(New York, USA) I love the diverse mix of friends I have here in Penn. I am loving it! Moving out of my comfort zone and attempting to mix with people from all over the world has been a thoroughly rewarding experience for me!

Philadelphia, PA - Orientation at Penn began on the 27th, so it has been 3 days since it started and it has been amazing! Its 11pm and I just returned from a cup of coffee with two Argentinean friends (Juan and Virginia – Virginia is a beautiful economics-studying Argentine. How much more of a perfect lady can you get!), a Swiss friend and my Mexican floormate (Diego). We were discussing politics and cranky dictators, which the Latin Americans were more than familiar with. Our conclusions:

Argentina – Cranky Peronist government and their clientele politics
Mexico – Cranky lefty sore loser at the election who is now attempting a coup
Swiss Politics – Boring…as politics should be!

I just love my Latin American friends! And their wonderful work ethic (or lack of), which Florian (Brazilian German) kept teasing Diego about!

This place is so diverse. Behind each person is often a long story that defined them. I met Julia from New York City and after 10 minutes of conversation, I realized she had been all over the United States before heading to Paraguay to stay for ten years. She now thinks she is a Paraguayan which was why she introduced herself as being from Paraguay. I promised her that we would find a real coffee place together, not the mass-produced Starbucks thing that passes as coffee. I met Yuki from Japan, who only stayed in Japan for three years. She spent years in the United States, then even more years in Vietnam. She misses her Pho, tea and coffee and wanted to get a hookah/ shisha (Arabic waterpipe). I told her I would bring my own pipe if she managed to find it. Yuki’s neighbors are belly-dancing Marion, a French Palestinian American girl staying in Saudi Arabia, and Dylan, a really friendly funny American staying in Switzerland who kept complaining that the University was treating him as a foreigner when he is in fact American.

I also had my first movie night here on the 28th. Some Americans (Steve, Edward and many more…how much more American can their names be!) from English House, the neighboring dormitory, stopped by. We walked over to English House, plugged the laptop into the television and watched the movie Office Space. And there, I met Chuku, the first male American I know off who is a soccer fanatic.

This is so amazing and I almost wished school would not start, as much as I am eager to begin my life as a scholar! Oh, did I mention thata guy on my floor has a stripper pole (kudos to Cindy from New Jersey for telling me about that)?

(Singapore, Singapore) My last night in Singapore. Not sure when, if ever, I will ever come back.

Singapore, Singapore – It is really nice how Penn and the Huntsman program makes me feel appreciated. Just a few days back, I received a mail that Janice Bellace, Huntsman program founder, founding president of Singapore Management University (SMU) and Deputy Provost of Penn was coming to Singapore and wanted to meet up with the Huntsman community here. Inge Herman, who runs the Huntsman program, knew that I was in Singapore for two weeks (seriously, I have no idea how she keeps track of everyone’s movement) and sent an invitation to me. So I will be joining a former Penn professor, Bob Mariano, (now Dean of SMU’s economics department), some alumni and current Huntsman student and Professor Bellace for dinner.

I am really looking forward to it as Prof. Bellace researches on international human rights - a topic that fascinates me. Perhaps I will get a chance to discuss Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach to development with her.

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Wharton Means Business

One reason why Wharton is Wharton is that the place means business. It feels professional even before I stepped into the place. Right from the start of school, the alumni are returning to speak to us about career options, tax planning and salary negotiations. This professionalism is what I admire about the school and why I chose it. At the same time, I cannot help but feel that undergraduate life should be lived differently.

Congratulations on your acceptance to the University of Pennsylvania! The Wharton Undergraduate Alumni Relations Council (WUARC) and the Wharton Undergraduate Division invites you to participate in the Fourth Annual Wharton Colloquia (WQ). These sessions are different from the Orientation Proseminars presented by the University because they are led by Wharton alums and are only open to Wharton students. This will be an invaluable opportunity to learn about areas of business not typically discussed in the classroom, and a great opportunity to network with alumni before beginning your college career.

