WEBVTT NOTE The Life of an International Economics Student 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.640 So basically, my goal here is to encourage you 2 00:00:04.640 --> 00:00:07.720 to spend some time abroad, not necessarily in France, 3 00:00:07.720 --> 00:00:12.720 but abroad in some exotic place from your point of view. 4 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:15.200 And I can say that based on my experience 5 00:00:15.200 --> 00:00:17.720 since Oberon, Alabama is pretty exotic 6 00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:22.600 compared to Paris, where I'm from, where I come from. 7 00:00:24.200 --> 00:00:26.720 There are basically two reasons 8 00:00:26.720 --> 00:00:28.880 why I would encourage you to do that. 9 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:41.000 First, it's not necessarily related to economics or whatever field of study you could engage in. 10 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:48.000 It's certainly good for the development of your personality or character. 11 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:54.000 The second reason, which is more specific, is that if you decide to become a student, 12 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.000 especially in economics or some other abstract field, 13 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:03.000 It is good for you because it can help you acquiring the right mindset. 14 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:09.000 And these two reasons actually come down to the basic same reason, 15 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:18.000 which is that having such an experience can help you, let's put it like this, 16 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:26.000 to think twice instead of once or not at all about your decisions in life in general. 17 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:45.000 Your behavior vis-a-vis other people and also as a student to think about your studies and acquire the skills to become a better economist or whatever kind of scientist you would be. 18 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:54.000 So let me explain you that. First about this personality or character formation I was alluding to. 19 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:05.000 Basically what happens when you immerse yourself abroad or in whatever exotic place you visit, 20 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:14.000 It confronts you with new social experience in meeting people. 21 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.000 It's not only about nice monuments or even learning a language, which is pretty useful in itself, 22 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:28.000 but mostly you meet new people who have different cultural backgrounds, habits, 23 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.000 or maybe even who are of a different ethnic group. 24 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:37.000 Even between Americans and Europeans, who by and large are of the same 25 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:43.000 ethnical background or religious background, there will be some cultural gap. 26 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:56.000 The point is, you all know that in abstracts, but you will see concretely that people can be quite different in several respects 27 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:14.000 and in the situation you will feel the urge to think twice about that, that is to understand how they think and act, what is appropriate or not in a social context, these codes of behavior which are obvious to them but not to you. 28 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:41.000 So let me give you an anecdote. The first days I visited the U.S. in Auburn last year, I very quickly realized that you are not supposed to say you meet, well, I'm a French guy, say I meet a local girl for the first time, and you are not supposed to kiss them on the cheek. 29 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:54.000 I mean, this is the case in France. It's not an obligation, but that's the normal thing to do. That's the equivalent of hugging. 30 00:03:54.000 --> 00:04:05.000 So for you, it's far more intimate and maybe invasive if I kiss you, but for me, it's more the hugging thing, which is quite... 31 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:14.000 Whoa, we do that, and we do that only with very close friends, right? 32 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:27.000 So that's the kind of experience in everyday life, all the time, that kind of forces you to think about these things you just take for granted, usually. 33 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:37.500 So, in one word, in such a social context, you have strong reasons to develop your empathy toward other people. 34 00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:43.500 You need to know this information, otherwise you have troubles. 35 00:04:43.500 --> 00:04:51.500 So, what it means is this kind of learning helps you avoid mistakes in every area of life, 36 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:56.000 be it friendship, love or in a professional context. 37 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:08.000 And this is something you can come back home with because even at home where differences are less pronounced because there is no obvious cultural gap, 38 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.000 there are still differences between people. Your experience abroad can help you pay more attention to. 39 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:20.000 You will be bound to pay more attention to what other people desire. 40 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:31.000 You will be more prone to avoid being rude, and you will be more able to seize opportunities and avoid unnecessary conflict. 41 00:05:31.000 --> 00:05:41.000 So that's the most general thing to consider, which I think is pretty important for your development. 42 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:50.000 And we can apply the same insight to studying if you decide to study economics or other fields. 43 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:58.000 It will help, say, let's imagine you would go for economics. 44 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:02.000 So it will help you to become a better economist 45 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:19.000 Because the counterpart in the scientific field of the empathy you are bound to develop in social relations is that you are bound to think twice too, as far as scientific claims are concerned. 46 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:24.000 Which is certainly the mindset you need to have as an economist, for example. 47 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:31.000 Jeffrey gave the example of minimum wage low, for example. 48 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.120 That was the example, I think. 49 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:36.280 Well, it's not immediately, intuitively obvious 50 00:06:36.280 --> 00:06:44.000 that it's a mistake to think that one should have minimum wage 51 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.320 low in order to make wages rise. 52 00:06:47.320 --> 00:06:50.600 It's not obvious. 53 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:52.680 It's not the most complicated problem ever, 54 00:06:52.680 --> 00:07:05.520 And the point is, it is only because you develop the skill of thinking twice, as I said, that 55 00:07:05.520 --> 00:07:12.440 you can reach a more sophisticated understanding of this problem or others, and it is because 56 00:07:12.440 --> 00:07:18.000 you are not content with the fact that the claim is common wisdom as a sufficient proof 57 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:42.000 And you are not content with that, among other reasons maybe, because you develop your intellectual curiosity abroad by experiencing that the supposedly obvious or popular thing to think is not necessarily obvious and definitive for everybody. 58 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:55.560 And more generally, if you become a student, this kind of experience will make you more 59 00:07:55.560 --> 00:08:03.120 eager to reconsider your cherished beliefs and to pay attention to other traditions of 60 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:07.000 thought you are not familiar with. 61 00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:14.720 So again, that's my advice. Spend some time abroad, preferably at least six months, one 62 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:21.400 year to really get immersed, otherwise you don't experience these things that much. And 63 00:08:21.400 --> 00:08:28.400 there are chances you would become a better person in general and possibly a good scholar.