As of right now, I plan on studying some form of economics or business in college. The specific major that I want to pursue depends on which school I attend. Currently, I have heard back from three schools and have been accepted to all of them. Those schools are Lewis & Clark in Portland, the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, and McGill in Montreal. Out of these schools, UBC excites me the most because I was accepted into a specialized cohort-based international economics program. Only 100 students are granted admission each year and have the opportunity to take classes at both the Vancouver School of Economics and the UBC Sauder School of Business. This opportunity combines both my interests and applies them on an international level. One of my goals is to expand access to renewable energy. The way in which I want to tackle this is by facilitating collaboration between the public and private sectors. I believe that the best way to do this is through a progressive government policy that makes sense from an economic perspective. I don’t know the specific job title that would fit this line of work, but I hope to explore those options during college.
A famous person in the field that I wish to study (economics) is Steven Levitt. Levitt is currently a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. He received a BA in economics from Harvard University in 1989 and his Ph.D. in economics from MIT in 1994. After getting his undergraduate degree, Levitt worked for Corporate Decisions, Inc advising Fortune 500 companies. After going back to school and receiving his Ph.D., Lewitt worked at the Harvard Society of Fellows for three years before joining the economics department at the University of Chicago.
5 words to describe Steven Levitt:
Innovative
Brave
Thinker
Researcher
Controversial
I choose to research this person because I read his book, Freakonomics. I absolutely loved this book because of the way Levitt (and his co-author Stephen Dubner) were able to ask very atypical questions and provide simplified explanations that connect ideas of everyday life. I also liked that Levitt is not a traditional economist. He challenges pre-existing assumptions and tackles controversial topics such as his conclusion that legalized abortion contributed to a decrease in the crime rate. One part that I like about his career path is that he incorporated the research that he did at the University of Chicago into his hit bestseller Freakonomics. He combined years of research into one book. One thing I don’t like about Levitt’s career path is that he spent practically his entire career either in university or working for a university.