I have listed some of the topics that are of greater interest to me

What I Wish Someone Had Told Me
2:00 & 3:00 pm
As you begin your college experience, it can be daunting to navigate through all the exciting opportunities. What will help you succeed in college and after graduation? Join Eric Schwartz, W’84, WG’85 (Managing Director, Goldman Sachs) for an interactive discussion on the things he found to be most helpful at Wharton, and how his Wharton experience helped him get where he is today.

It’s All About Relationships (or How to Play in the Sandbox)
1:00 pm
Everything you’re about to learn in college to prepare you for the future isn’t as important as the advice your mother gave you about playing nicely with the other children (most of the time). Traci Lerner W’81, and Mark Lerner, C’80 W’80, will share the story of how one of the largest and most successful hedge funds was built on old fashioned virtues and values; develop lasting relationships with colleagues, investors, corporate management teams, and the communities with which you operate.

Effective Business Networking
2:00 & 3:00 pm
When is it appropriate to ask for a business card? More importantly, what do you do with a business card if one is offered to you? Led by David Feldman, W’82 L ‘85 (Managing Partner, Feldman Weinstein, LLP) this seminar will discuss the art of networking, the particulars of networking with people of different professions, and how to keep a working relationship that will help you in your future career/internships.

Globalization - What does it mean to you as a student? First stop Wharton’s Global Alumni Network
3:00 pm
As a college student today, globalization will effect your future more than any generation before you. How can you, now, as a student and in the future, as an alumnus/a use the global Wharton alumni network to help? In this workshop, Matt Greene, WG’89, will explore the global Wharton alumni network, help you learn why and how, as a student, you can tap into this network for information, summer jobs, career advice, and future employment.

(SG, Singapore) Life just passes by in each country. It is an elusive past, an elusive existence.

Singapore, Singapore - A friend of mine expressed admiration at my lifestyle when I told her I was homeless . I do not know where I will be after graduation, or even during summer vacations. The location changes every year, and I seldom predict accurately where I end up in a year ahead. Even for friends studying overseas, they know that at the end of the day, they will return to a certain country, and have the comfort of consciously or subconsciously planning for that eventuality. I have no eventuality.

I do not know if such a life is worth admiring. I simply accept as the way it is, even though the sensation of permanent dislocation can be painful at times, amplified by walks late in the night in a street filled with foreign sounds and alien language, which only recently became slightly familiar. It is a life characterized by having only two bags: two bags which contain all my life belongings - the material manifestation of the past.

The impermanency is characterized by the cycle of dislocation. I move into a foreign city and just as the foreign-ness fades into familiarity and comfort, just as I make close friends, I move out. And the cycle restarts itself. I am now used to quickly making close friends in these cities, and being unable to see them for three or four years, if ever. Maintaining a relationship under such circumstances is difficult enough as it is. Needless to say, having a girlfriend under such circumstances is near-impossible. Only flings – the whisper of a relationship that could be, that almost was - can happen.

This dislocation is accentuated by a disappearing past (I can imagine myself in a Stephen King novel, as the Langoliers gobble up my past). When I move into a city and meet old friends, after a long absence, I would have been changed by the accrued experience of the intervening period. However, for those friends, I am just a continuation from where I left off, as they had not seen me change. Never mind that my dreams had changed, never mind that my personality has evolved, I am just as I was the day the last saw me. To them, I have no past, or at least not the continuous one which I am familiar with.

It is not a lifestyle which I chose, but rather one foisted onto me by circumstances. Although the constant impermanency can be tiring, it is not a bad life. It is filled with enriching experiences and far outweighs an enforced confinement to a city which I have little love for or which I feel terribly alienated in. Being a global citizen comes with both burdens and benefits.

(Seoul, Korea) Penn colors in the Korean subway. I am happy to be on board the educational train again; back on my intellectual journey.

