order to finance your future life, maybe even a family with your own children. Eventually somewhere down the road, you will be old and surrounded by your grandchildren and in the end you will die. And this process of life will continue and continue without an end in sight. A path we are all supposed to follow, almost like the path dependency discussed in economics. Through evolution people developed a certain model of living. Nowadays we have complex economic models and almost every kind of consumer group and different consumer preference is served. Time has changed, economic behaviour has changed, money has become more important, even though it depends on the priorities set by each individual. Nevertheless, the basic idea of living stays the same: Grow up, have a family, care for them and die. â&#x2013;

Scary, yet Interesting

Taking over World Dominance by Violence by Gidde van der Ven

It has been a rocky past half-mil-

lennium. Since the time mankind regarded itself as being enlightened, the world has taken a giant leap in any possible perspective. As ever before, dominance plays a significant role. Because of this dominance, whether physical, technological, sociological, economical –you name it-, many avid rulers have burst into mutual conflict simply to settle the ever ongoing dispute: who’s the greatest? Nowadays, as in stark contrast to past times, countries don’t simply rush armies at each other’s capitals to find an answer to this question. Today, the key is in economics. As mentioned before, the urge for economic superiority started somewhere in the post-medieval century. With rulers no longer simply bashing at each other’s gates for physical dominance, but measurable trade and economics (besides science and societies) playing an ever greater role, competition started to heat up. Ever since theories of economies were developed, calculating economic dominance became an important factor. Of course, domination in the economic world can be achieved by numerous ways, including physical conflicts, but history 14

teaches us that setting out for a war might not always leave a country’s economy in a healthy state. From an economical perspective, war can be simply regarded as an effective tool for ensuring dominance. And that’s exactly what it’s been used for. Since the middle of the sixteenth century, with the international ‘trade’ (colonies) gearing up and the discovery of the Americas, the emphasis of dominance slightly diverted towards the economy. The race for acquiring the biggest empire became of lesser importance in comparison with becoming the wealthiest empire. Being wealthy involves generating income, which becomes economically important when not just one person, but a nation as a whole is able to benefit from it. This is why GDP per capita is widely used as the main indicator of economic welfare. From this angle, one could state there have been three economically dominant nations since the end of the medieval century: the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the future United States of America (for more information on historical economic development, see Maddison (2001)). So what does war have to do with this? In the most obvious way: tran-

sition of dominance has in all three cases been facilitated by at least one war. The Dutch possibly had the easiest way up the throne: in the warsick power vacuum that was left in Europe after multiple wars (including the one that left the northern territories of the Netherlands independent), the Dutch employed cunning shipbuilding technologies to lay the groundwork of one of the longest and wealthiest colonial empires. Not much of a war was needed in order to settle this. However, coming to the end of the eighteenth century, Dutch dominance started to crumble and the Brits saw clear opportunities to take over the baton. After no less than four wars, the Dutch were defeated and for a time, the British ruled the wealthiest empire of the world, which included parts of the future United States of America. After losing this valuable piece of land during the American Revolutionary War, the British in-

fluence declined and was soon to be overtaken by the freshly constituted United States of America. According to the previously presented historical events one might suggest economic dominance, and especially the transition of economic dominance is closely related to war. The unnerving question for todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s world leaders reads: is the next transition going to happen smoothly and peacefully? Since China is predicted to have taken over the USA by 2050, friction will inevitably be present. Will international relations and universal institutions be thrown overboard as soon as the prosperity of a country is at stake? Will international peace-keepers like the UN really make a difference when economic perspectives narrow? Or, stating the problem more strikingly than any previous question: will mankind have learned? â&#x2013;

World’s Hottest Economists Glorifying Nerds

by Willem Isbrucker

William Stanley Jevons To all of you unimpressed with the

amount of mathematics involved in our study, Jevons is at least partially to blame. He described his 1871 book, “The theory of political economy”, as the inauguration of the mathematical method in the field. Although his main recognition of his time was attributable to his 1865 work, The Coal Question, which dealt with what would now be known as ‘peak’ coal and its inevitable depletion in the United Kingdom. But perhaps is two most memorable contributions to our study would be his pioneering work on the marginal revolution with the likes of Carl Menger and Leon Walras, and his infamous Sun Spot Theory. His paper ‘Commercial crises and sun-spots’ proposed that

business cycles could be a result of identifiable events or causes, in this case, the sun-spot cycle, which affected weather and in turn the crops, and eventually the economy.

