Ecunomist, Year 16, Issue 2

Building Bridges

TomTom

Drunken democrats

Islamitisch financieren

De Ecunomist - Jaargang 16, Editie 2 - Januari 2007 3

Inhoud & Colofon

From the Editor-in-Chief 4

From the Chairman... 5

Educational Affairs 6

Æcu 7

Agenda 9

Lustrum 10

Almanak 11

English Committee 12

"Building Bridges" 13

The Honours Programme 14

Famous Entrepreneur 16

DGEFP 18

Islamitisch Financieren 20Open Letter 23Drunken Democrats 24Economics & Ethics 26Carrière Contact 28Action/Reaction 29Reflections of an Adasaurus 30Studying Economics 32Lekker Klussen 34

De redactie v.l.n.r.: Roderick Udo, ElenaaMeshcheryakova, Ian Koetsier, Silvester Bosma,Joëlle Tabak, Florian Krátke en JorisHehenkamp. Niet op foto: Joël Kroodsma.

De Ecunomist verschijnt 1 maal per jaar in eenoplage van 2500, in combinatie met de bedrijven-dagbrochure.De Ecunomist verschijnt vier maal per jaar in eenoplage van 1500 voor de leden, begunstigers,Æcunomen en externe contacten van ECU'92.

Uitgave van:Studievereniging ECU'92Janskerkhof 12 3512 BL UtrechtTel.: 030-253 9680E-mail: [email protected]: www.ecu92.nl

Hoofdredacteur:Joëlle Tabak

Eindredactie:Roderick UdoFlorian Krätke

Redactie:Silvester BosmaJoris HehenkampElena MeshcheryakovaIan KoetsierFlorian KrätkeJoël KroodsmaJoëlle TabakRoderick Udo

Lay-out:Rob Grootendorst

Drukwerk:Hakker van Rooijen

Verder werkten mee:Het bestuur van ECU'92Almanakcommissie 2006-2007Lustrumcommissie 2006-2007Y.S. BrennerElias HermansNick Nusselder

Speciale dank aan:Rob Grootendorst

© Studievereniging ECU'92Overname van artikelen is, met bronvermelding,toegestaan.

career as hawker of homeless newspapers inste-ad. And then one day, my parents might bedoing their Sinterklaas shopping at HooghCatharijne, thinking it could not possibly betheir 'daughter' wishing them "MerryChristmas" at the bottom of the escalator…To avoid this uncomfortable situation, I will tryto keep in touch with them. What the heck, theway I'm feeling now, I will go even further.After all, I should be grateful that they take theeffort to stay involved in my life. Therefore Ipromise you I will invite them to Family day,the Saturday before the opening of the Lustrum.

Speaking about the Lustrum, in this editionthere is also a separate article devoted to thisfestivity which I urge you to read. You're all stu-dents, so don't pretend you won't love gettingdiscounts for all these great Lustrum activities.Furthermore this edition is a varied one witharticles about important messages from misterZalm, a Company Day report, a glimpse at theworld of Islamic financing and much more. Inshort a little something for everyone. So whyare you still reading my column then?!? Go onand see for yourself!

P.S. The attentive reader has probably alreadyfigured out that I have hereby realized my goodintention for two years in a row. I now feel evenbetter than before writing this column.

De Ecunomist - Jaargang 16, Editie 2 - Januari 20074

And what would be a better state of mind,when writing this column, than the thought ofhaving the world lying at your feet? I couldn'tthink of one, so I decided I should finish thiscolumn today. Having no inspiration whatsoe-ver, but feeling fantastic anyway!

With the beginning of a brand new day - eh -year, I would like to talk about having goodintentions. Every year I find it hard to makeeven one up, so this time around I thoughtcoming up with a good intention at all wouldbe the ultimate achievement. And so I did.Remaining in the Christmas spirit, I came tothe conclusion that family ought to be prioritynumber one in my life. The fact that, in the pastyear, my family members have been building upa better relationship with my voicemail thanwith me should have been some sort of warningsignal. But then again, I hardly listen to my voi-cemails so how could I have known? Of course, the Sinterklaas rhymes made it pain-fully clear, and for the first time (and probablyalso as the first relative) ever I have decided todo something with their content. From now onI will not forget to send my parents a birthdaycard, call my sister more frequently than once amonth and keep my voicemail messages frompiling up. And as a bonus, I will also let themknow my whereabouts once in a while. But onlybecause hypothetically, for all they know, Icould have dropped out of school and started a

Joëlle Tabak - January 2nd: the perfect day to writethe second column of this college year.What, mayone wonder, makes this such a perfect day? I'll tellyou why. January 1st is always spoiled by a hang-over that confronts you with your shortcomings.By the second day of the year, you've not only for-gotten about New Year's Eve, but also how mise-rable you felt the day before. I went one step fur-ther. In my case the happy thought of successfullyfacing every possible challenge stole over me.

