Thursday, December 21, 2006

Did Hollaback Girl scan more easily than Bootylicious?


One of the really enjoyable things about being Head of Department is attending graduation ceremony and reading out, to the assembly, the names of all the economics students who are graduating. The freshly-minted graduates come up on stage, one at a time, and shake hands with the Director. At the LSE we have two of these ceremonies each year. And each time around I marvel at how well our students scrub clean. (You know who you are.)

London being what it is, it's always seemed to me that the families and friends of our students save up the annual GDP of a small under-developed nation so they can attend these ceremonies. Of course, the students have already spent the GDP of several such nations just getting to that point. The least we can do is put on a show.

This time around I also go to read out my oration for an Honorary Doctorate for Robert Mundell. That was roaring good fun. As was he.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like your comparing students' individual expenditure in London to the annual GDP of a less developed nation. It's true! The place is ruthlessly expensive. Unless you have filthy rich parents, studying at the LSE will be a financial burden.

Actually, if anybody reads this comment, and if you have a relative, friend, acquaintance, or knows somebody in any remote kind of way who is or will be an LSE student, please consider to give him/her a significant financial contribution. I beg you! You can even offer to buy shares in this person and require dividends of the increase in his/her future annual income.

An econ degree from the LSE requires hard work to the point of biting off nails, pulling your hair, and shedding tears of blood, and deserves a higher pdv of lifetime income than the pdv of lifetime income without this degree.

A bit of babbling from a student...