Edward Christian Prescott An

American born economist, he currently stands as the 11th most influential economist in the world today. On top of this, he along with friend and fellow economist Finn Kydland were the receipients of the 2004 Nobel Prize in their field. The prize was awarded for two papers the pair produced, the first being Rules Rather than Discretion in 1977 and the second, Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations five years later. In the first, they argued that the purpose and goals of economic planning and policy is to trigger a desired response from the economy. However, Prescott and Kydland realized that these sectors are made up of individuals, individuals who make assumptions and predictions about the future. Their second paper ar-

gued that shifts in supply typically caused by changes and improvements in technology accounted “Not only long term increases in living standards but also to many of the short term fluctuations in business cycles.” While this may seem more straightforward now with our ex-

panded knowledge base, but at the time their ideas were so innovative they were worthy of the most prestigious prize in our science. ■ 17

Procrastination

The Vicious Cycle We All Love to Hate by Dea Tusha “Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday.” - Author Unknown -

If you have not used the verb “to

procrastinate” at least once during your study years, you are either an exceptional student, and I cannot stress the word exceptional enough, or you are in denial. In recent literature, to procrastinate means “to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay.” Although not a law of nature, procrastination seems to be a part of everyone’s life. This parasitical coexistence often flourishes while you are a student and it cannot be too hard to figure out why. With all the exams, projects and paper deadlines, the amount of work you can procrastinate reaches its highest peak. The numbers are downright disturbing: 80 to 95% of the students from a 1992 survey were estimated to engage in procrastination, and 75% were conscious enough about it to consider themselves procrastinators. We are so well-known for our ability to put off tasks, that we even have a syndrome named after us. The “student syndrome” describes the phenomenon of fully dedicating yourself to 18

the completion of a task only right before its deadline... sound familiar? Lately, a popular expression among students has caught my attention: “Even staring at the wall becomes interesting while studying for exams.” Although I am sure that many of us can vouch for the veracity of this statement, I can’t help feeling that it has become a bit “archaic.” Nowadays, the means to procrastinate are so ubiquitous, that you must be left to finish your assignments in a totally isolated room, to have to turn to a wall for distraction. Technology has bestowed upon us so many good things, but it has also given us endless opportunities to kill time which we do not have. Whether it is the social networks (Facebook, Twitter, 9gag), the innumerous games, movies or series, blogs filled with fascinating articles about this and that, or those Youtube videos you never thought you would be watching willingly; they all become interesting all of a sudden. It seems as if the external world today has more power and better means to induce

our inner tendency to postpone unpleasant assignments. Is it really so, or is it simply more comfortable to blame it all on the big, bad world and its wicked inventions? Maybe there is no need to find someone to blame at all. Of course, procrastination is voluntary and we all admire those who do not fall prey to its temptation. But there are underlying reasons that drive us towards it, besides pure laziness. In psychological literature, procrastination is strongly correlated with fear of underachievement. Fear that we may fail despite our efforts, uncertainty or boredom trigger a feeling of discomfort. Oversimplifying Freud’s theories: nobody wants to cope with stressful tasks. Why do something unpleasant now, when you can always do it later? Such subconscious drives give way to the creation of a vicious cycle. People find themselves engaging in all sorts of unproductive activities, only to delay carrying out their assignments. In best case scenarios, they still manage to accomplish a pleasant performance. In other cases, a self-fulfilling prophecy comes into

play and procrastinators become what they feared the most, unproductive and underachievers. The sense of guilt leads to more anxiety, stress and more procrastination… There is no need to be too gloomy though. Some procrastination is normal (heck, sometimes it’s even so much fun!) and everybody does it. Putting off once in a while is not a deadly sin, unless it goes too far and then it becomes sloth – not even Heaven will put up with those kinds of procrastinators. However, it is best if you try to exercise some self-discipline. Avoid the usual pitfalls and the tricks your mind may play with you: denial, turning it into a joke, over-obsessing over something else or persuading yourself that you can only perform well under pressure. If you want to get to the root of the problem, a bit more faith in oneself never hurt anyone… and remember that wise proverb: Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today! P.S. It took the author of this article 5 days to finish it. Procrastination at its best! ■

weiveR: Cutback or Invest? The Lustrum Conference by Thomas Maas On the 23rd of February, ECUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;92 revived its conference. The topic of the conference of 2012 was Cutback or Invest? The governmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; dilemma during economic crisis, a theme very applicable to the current status of the worldwide economy. It seemed inevitably that the issues in the Eurozone would play the largest role within this conference. 180 visitors both students and teaching staff of USE listened to the speeches of George Gelauff, Wouter Koolmees, Aart Kraay and Wim Boonstra.