I feel good

From the editor-in-chief


From the chairman

But still, I have to take some more time to relaxand enjoy the life as a board member this year. Ithink it is really important to look over thethings we have already established and enjoy-ing the things we are doing. This is definitelyimportant during the largest event of this year,the 3rd ECU'92 Lustrum celebration. Startingfrom Wednesday the 14th of March with theopening ceremony till Tuesday the 27th withthe closing ceremony a lot of great activities aregoing to take place. So, please read carefully thelustrum brochure which you have receivedtogether with this Ecunomist.

But before the lustrum celebration is going tostart, we’ll have some other nice activities tovisit, like the cultural fair, the ECU'92 week-end, the BOMB's on every first Monday of themonth at the Steeg and an interesting debate!So, I hope to see you all during one or more ofthese great activities. And don't forget my advi-ce for the coming year: Enjoy!

The last few weeks before the Christmas holi-days were hectic. With the preparations of theCompany Day and the move to Janskerkhof,there was a lot to be done around the ECU'92rooms. At this moment, we just moved into thenew building at Janskerkhof 12. In our newboardroom, there are two extra working placesavailable for our committee members, animportant development for ECU'92!

A new year means good intentions. Personally, Ialways have good intentions like being moresporty, spend more time with family andfriends and drink less. But in fact, the mostimportant intention for me this year is: Enjoy! Ayear in the board of ECU'92 is a really busyyear, with a lot of jobs to do and a lot of activi-ties to organize. For me, and probably for all myfellow board members, it is a wonderful job todo. Being a board member means continuallydealing with business in practice, which makesa change from our study at the Utrecht Schoolof Economics, whose focus is mostly theoreti-cal. For me, joining the ECU'92 board was oneof the best decisions I've made last year!

Antoine Burgers - The year 2006 is history,today it is the 10th of January and the restof 2007 lies ahead.Therefore, it is time forme to analyze our first four months asboard members of ECU'92. Glancing backon 2006, we have made a nice start withsome great activities like the lecture ofMinister Gerrit Zalm and the CompanyDay. But the first half of 2007 promises tobe even more spectacular with the approa-ching Lustrum celebration.The year 2007is therefore going to be a tremendous yearfor ECU'92, so my advice for this year is:Enjoy!

2007…..Enjoy!

tutor.A new criteria this year was the stimulant of ascientific attitude of students and the extraor-dinary achievement which the teacher providesfor his faculty. This shows that the work that

the tutor does outside the class-room is as important as the

work he does in it. And yet theproposal of the award someti-mes depends more on the per-son who hands in the proposalthan the person being propo-sed - it could result in the best-written proposal to win inste-ad of the best tutor.Our faculty knows very diffe-rent types of tutors. Thismakes sense, seeing as being atutor at a university is more

than just teaching, it also comesdown to doing research, to mana-

gement-skills and a plethora of side-functions.It's important to keep this in mind when you asa student can't agree or are cross with a tutor.Simply approach him or her - they are also justhuman beings. Maybe this is why the ultimateteacher has yet to be born.


Many people wonder if students are wise inasking this question. You are skating on this iceif you judge the person you are learning from onhis or her performance. A student is not the des-ignated person for this - a tutor and the educa-tion itself should be responsible. Yet it is a pity never to pose thequestion to students. They arethe target audience, they canare best at reproducing howthe service is provided.To select the Tutor of theYear, criteria have been set upthat the ideal tutor shouldmeet. The first and mostimportant one is: "A tutorknows how to present theessence of his/her field in anengaging and effective way."This criteria is in fact constitu-ted from two parts. On one hand,presentation skills is a way for students to judgea tutor, especially when it comes to theirEnglish-language skills here at USE. On theother hand, the tutor's 'know-how' is veryimportant. A tutor who knows more can fascina-te more, simple as that. Another point whichcame forward as being important in the surveysof the Tutor of the Year is the accessibility of the

Coos Santing - Each year, the university handsout the Tutor of the Year and the Junior-tutorof the Year awards. Naturally, USE has alsodelegated two tutors: Erwin van Sas as Tutor ofthe Year and Claire Economidou as Junior-tutorof the Year.The election of these two containsigns of what students consider to be a goodtutor - something for which there are littlestandards in the world of education, unlike forstudents.

What makes a good tutor?

Educational affairs


Æcu-katern

We hebben dan ook menig maal onder de(trouwens zeer krappe) tafel gelegen van hetlachen. Hier hebben we in ieder geval een paargoede opties gevonden waar we verder mee aande slag kunnen gaan. We doen ons best om ereen geslaagde avond van te maken.

Vergeet ook het oud-besturen diner niet, voorde oud-bestuursleden onder jullie. Dit vindtplaats op vrijdag 23 maart. Ook hiervoor zijn devoorbereidingen al in volle gang. Het bleek nogeen hele klus om alle oud-bestuurders op tesporen, maar met behulp van zoekmachines entelefoongidsen op internet en door de via-viacontacten, zijn we toch een heel eind gekomen.De reacties waren zeer positief en bijna ieder-een die we hebben weten te bereiken zal aan-wezig zijn. Op zo'n tien mensen na hebben weiedereen weten te bereiken, dus het wordt eendrukke avond. De locatie is nog niet bekend,maar ook hier wordt hard aan gewerkt. Zodraer nieuwe informatie is laten we dit natuurlijkweten.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Malou van den Bergh.t. Secretaris

Waarschijnlijk is jullie wel opgevallen dat erook een plaats was gereserveerd voor hetnieuws van de opleiding, Utrecht School ofEconomics. In overleg met hen, hebben webesloten vanaf nu ook stukken van de opleidingop te nemen in onze nieuwsbrief en de bedoe-ling is ook dat deze vanaf volgende editie naaralle economie alumni gaat. Nog een opvallendpuntje is dat de nieuwsbrief voor het eerstgeheel in het Engels was geschreven. Dit zal zoblijven, omdat er steeds meer buitenlandse stu-denten en daarmee ook buitenlandse afgestu-deerden bijkomen.

