The Life of an International Economics Student

0:00So basically, my goal here is to encourage you to spend some time abroad, not necessarily in France, but abroad in some exotic place from your point of view. And I can say that based on my experience since Oberon, Alabama is pretty exotic compared to Paris, where I'm from, where I come from. There are basically two reasons why I would encourage you to do that. First, it's not necessarily related to economics or whatever field of study you could engage in. It's certainly good for the development of your personality or character.

0:48The second reason, which is more specific, is that if you decide to become a student, especially in economics or some other abstract field, It is good for you because it can help you acquiring the right mindset. And these two reasons actually come down to the basic same reason, which is that having such an experience can help you, let's put it like this, to think twice instead of once or not at all about your decisions in life in general. 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.

1:45So let me explain you that. First about this personality or character formation I was alluding to. Basically what happens when you immerse yourself abroad or in whatever exotic place you visit, It confronts you with new social experience in meeting people. It's not only about nice monuments or even learning a language, which is pretty useful in itself, but mostly you meet new people who have different cultural backgrounds, habits, or maybe even who are of a different ethnic group.

2:32Even between Americans and Europeans, who by and large are of the same ethnical background or religious background, there will be some cultural gap. The point is, you all know that in abstracts, but you will see concretely that people can be quite different in several respects 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. 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.

3:41I 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. 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... Whoa, we do that, and we do that only with very close friends, right? 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.

4:27So, in one word, in such a social context, you have strong reasons to develop your empathy toward other people. You need to know this information, otherwise you have troubles. So, what it means is this kind of learning helps you avoid mistakes in every area of life, be it friendship, love or in a professional context. 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, there are still differences between people. Your experience abroad can help you pay more attention to.

5:15You will be bound to pay more attention to what other people desire. You will be more prone to avoid being rude, and you will be more able to seize opportunities and avoid unnecessary conflict. So that's the most general thing to consider, which I think is pretty important for your development. And we can apply the same insight to studying if you decide to study economics or other fields. It will help, say, let's imagine you would go for economics. So it will help you to become a better economist 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.

6:19Which is certainly the mindset you need to have as an economist, for example. Jeffrey gave the example of minimum wage low, for example. That was the example, I think. Well, it's not immediately, intuitively obvious that it's a mistake to think that one should have minimum wage low in order to make wages rise. It's not obvious. It's not the most complicated problem ever, And the point is, it is only because you develop the skill of thinking twice, as I said, that you can reach a more sophisticated understanding of this problem or others, and it is because you are not content with the fact that the claim is common wisdom as a sufficient proof 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.

7:42And more generally, if you become a student, this kind of experience will make you more eager to reconsider your cherished beliefs and to pay attention to other traditions of thought you are not familiar with. So again, that's my advice. Spend some time abroad, preferably at least six months, one year to really get immersed, otherwise you don't experience these things that much. And there are chances you would become a better person in general and possibly a good scholar.