Singapore, Singapore - I have outlined my educational goals for university previously. Comments from Wayne and Bill Belew, in that post, are thoughtful and worth reading. This post covers the courses that I will take this fall and what I hope to gain from them. As a Joseph Wharton scholar, Benjamin Franklin scholar and Huntsman program student, my course options for the first semester are quite limited.

HIST 107-301 COMPARATIVE CAPITALIST SYSTEMS

This course, compulsory for all Huntsman students, is what I am most interested in this coming semester. The topic is really fascinating and the course seeks to provide a good training in research skills. It focuses heavily on reading from primary sources instead of textbooks. Furthermore, there will be a writing assistant to help us improve on our writing capabilities.

Although the world seems increasingly homogenized, and globalization the current orthodoxy, individual nations retain distinct, capitalist practices that subvert the idea of a universal system. This course will survey the evolution of capitalist economic practices from the industrial revolution to capitalism’s adoption by newly emerging economies and the former communist world.

(FNCE 103) Business Economics. (Prof. Martin Asher)

I am really looking forward to this course, open only to and mandatory for all incoming Joseph Wharton Scholars, as the class size is small, so as to promote discussions. Furthermore, it promises to provide a good overview of issues in economics, especially on the development front, and could be a good place to start exploring possible research ideas.

The course covers introductory microeconomics and macroeconomics with particular attention given to global and long-run growth issues. The microeconomic portion introduces the discipline and fundamental tools of economics. It proceeds to study the workings of a price system and theories of consumer and firm decision-making. It further analyzes particular market structures characterized by perfect and imperfect competition, reviews the strengths and weaknesses of a market economy, and considers the government’s role in correcting market failures and promoting competition. The macroeconomic portion studies the domestic and international forces that govern the determination of the aggregate level of economic activity, and pays particular attention to the determinants of long-run economic growth and stabilization policies used to dampen business cycles.

CHIN 331. Advanced Chinese Reading and Writing. Chiang.

I have not studied Chinese in three years and my family does not speak it. Furthermore, my Chinese has always languished near the bottom of my class in high school. Thus, I hope to push myself by taking a difficult course in the written and reading area of Chinese, where I am weakest at. Furthermore, I hope that by the time I get my World Bank internship in Beijing (if I get it) in summer 2007, I will be able to read Chinese newspapers for my work and understand all of the news.

Designed for students with advanced level Chinese language training but who need some further refinements on pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary usage, this course stresses oral discussion, composition, and accuracy of language performance. By reading texts written by contemporary writers, students will also gain knowledge of China from an analytical and comparative perspective.

MATH 114. Calculus, Part II.

As I did not take Math S Papers in high school, and have not touched Math for three years, I was supposed to take Math 104 instead. However, I need strong quantitative skills if I wish to tackle higher level statistics and economics. Thus, I am bulking up on the Math and will study the Math 104 syllabus on my own when I get to Penn.

Functions of several variables, vector-valued functions, partial derivatives and applications, double and triple integrals, conic sections, polar coordinates, vectors and analytic geometry, first and second order ordinary differential equations. Applications to physical sciences. Use of symbolic manipulation and graphics software in calculus.

PROS-100-040 Philosophy in Film

I am taking a proseminar in this area under the influence of Pinquan - my much more cultured friend. I really enjoy movies and discussions on philosophy and hope to explore this area, which I would not normally do otherwise.

MGMT 100. Leadership and Communication in Groups.

It will be a good learning experience observing group dynamics in a cross-cultural setting in this mandatory course. I hope to apply the lessons I have learnt in my past three years of work, especially in the area of managing meetings and discussions for efficiency.

Management 100 is designed to increase your understanding of leadership and communication in teams and to help you build skills that are necessary for professional success. You will study literature on leadership, management communication, and group dynamics and also complete a field project, an integral part of the course.

(Taipei, Taiwan) The path that I choose is a lonely one, without the companionship of the masses. But it is my choice and I will be glad for it.