Zoals in de nieuwsbrief en in de vorigeEcunomist al was te lezen, zal in de lustrumwe-ken op vrijdag 16 maart het ÆCU-cabaretplaatsvinden. De voorbereidingen hiervoor zijnal in volle gang. Zo is de locatie vastgelegd. Hetcabaret zal, net als twee jaar geleden, plaatsvin-den in zalencentrum Trianon, Oude Gracht252. Deze gezellige zaal biedt plaats aan onge-veer 100 personen en er zijn ruim voldoendeborrel mogelijkheden. Ook met het vinden van cabaretiers is de Æcucommissie druk bezig. Zo zijn we 22 decembermet de hele commissie afgereisd naar hetComedy Café in Amsterdam, alwaar wij wer-den geëntertaind door een viertal cabaretiers.

Malou van den Berg - De Æcu commissie isalweer een tijdje bezig. Zo is ondertussen eindnovember de eerste Æcu nieuwsbrief de deuruit gegaan. Hopelijk hebben jullie deze metplezier gelezen. Onderwerpen die in dezenieuwsbrief langskwamen waren onder andereeen interview met een oud ECU-lid, de aan-kondiging van het derde ECU'92 lustrum eneen uitgebreide lijst met heel veel afgestu-deerden.

Beste Æcunomen,

Studieboeken zijn al duur genoeg,laat je niet langer oplichten!

/


Agenda

7th of MarchGeneral MeetingIn this meeting the ECU'92 board will take res-ponsibility for their policy of the first half of theyear.

14th of March until the 27th of MarchLustrumFrom the opening on the 14th of March 'till theclosing ceremony on the 27th, ECU'92 willcelebrate her lustrum with lots of activities, likea gala, a cabaret, a company visit and a trip toBerlin.

5th of FebruaryCultural Fair/ B.O.M.B.The English Committee will organise a culturalfair before the B.O.M.B. of February. Every stu-dent attending this fair will represent and pro-mote his country with things like food andinformation about said country.

10th of FebruaryAC WeekendThis weekend is steadily becoming a real tradi-tion of ECU'92. The weekend will be heldsomewhere in Drenthe like the previous year.

13th of FebruaryDebat Utrechtse Studenten (Dutch activity)Samen met VUGS, Perikles en de UtrechtDebating Society wordt er een groot debatgeorganiseerd.

15th of February Presentation Smoelenboek/Business PlanLike every year the freshmen committee hasmade a smoelenboek (freshmen photo album).It will be presented alongside the best businessplans the freshmen made for the courseIntroduction to Business Economics.

5th of MarchKaraoke/B.O.M.B.The 5th of March there will be a karaoke eve-ning. This time we will make sure there will bea karaoke set! So everyone who likes to boasthis singing-skills to the rest of the ECU'92members can sing 'till he drops.

Luuk Leussink, Coordinator Internal Affairs ([email protected])

Check the site (www.ecu92.nl) for further information about the agenda andthe activities.

Agenda en Association news


Lustrum

First come, first served. So if you don't want to run the risk of being too late for subscription makeuse of the presale. More information is provided in the Lustrum brochure and in due time via thewww.ecu92.nl/lustrum.

Starting from March 14th with a grand opening, ECU'92 will be celebratingits 15th anniversary. Being also ECU's third Lustrum, the celebration is goneabout on a larger scale than is normally the case.What do you see from this?Well, one thing is festivities will last two weeks this time, instead of the nor-mally one. Secondly, activities that on first sight look familiar to you are infact not quite so - as you will notice during the Lustrum celebration.Thelengthened 'Foreign Excursion' is only one example. Besides that, some newactivities review like the 'Family Day'.Take notice that this activity will beheld the Saturday before the official opening. Last but not least, the mostmemorable moments will be registered on tape!

Therefore, ECU'92 proudly presents this Lustrum's program:

Lustrum Program

MarchSa 10th Family DayWe 14th Opening LustrumTh 15th Prom nightFri 16th ÆCU CabaretMo 19th Dies receptionTue 20th Visiting the Port of RotterdamWe 21th Relaxing activityWe 21th Discussion and LectureTh 22th EcuisineTh 22th Lustrum partyFri 23th Diner former boards of ECU'92

24-26th Excursion to BerlinTue 27th Closing Ceremony


De almanak

gezeten en zie je je eigen activiteit hier nog interugkomen!