George

Gelauff (first picture), deputy director of the Centraal Planbureau (CPB) of the Netherlands started the conference with his speech titled: Europe in Crisis. The lecture gave a very well over-

view of the benefits and costs of the Euro as well as the role of the banks and the governments in the Euro crisis. The main argument was that the integration of a financial monetary union is not sufficient for Europe: it also needs a political union or at least a European constitution. The case study of Germany revealed these issues well centered on the pillars of the German social market economy: democracy and control power of the government, an in rules embedded market, price stability and a safety net. Wouter Koolmees (second picture), member of the Dutch Parliament of behalf of D66, separated the Euro crisis into three sub-crisis: a debt crisis, a banking crisis and a crisis in competitiveness. Wouter Koolmees described the current policy with regard to the debt cri-

sis as ‘buying time’. He presented three steps to get out of the Euro crisis: discipline, solidarity and the improvement of governance for the longer term. Discipline is needed to reform the economies to become competitive again and clear their budget deficits. Solidarity is for the ‘rich’ countries to provide bridging loans for the ‘poor’ countries. And finally, the transition from a fiscal union towards a political union is the final step. Besides focusing on the Euro crisis, Wouter Koolmees addressed the national challenges, the Netherlands are facing. The conclusion was that the decision is not between Cutback or Invest but to reform the Dutch economy, mostly on the labour market, health care and the housing market. But, what else would you expect from a liberal? After a refreshing coffee break, an audio conference was set up to

enable Aart Kraay, Lead Economist of the World Bank in Washington D.C., to tell about the multiplier effect of government spending. The focus shifted from a continental to a worldwide perspective, with an in depth case on several African countries. Aart Kraay presented its research to design an appropriate countercyclical response to shocks. He showed that the Keynesian multiplier emphasizes the expenditure side but that it ignores key ingredients such as forward-looking behaviour, intertemporal budget constraints and sources of increased production. Therefore Aart Kraay adopts the neoclassical multiplier effect, where the real side and budget constraints are emphasized. Also, it ignores the presumption that the multiplier is larger than one. In the following part of the speech, Aart Kraay focused on World Bank financed spending. The multiplier effect comes down to 0.5. The conclusion is that the most plausible estimates for size of spending multipliers are below one. However, according to Aart Kraay, this does not imply that governments have no role in responding to crisis. They should focus on social safety nets and workfare programs. The government should be cautious about the likely size of stimulus, especially in the rush to spend countercyclical, since it reduces the quality of spending. The final speaker Wim Boonstra, 21

Chief Economist of the Rabobank, confronts the audience with an equal introduction to the Euro crisis as George Gelauff. However, Wim Boonstra emphasizes that treaties alone are not enough and that credible sanctions are essential for discipline within the Euro zone. To put the Euro crisis in perspective, Wim Boonstra shows a graph in which the Euro zone still performs extremely will compared to the United States and Japan in terms of debt and budget deficits. The best solution according to Wim Boonstra is the introduction of a common Euro zone wide budget. However, political this does not seem very feasible. Therefore, he presents an alternative solution namely: central funding using Eurobonds. These Eurobonds will bring stability in the market and improve the fis-

cal discipline and could therefore help the Euro zone out of its crisis. After these interesting speeches, a panel debate with Joan Muyskens, Frank den Butter and Wim Boonstra, led by Hans Schenk (picture below, from left to right), is held to discuss the issues together with the audience. During this vivid debate Frank den Butter points out that the Euro zone is ready to kick Greece out. On this point Joan Muyskens and Wim Boonstra attack him on the solidarity principle of the Euro zone. Without the knowledge that a country will receive aid in severe times, the Euro zone is doomed to fail. With this conclusion, the speakers and the audience is directed towards the drinks in the very old Senaatzaal of the Academy Building of the UU. â&#x2013;

ECU’92 is recruiting: Board members ‘12-’13!

Do you want to gain working experience within a students environment? Are you that person that always thinks about how policy should be made? Do you want to get a real good practice with financial accounting or are you that business man that is good at networking? ECU’92 offers you the opportunity to have the greatest experience of your students life by doing a board year! ECU’92 has a full-time board, which means you will have office hours between 9 am and 4 pm. You will get a board scholarship of the UU in compensation for the effort you put into

the organisation of events for the economic students at USE like carreer events, parties and much more! ECU’92 offers the following positions: • Chairman • Secretary • Treasurer • Internal Affairs • External Affairs • Educational Affairs The application deadline is April 24th. For more info, please contact: chairman@ecu92.nl ■ 23

ECU’92, DSK & UGV FEEST @ TIVOLI

s now

Introduction Committee While everyone is enjoying the first “hot” days of the year and thinking about what to do during the summer holidays, there is one committee thinking about what to do in September. Sounds strange, but after a strong selection by the ECU’92 board they formed the best committee you can think of and this year I have the honour to present you the introduction committee 2012!! As my right and left hand we have Tessa Dobbe. She is a second year student, member of the relaxcie and she was the chairman of the lustrum almanac committee and now one task was not enough her, she is the treasurer and secretary of the IC 2012. She already has some experience with the introduction week, last year she was a coach and she did a great job. She brought her intro kid into the committee, moms keep your daughters inside, Sebastian Ferfers, our German guy. He is the coach coordinator for this year. We will see if he is still enjoying his time with the Dutchies after the European Championship. He is not doing this alone. Third year student Martijn Dijkstra will be his buddy. After the company day and the lustrum activities committee he thinks the has enough experience to help us make this introduction week more awesome than ever before.