Singapore, Singapore - A friend who took up a Singaporean government-sponsored education at an Ivy League university, in return for six years of bondage (love the word!), recently asked me about the purpose of a university education. It is a personal question depending on the individual answering it. For some people, university is a social exercise, the joy of making new friends and having fun. For others, it is an academic exercise, the stretching of intellectual potential and joy of learning and discovering, and for others, it is a signaling mechanism – a process of getting the right grades to maximize career opportunities.

These are not mutually exclusive goals, although prioritizing is necessary to avoid inherent conflicts. Some people want a high GPA as signaling for their careers, and game the system by taking courses which they are over-prepared for. We all know of friends who take Math 101 or Chinese 101 when they have studied these subjects for 12 years. In highlighting this fact, I am not trying to castigate them. What they want from an education is not the opportunity to stretch their minds intellectually, but the potential income benefits. And it works for them. Not everyone is interested in academia.

However, this is not my foremost priority. I mentioned that university is an exercise in individual goal-setting based on individual interests. My particular interests are in taking the most challenging courses I am eligible for and to engage in independent research. Instead of rushing to complete my degree, I want to savor this part of my life on its own rather than as a preparation for a future occupation. This will allow me to say that for a part of my life, I enjoyed a career as an academic and scholar.

I am writing this as a reminder. If I penalize myself with a GPA lower than what I could have attained with easier courses, I will look back at this to remind myself of my reasons for pursuing an education. I will remind myself that that number does not count, as long as I have stretched my intellectual abilities to its maximum.

(Tokyo, Japan) Do we really need all the things we buy?

Singapore, Singapore - John Kenneth Galbraith, in ‘The Affluent Society’ (Mariner Books 1998), argues that pre-Affluent Society, the basic needs of food and shelter were better provided by the market. However, he argues that we have reached a stage where we have “private opulence and public squalor”, and it is the lack of public goods that impoverishes our society.

Furthermore, he argues in this Affluent Society, increased production is of decreasing marginal urgency, and wants are created by the very process of production, through advertising, emulation and suggestion (the Dependence Effect). When the goods produced are of low urgency, there should a focus on alternative sources of income for [the minority of] people who do not wish to work, and a general downgrade of the priority of increased production when measured against other goals of inflation, inequality or economic security.

This book is definitely an interesting read, as it departs greatly from the general body of economic thinking that I have been accustomed to. However, my main takeaway from this book is more personal. I always believed that increased material consumption is not the path for happiness for myself, and see little reason to earn a lot of money for that purpose . Galbraith has provided the intellectual foundations for my views.

(Muju, Korea) Minjung recommends that I find happiness in a girlfriend… I told her I would marry my work. I am sorry! 미안해요.

Selected Quotes

The Conventional Wisdom

“…a vested interest in understanding is more preciously guarded than any other treasure…Because familiarity is such an important test of acceptability, the acceptable ideas have great stability…I shall refer to these ideas henceforth as the Conventional Wisdom.” (p.7)

“…the enemy of the conventional wisdom is not ideas but the march of events” (p. 11)

“It is far, far better and much safer to have a firm anchor in nonsense than to put out on the troubled seas of thought.” (p.131)

Conservative Defense of Inequality (p.67)

“…as a matter of natural law and equity, what a man has received save by proven larceny is rightfully his”

“…essential as an incentive…”

Decline of Inequality as an Issue (p.72 - 80)

“[power and prestige of United States Government and technostructure ]…diminished the prestige of the power accruing to private wealth.”

Technostructure – “aggregation of technical and planning talent” (e.g. the professional managerial class)

“…display of expensive goods, as a device for suggesting wealth, has been condemned as vulgar.”

“Production has eliminated the more acute tensions associated with inequality.”

“….increasing aggregate output is an alternative to redistribution or even to the reduction of inequality.”

Economic Security (p. 82 – 94)

“And all who were subject to insecurity sooner or later set about eliminating it as it affected themselves…led those who were using one device to see it as a necessary precaution while they deplored the iniquitous measures devised by others.”