Wij als almanakcommissie zijn al sinds mei2006 bezig met de almanak en kunnen haastniet wachten totdat deze terugkomt van dedrukker en gepresenteerd kan worden. Dit zalgebeuren in de lustrumweek en wel op woens-dag 14 maart. Tijdens deze avond wordt ookvoor het eerst het thema van de almanakbekend gemaakt en zal de verkoop ervan star-ten. Dit thema loopt als rode draad door dealmanak en hier wordt op verschillende manie-ren op ingespeeld.

Kortom, de almanak van ECU'92, ter gelegen-heid van haar derde lustrum is de ideale manierom zowel nu al terug te kunnen kijken op deafgelopen vijf jaar, als om later nog eens door tenemen op zoek naar verloren herinneringen.

Je kunt niet beter terugdenken aan je tijd hierbij economie dan met deze almanak. In eenalmanak kijk je als vereniging terug naar hetverleden en met name de afgelopen 5 jaar. In dealmanak zijn alle commissies van ECU'92 ver-tegenwoordigd, hebben de oud besturen eenstukje geschreven en laten ook andere vereni-gingen van zich horen. Daarnaast staan al jestudiegenoten met foto en adresgegevens in hetsmoelenboek. Zo heb je niet alleen je jaargeno-ten maar ook alle andere economiestudentenvan de afgelopen vijf jaar binnen no-time opge-zocht.

Mijn ervaring is, dat als ik foto's van bepaaldegebeurtenissen zie, ik me er gelijk veel meer vanherinner. Foto's helpen je enorm om oude her-inneringen op te halen. Daarom staat de alma-nak vol met foto's. In de loop der jaren zijn vanvrijwel alle ECU-activiteiten foto's gemaakt. Dealmanak commissie is daarom vol goede moedhet fotoarchief ingedoken en met succes! In dealmanak staan natuurlijk foto's van de ECU-feesten, pokeravonden en studiereis maar daar-naast mogen uiteraard ook de wat serieuzereactiviteiten zoals de bedrijvendag, lezingen ofhet congres niet ontbreken.

Met de nieuwe almanak kun je nu al beginnenmet terugkijken, aangezien er ook aandacht isbesteed aan de ontwikkeling van ECU'92 enhaar commissies van de afgelopen vijf jaar. Hiervind je de hoogtepunten van 5 jaar ECU en kanje zien op welke manier de commissies gegroeidzijn. Misschien heb je zelf wel in een commissie

Nicole Roosenboom - "Je studententijd is de mooiste tijd van je leven." Dit iseen veel gehoorde uitspraak, en of je het er mee eens bent of niet, je zal welmoeten toegeven dat je later veel aan deze tijd zult terugdenken. Om je hierbij te helpen, presenteert ECU'92 tijdens het aankomende lustrum haaralmanak.

De almanak


Committee talk

provision of information to international stu-dents concerning ways to deal with experien-ces in studying and partying, as well as aidingUSE-staff pin-point major current problems ineducation and such; Integration is meant to make students aware ofthe host culture and foster-kid cultures, toshow that we are all similar, but unique; Innovation takes place over time, as USE chan-ges policies, students gain knowledge, andwhen all is applied together there is a need tocontrol the organic nature with fresh ideas. For a close-up, the English Committee is sen-ding a message to all our readers at USE, whichstates: "We are all young and restless; we allhave different needs, and come from variousbackgrounds; we are willing to open up andshare our lives with those around us. Mostimportantly - we are those who can change ourown lives today. Do not dispose of this oppor-tunity!"

(left to right, top: Iva Naumovska, Paula Perkusic; middle:

Malka de Castro, Michaela Podmanicka, Ivana Brnovic,

Olena Meshcheryakova, Alexandros Couclelis; bottom:

Antoine Burgers)

There are students who dedicate their time andenergy to come up with ideas to combine the'Three Is': Information, Integration andInnovation. These three goals are seen as themost necessary tools to provide for students ofUSE. Furthermore, the students of the EnglishCommittee (EC) are the friendly bouncers ofthe faculty.

The EC exists since April 2004. Eachmember has good heart, a wild imagination anda persistent character. The work that these stu-dents do during the year is all demanding andimportant for students, ECU'92 and the wholeUSE community. It is with real pride that the EC members men-tion the most important activities they organi-ze, like the semi-annual Discussion Meetingsbetween professors, staff and students aboutmajor concerns in USE's ways of education andintegration. Then there is the so-called June-Activity, another activity that the EC loves.Last year, the activity was a boat-trip in TheHague, followed up by watching the England -Trinidad & Tobago World Cup-match (2:0) ina Scheveningen pub. This year, the EC willorganize a Cultural Fair in February. The ideacame to us in late 2005 and is focused on get-ting to know more about the various nationswhich are represented in the USE community.Many hours of work and planning have beenput into this activity and many bachelor stu-dents from all different backgrounds are parti-cipating.

As to the above-mentioned 'Three Is',the EC hopes to attain them as follows: Information deals with the facilitation of the

Elena Meshcheryakova - The opportunity to follow the English BachelorProgramme at USE has opened the doors for international students to learnand experience life in Utrecht, the Netherlands. BUT! - with greater oppor-tunities come greater responsibilities of those who have the knowledge andpower to make a difference.