We have got another freshman in our committee, not only the guys are not save in her area, also she self is a danger to herself: Charlotte Hazewinkel, the coordinator scenario book. She already has some committee experience because she is in the Dutch freshman committee and now she is helping us with making a very important booklet about our program. From the board our lovely and always happy Mariska Middelburg is gonna help us organizing this week. With all her experience from the past half year I am sure we do not have to complain with having her. And last, myself, Leonie van Rooden. For me the honour and challenge to lead this committee and make the introduction week 2012 as perfect as can be! As you can read we are more than ready for it. We have big plans for the week and of course for the weekend. And the good news is; you can be a part of this week. We are looking for coach couples who will lead a group of freshmen during this week. It will be an amazing experience with a lot of fun. We already planned some nice activities and parties you will not miss. So subscribe now by yourself or as a couple in the ECU’92 room. Hope to see you in the first week of September! ■

Marleen Smitskamp is financial trainee bij de directie Begrotingszaken (DG Rijksbegroting), die deel uitmaakt van het ministerie van Financiën. Zij studeerde Economie en Politicologie in Nijmegen. Marleen is in september 2010 als financial trainee begonnen. Marleen heeft altijd al interesse in de overheid gehad. Na een inhousedag bij het ministerie van Financiën was zij meteen enthousiast over het financial traineeship.

Directie Begrotingszaken De directie Begrotingszaken is betrokken bij het opstellen van de Rijksbegroting, coördineert de Miljoenennota en organiseert het begrotingsproces. Binnen deze directie werkt Marleen bij de afdeling begrotingsbeleid waar ze zich met name richten op het budgettaire beleid, begrotingsregels en de beheersing van de collectieve uitgaven (o.a. het EMU-saldo). Marleen houdt zich vooral bezig met de financiële verhoudingen tussen de Rijksoverheid en de decentrale overheden.

Financial traineeship

Beheer jij de sleutel van de schatkist? Wij zijn op zoek naar ambitieuze financial trainees!

Kijk voor meer informatie over het financial traineeship op www.financialtraineeship.nl. Voor meer informatie over het ministerie van Financiën kijk op www.werkenvoornederland.nl/minfin. Solliciteren voor het financial traineeship kan tot en met 20 mei 2012!

Tijdens het financial traineeship werk je in twee jaar tijd op verschillende plekken. Marleen is begonnen bij Economisch Zaken, Landbouw en Innovatie (EL&I). Momenteel werkt Marleen bij het ministerie van Financiën. Binnen EL&I was Marleen beleidscontroller bij de directie Financieel Economische Zaken. In deze functie keek Marleen vanuit het financiële perspectief mee naar beleidsvoorstellen en zat ze in projectgroepen. Ook heeft zij meegewerkt aan de totstandkoming van de begroting. Marleen vindt het erg leuk dat ze in haar huidige functie veel contact heeft met andere ministeries en organisaties. Daarnaast vindt ze het interessant om bovenop de politieke dynamiek te zitten. Vanuit financieel oogpunt heeft ze alle ontwikkelingen gevolgd die over haar dossiers plaatsvinden. ‘Als je een actueel dossier volgt zie je continu stukken in de krant en hierdoor gaat alles echt leven.’ Marleen geeft aan dat je tijdens het traineeship al snel veel verantwoordelijkheid krijgt. ‘Ook als je net bent begonnen en jouw dossier behandeld wordt, dan kan het zijn dat je gelijk bij de staatssecretaris of minister aan tafel zit.’

Opleidingen en netwerken Bij het financial traineeship hoort ook een op maat gemaakt cursusprogramma. Het programma bestaat uit vakinhoudelijke en vaardigheden modules. Marleen volgt dit cursusprogramma samen met andere financial trainees. Marleen vindt het traineeship verder erg leuk omdat ze veel contact heeft met andere trainees. ‘Het is leerzaam om ervaringen met elkaar te delen.’ Ook gaan trainees samen naar trainingsdagen en borrels en organiseren ze zelf leuke activiteiten zoals een weekendje weg afgelopen jaar. Naast politicologen en economen komen ook bestuurskundigen en bedrijfskundigen in aanmerking voor het financial traineeship.

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

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

OPKOOP GARANTIE studystore.nl

*Kijk voor meer informatie en de voorwaarden van onze garanties op studystore.nl