“[Economists] have far more frequently related such [management of prices] to the maximization of profits than to the minimization of risks.”

“Consumer taste and demand may shift. The modern large corporation resists this by its advertising…No criticism attaches to the effort of the modern corporation to minimize risk. It would be delinquent in its responsibilities if it failed to do so.”

“…that the modern concern for security is the reaction to the peculiar hazards of modern economic life could scarcely be more in error. Rather, it is the result of increasing fortune… [people] had much more to protect… [misfortune and suffering] have become episodic and avoidable.”

“Not only is there no inconsistency between the mitigation of insecurity and the increase of production, but the two are indissolubly linked. A high level of economic security is essential for maximum production. And a high level of production is indispensable for economic security.”

Consumer Demand and Dependence Effect (p.124)

“If the individual’s wants are to be urgent, they must be original with himself…And above all, they must not be contrived by the process of production.”

“As a society becomes increasingly affluent, wants are increasingly created by the process by which they are satisfied… Increases in consumption… act by suggestion or emulation to create wants… Or producers might proceed actively to create with advertising and salesmanship.”

Hence, “The higher level of production has, merely a higher level of want creation necessitating a higher level of want production… [Process by which wants depend on the process by which they are satisfied is the] Dependence Effect .”

Vested Interest in Output

“If production is of preoccupying importance, he [the business executive], as the man with the traditional and established right to the title of producer will be the dominant figure in the social constellation.”

On Inflation

“…[in an oligopoly, firms] have what amounts to a reserve of unliquidated gains from unmade price advances.” (Galbraith in ‘The New Industrial State’ explains how these restraint is not in conflict with the maximization of growth and exists due to the planning needs of the technostructure.” (p.160)

Because of this, “Prices are not restricted immediately when demand is curbed or excess capacity appears.” (p.161)

“Wages act on prices and prices on wages as capacity is approached. Controls prevent this interplay.” (p.182)

On the Social Balance (or Galbraith’s “private opulence and public squalor”)

“The line which divides out area of wealth from out area of poverty is roughly that which divides privately produced and marketed goods and services from publicly rendered services.” (p. 186)

Galbraith coins “Social Balance” to describe a “satisfactory relationship between the supply of privately produced goods and services and those of the state”. (p.189)

(Seoul, Korea) Even this could be money

Seoul, Korea - Friedman argues that monetary policy concentrates power in a way that promotes possibilities of widespread failure. He cites the Great Depression as the result of monetary policy failure. In this backhanded way, Friedman affirms the impact of monetary policy, while critiquing its practice.

John Kenneth Galbraith argues in “The Affluent Society” that monetary policy is in fact a monetary illusion. For monetary policies to work, it has to reduce aggregate borrowing and hence spending. Raising interest rates is supposed to reduce spending by consumers on consumer goods and businessmen on investment.

However, both economic agents can take steps to annul the effect of increased interest charges. Consumer credit is ordinarily paid in installments, and a large increase in interest payment seems small, especially in relation to the monthly charge. The increase in interest can also be offset by lengthening the period of payment. For the businessmen, periods of high inflation are periods where production is near capacity. Hence, the environment is highly favorable to investment, and is likely to be unresponsive to less than drastic changes in interest rates.

Galbraith adds that such a policy is discriminatory as it the oligopolistic sectors, where unliquidated gains exists, “are able, in effect, to contract out from the effect of monetary policy.” Furthermore, large firms can retain better rates as they are attractive to banks as customers, and are able to go directly to the markets for funds.

Ultimately, “there is no chance that monetary policy can have a minimal effect on consumer spending whiles its conflict with the machinery of consumer-want creation remains unresolved…” (p. 171). Furthermore, Galbraith assets that for reasons yet to be fully understood, “[there is] considerable agreement that monetary policy does not make any effective contact with consumer borrowing and spending.”