English Committee Presents


Activiteit

gesprek te voeren met een bedrijf. In eengesprek van 20 minuten kon er verder wordeningegaan op vragen, maar ook kon je een stageregelen, jezelf profileren en indruk maken op derecruiter. Een nieuw initiatief, dat goed pasttein het thema "Building Bridges". De individuelegesprekken zijn door zowel de student als debedrijven zeer goed ontvangen en een traditielijkt geboren.

De AfsluitingDe afsluiting door de commissievoorzitter VeraProcee leidde het einde van de dag en het beginvan de borrel in. Overigens niet voordat RensDautzenberg een skireis op kon halen. Op deborrel werd speciaal voor het deelnemendebedrijf Heineken geschonken. Tijdens dezelfdeborrel was er een optreden van cabaretier JohanGoossens. Voor de recruiters is de borrel eenmogelijkheid om te ontspannen na een langedag en voor studenten is gratis drank altijdgenoeg reden om los te komen. In deze informe-le sfeer worden vaak nog de beste contactengelegd. Je zou kunnen zeggen dat de funderingvan een "Bridge" in dit geval bestaat uit; sfeer,humor, frisdrank en alcohol.

Voor de bedrijvendagcommissie en het bestuurvan ECU'92 eindigde de dag met het opruimenvan alle stands, computers, boeken en gadgets.Binnen een uur afbouwen waar je een half jaarnaartoe hebt geleefd... toch een rare gedachte.

De dag begon voor de commissie en het bestuurveel te vroeg met het verzamelen bij MeetingPlaza in Hoog Catharijne. Een commissie die alvanaf april bezig was met het aanschrijven vanbedrijven, het vastleggen van een locatie, hetmaken van promotiemateriaal en alle anderezaken die bij een bedrijvendag komen kijken.Allerlei bezigheden die leidden tot die ene dagin december waar het allemaal moest gaangebeuren. Het neerzetten van de stands van allebedrijven bleek een ware puzzel. Ondanks denodige stressmomenten, denk aan geluid dathet niet deed (de stekker zat er niet in...) engadgets die nog niet aanwezig waren, kondentoch om half 10 de deuren open voor de bezoe-kers.

Individuele gesprekkenEen bedrijvendag bestaat normaal gesprokenuit twee workshops en een bezoek aan debedrijvenmarkt. Dit jaar bestond er voor heteerst de mogelijkheid om een individueel

Silvester Bosma - Woensdag 20 december 2006, de dag van de 6de bedrijven-dag van ECU'92. Onder de titel "Building Bridges" werd geprobeerd bruggente slaan tussen student en bedrijf. Een 15-tal bedrijven presenteerde zich opverschillende manieren aan de bedrijvendagbezoeker. Deelnemende bedrij-ven waren:ABP,Accenture, Carrière Contact, CBS, Ernst&Young, Heineken,KPMG, Memory Magazine Ministerie van Economische Zaken, Ministerie vanFinanciën, Nobiles, Ormit,Talent&Pro en TNT. Dit alles onder het hoofdspon-sorschap van Deloitte en Fortis.

"Building Bridges"


Studying and stuff

plete it. Seeing as these are pretty high stan-dards, one can wonder about the surplus valueof the Honours Programme. According toClaire, some of the benefits are: "It will lookgood on your CV. You will have obtained extraknowledge, which answers some of thequestions left over by the normal courses.Because there are only a few students, the cour-ses can go into more detail about subjects." Thecourses also offer students a chance to do some-thing they don't always get the opportunity todo in regular courses, namely to actively discussand participate in the topic at hand.

The most insight about the HonoursProgramme can be gained from the studentsactually in the programme. Ian, an honours-stu-dent, tells us some of his experiences: "I thinkthe Honours Programme improves your under-standing of the regular courses and fields, forexample when it comes to globalization andmacro-economics. I benefited from the know-ledge I obtained about subjects like pensionsand the different interpretations of the globali-zation processes." He admits to having usedsome of this knowledge in the standard bache-lor-courses to great effect.Another attractive point of the programmeaccording to Ian are the guest-lectures; "forexample we had one guest- lecture from ArjanLejour of the Central Planning Bureau and onefrom Jan Kakes of the Dutch Central Bank.Arjan Lejour explained to us the effect of globa-lization on economic policy and Jan Kakes toldus the effects of aging on the Dutch economy."

And who would know more about the HonoursProgramme than the people who are involved?For the last two periods, the instructor andcoordinator of the Honours classes was noneother than Claire Economidou, who taught thecourse 'Mathematics and Methodology'. Weasked her about her experiences with theHonours-students.

In reference to what the programme adds to theregular courses, she stated that "it builds onprevious courses and gives insights to thesecourses. It also strengthens your skills for othercourses, so you will get a better understandingof them."Claire made very clear that her experienceswith the Honours-students had all been verypositive. But what makes a student anHonours-student? Claire explains: "There arethree things: first, they must have a good back-ground, and so have to reach the entry criteria.Second, they must have the right attitude; theymust be motivated and doing their homework.Third, they must have the right personality;they must be positive and cooperative."

Entry-barriers and pay-offsWhat are these above-mentioned entry criteria,exactly? As of last year, students need to havean average grade of 7,5 or higher for their cour-ses, and also need to pass all first-year courses,without making use of retakes - a standard theyneed to keep up into the second and third yearof the programme too. Lastly, it is required toattend áll of the programme's classes to com-

Florian Krätke & Ian Koetsier - Last year, USE launched the pilot-version of theHonours Programme, offering more to the motivated.About a dozen stu-dents qualified to follow this programme according to the entry criteria,containing extra courses and discussion on anything related to economics.After its introduction last year, its time to look back by talking to those whoknow most about the programme.

The Honours Programme


Furthermore, students who follow the pro-gramme get additional ECTS for it, as well as anHonours Certificate upon graduation.

Not for everybodySo far, the Honours Programme seems a greatinitiative of USE. However, one can look at itfrom another perspective; we are offering costlycourses to what is perhaps the smallest groupof elite students. One can wonder if it's fair toinject more funds into these students, when wemight just as well have improved the generaleducation of áll students with these samefunds. After all, these are the students that donot necessarily need more attention, seeing asthey already perform well. It is standard procedure for most facultiesaround the world to stimulate and 'groom' aselect group of students, in the hope that theywill go on to do great things and so give a goodreputation to the faculty they graduated from (akind of advertisement, in other words). Wouldit not be better if perhaps the more average stu-dents where to enjoy some much-needed extraattention, raising the overall grade-point avera-ge? As it is now, the Honours Programme atUSE seems to have standards too high to act asa motivational tool for the average student towork harder, only catering the smallest of smallgroups.

Luckily, USE is aware of this and so keeps theHonours Programme on a relatively small scale- there is room for a maximum of about 25 to 30students in the programme, and last year noteven half these places where filled. This illustra-tes once more how exclusive the HonoursProgramme appears, and casts doubt over itsusefulness. Sadly, Honours-students have yet tograduate, so it's hard to tell the effect it has had.On the other hand, instituting such a program-me does have advantages: offering more mightattract better students who feel the need to bechallenged. Furthermore, it lines up nicely withtoday's demands in the labour market, whereemployers are looking for graduates that havean edge over the rest, as well as Dutch educa-tional policy, keyed towards offering more tothose who can do more. In the end, the Honours Programme is a meansthrough which we can offer and reward thosestudents that excel just a little more. Thoseinvolved are all very positive about the (admit-tedly limited) results so far, and hope to conti-nue the programme. Considering the averagestudent is already provided with a lot of facili-ties, it's only natural that one wants to offermore to the cream of the crop. If it is withinyour reach, it's a small sacrifice to attend onemore weekly working group and graduate withHonours. You have to polish if you want toshine, so get to work!

Studying and stuff


Famous Economist/Entrepreneur

vierde volledig partner in Palmtop. Tevenswordt in 2001 de naam Palmtop verandert inTomTom, de naam die iedereen waarschijnlijkiets bekender in de oren klinkt. Het is ook hetjaar waarin TomTom het eerste mobiele auto-

navigatiesysteem op de marktbrengt, de 'TomTom navigator'genaamd. Dit werd een door-slaand succes. Een paar jaar later,in 2005, had het bedrijf inmiddelseen marktaandeel van 52% vero-verd. De nettowinst kwam uit op143 miljoen euro en de omzetbedroeg 720 miljoen euro. De ver-

wachting is dat de omzet in 2006stijgt over de miljard grens naar tussen 1,3 en 1,4miljard euro.

De beursgang Het echte hoogtepunt voor TomTom kwam op27 mei 2005; TomTom heeft sinds die dag eennotering aan de AEX. Het was de grootstebeursgang sinds Worldonline. TomTom wastot op dat moment volledig in handen van devier bovengenoemde partners. De introductie-koers werd vastgesteld op 17,50 euro. Dit wasvolgens sommige analisten wat aan de hogekant want de bandbreedte van de introductie-koers lag tussen 14 en 18,50 euro. De introduc-tiekoers gaf het bedrijf een beurswaarde van 1,9miljard euro. Met deze beurswaarde was hetbedrijf gelijk groter dan een aantal gevestigdenamen zoals Buhrmann en Getronics. Het

TomTom, een sprookje voor de Nederlandseoverheid, een bedrijf zoals de Nederlandse over-heid het bedoeld heeft: innovatief, concurre-rend en Nederlands. Maar waar kwam ditbedrijf opeens vandaan? Van het één op hetandere moment leek het er te zijn.

Van Palmtop naar de topHet verhaal van TomTom begintin 1991 als de twee studievrien-den, Peter-Frans Pauwels enPieter Geelen, samen het bedrijfPalmtop opzetten. Beide studeer-den zij Business and ComputerScience aan de Universiteit vanAmsterdam. In 1991 waren het gewoon tweevrienden die een bedrijf begonnen. Misschieneen leuk idee voor na de studie. Het heeft hen inieder geval geen windeieren gelegd, zo blijkt 15jaar later. Palmtop legt zich in de eerste jarentoe op het maken van programma's voor hand-held computers. Toen werd er nog een verschei-denheid aan producten geproduceerd waaron-der natuurlijk routeplanners. Deze productenwerden vooral geleverd aan het bedrijf Psion,dat handheld computers maakte. In 1994 komteen derde partner het team versterken: CorinneVigreux. Zij komt van het bedrijf Psion enbrengt een enorme ervaring mee naar Palmtopover de handheld-markt. Ze brengt niet alleenervaring, want in 2001 brengt zij ook haar mannaar het bedrijf. Haar man, Harold Goddijn,komt eveneens van het bedrijf Psion en is de

Ian Koetsier - Dit keer niet zoals de vaste lezers gewend zijn een stukje overeen beroemde econoom maar dit keer een beroemd bedrijf. Bijna iedereenkent inmiddels het bedrijf TomTom, marktleider op het gebied van navigatie-systemen, maar de weg daar naartoe was lang.Wie zitten er achter het suc-ces van TomTom en welke route kozen zij naar het succes?

TomTom en de route naar succes


opvallende was echter dat vooral de vier aan-deelhouders van het bedrijf van de beursgangprofiteerden. Van de totaal 26,8 miljoen aande-len die werden geplaatst, was 19,6 miljoenafkomstig van de vier aandeelhouders. Debeursgang leverde het bedrijf slechts 125 mil-joen euro op en de vier aandeelhouders bijna350 miljoen euro. Uit deze merkwaardige ver-houding blijkt dat de beursgang niet zo zeernodig was voor het aantrekken van nieuw kapi-taal maar om een deel van belang van de aan-deelhouders te verzilveren. In de maanden daar-na blijkt TomTom een aandeel dat snel aanwaarde wint. Maar ook snel waarde kan verlie-zen. Op 27 oktober 2005 had het aandeel rondhet middaguur 30% van zijn beurswaarde ver-loren, dit kwam op dat moment neer op 1,2 mil-jard euro. De waarde van een aandeel TomTomis eigenlijk vanaf de introductie hoger dan deintroductiekoers, momenteel schommelt hetaandeel tussen de 32 en 35 euro. De beursgangvan TomTom kan worden bestempeld als eensucces maar dan vooral voor de vier partners.

De eigenarenBij de beursgang van TomTom cashten de eige-naren van TomTom ongeveer 85 miljoen europer persoon. Maar zij bleven voor het grootstedeel eigenaar van TomTom. Allen hadden na debeursgang nog 18,7% van de aandelen TomTom.Feitelijk hadden ze het er dus nog volledig voorhet zeggen. In 2006 cashten de vier partnerseind oktober nog eens bijna 400 miljoen euro,dit door aandelen en opties van de hand te doen.In 2005 stonden de vier partners van TomTomallen hoog in de Quote 500. Harold Goddijn enCorinne Vigreux staan samen, ze zijn immers

getrouwd, op plaats twaalf met een geschat ver-mogen van 1,4 miljard euro. En Pieter Geelen enPeter-Frans Pauwels stonden op plaats 25 en 26met een geschat vermogen van 710 miljoen euro.

In 2006 voerde Pauwels tevens de Quote 500Junior aan, zijn vermogen zou zijn gestegennaar 766 miljoen euro. Het is duidelijk dat devier partners op een on-Nederlandse, bijna-Amerikaanse, manier hun aandeel in het bedrijfverzilverden. Verder is er nog iets Amerikaanste bespeuren bij één van de partners. PieterGeelen gaf namelijk zijn eigen goede doel, deTuring foundation, 100 miljoen euro. Dit doethij in navolging van bijvoorbeeld Bill Gates enWarren Buffet. De Turing foundation gaat zichde komende jaren bezighouden met natuurbe-scherming, bestrijding van lepra en onderwijsvoor kinderen en Nederlanders proberen telaten genieten van kunst.TomTom kiest duidelijk zijn eigen weg innavolging van zijn eigenaren. De vier partnersdoen verrassende on-Nederlandse dingen, netals hun bedrijf. TomTom weet de juiste weg tevinden want over 2006 zal de omzet voor heteerst het miljard overschrijden. TomTom magdan wel eens net als zijn navigatiesystemen eenandere weg kiezen, het is misschien wel degoede.

Famous Economist/Entrepreneur

1900

1950

2000


Fotopagina


Analyse

Zoals alle studenten die Zakencyclustheorie inblok 2 hebben gevolgd weten, verklaardeKeynes de oorlog aan de rentenierende klasse.Het ontvangen van rente over waardepapier enandersoortig 'inactief' kapitaal in een tijd vanchronische onderbesteding zag hij als immo-reel. Geldcreatie zou volgens Keynes de rente-stand in zoverre drukken, dat het dode kapitaaltot leven zou worden gewekt in bijvoorbeeld dehuizenbouw. Kortom, van rijkdomvergaringvoor weinigen tot economische opleving voorvelen.

Verbod op renteTerug naar het islamitisch bankieren. Uit deafkeer voor extreme inkomensverschillen envan de levensstijl der renteniers, volgt het isla-mitisch verbod op rente (riba). In de economi-sche theorie is rente de beloning voor sparen.Zonder beloning (incentives) geen gedrag, zon-der rente geen spaargedrag en zonder spaarge-drag geen kapitaalaccumulatie en daarmee geenenkel perspectief op een levensstandaard waar-in de consumptie a Benz, some rims, and somejewels centraal staat. Hoewel, het verbod oprente betekent niet dat er onder islam geencompensatie voor de tijdwaarde van geldbestaat.

De tijdwaarde van geld is van essentieel belangvoor de economische beslissingen die rationeelzelfzuchtige individuen elke dag maken. Hetnaar het heden halen van toekomstig inkomenstelt individuen in staat een huis aan te schaf-fen, telefoonrekeningen van driedubbele cijfers

Islamitische wetgeving, beter bekend als desharia, stelt regels en voorschriften op voor elkdomein van het persoonlijke en maatschappe-lijke leven. Zo ook voor het economische leven.Banken en andere financiële intermediairs diegestoeld zijn op de principes van de islam pro-beren de economische orde van de sharia in depraktijk te brengen. In eerste instantie houdtdit in dat zij zich ver houden van de financie-ring van goederen en diensten die onder deislam als zondig (haram) worden beschouwd:alcohol, gokken, pornografie en natuurlijk hethouden en slachten van sus scrofa domesticus.

Gemeenschappelijk belang staat vooropIn tegenstelling tot wat veelvuldig in de mediawordt verkondigd, is de islam meer dan een ver-zameling van verstrekkende en verstikkenderegels voor haar 'volgers'. De ideale economi-sche orde onder de islam is van een egalitaire, ja,bijna socialistische aard. De islam staat de ver-garing van persoonlijke rijkdom toe maar het isgeen onvoorwaardelijk door Allah gegevenrecht; als de vergaring van privé-bezit hetgemeenschappelijk belang schaadt, moet hetrecht ingrijpen. Welvaartsverschillen die nietmeer sociaal rechtvaardig te noemen zijn, con-centraties van rijkdom als voorbodes van eenelitaire standenmaatschappij en kapitaal-krachtige renteniers die leven van hun 'dode'rijkdom worden onder de islam gezien alsmaatschappelijk onwenselijk. Mohammed alseen soort Karx Marx avant la lettre.

Of als een soort Maynard Keynes avant la lettre.

Nick Nusselder - Als men in Nederland spreekt over 'islamitisch bankieren'denkt men aan zaken zoals de hahal-hypotheek. En wat denkt u van deArabobank ? Of Falluja Financieringen? Kufar en zoon Kredieten? Maar, wathoudt het precies in?

Islamitisch financieren in een notendop


Analyse

te maken of tien jaar te studeren op een con-sumptieniveau waar keizer Nero jaloers op zouzijn. Ook dient de rentestand als een efficiëntcommunicatiemiddel: het vertelt de investeer-der wanneer het uitstellen van zijn consumptieeen hogere toekomstigewaarde van consumptiemogelijk maakt. Dezeonmiskenbare econo-mische voordelen gaanonder het stelsel vanislamitisch bankierenen financieren nietverloren. Islamitischefinanciers hebben overde eeuwen innovatieveconstructies bedachtom 100% halal beloondte worden voor de tijd-waarde van hun geld.

Creatief met regelsomgaanVoor de aanschaf vanduurzame consump-tiegoederen en assets -zoals auto's, huizen enpluche dobbelstenendie je aan de achteruit-kijkspiegel hangt - ishet mogelijk om onderMurabaha geld telenen. Het werkt alsvolgt: het goed inkwestie wordt voor delener door de bank gekocht, die het voor de aan-koopprijs plus een vooraf afgesproken winst-marge verkoopt aan de lener. Terwijl de lenervanaf de aankoop volledig bezit heeft van hetgoed, heeft de bank het eigendomsrecht totdatde 'debiteur' volledig heeft afgelost. Hierdoorloopt noch lener, noch geldschieter risico: het afte lossen bedrag is volledig vast en het onder-pand zeker. Nadeel is wel dat de mogelijkeliquiditeit van de lener beperkt is; probeer maarop deze wijze een studielening te krijgen!

Eveneens is het mogelijk om het nodige startka-pitaal voor een onderneming te bemachtigen.Hoewel rentedragende kredieten uit den boze

zijn, kunnen beide ondernemer en geldschieterzich toeleggen op een zogenaamdeMusharakah: een joint venture . Vermogen geeftnaar proportie recht op de winst, en deelt naarproportie in mogelijk verlies. Omdat het ont-

vangen van rente haram is,bestaat er onder het isla-

mitische financiëlesysteem niet zoiets alseen obligatie zoals wijdat kennen. Maar hierlaat de bijna demoni-sche creativiteit van dev r o e g m i d d e l e e u w s eArabische geldschietersweer van zich horen: deaanschaf van een Sukukgeeft de investerendehet recht op alle toe-komstige geldstromen,een aandeel dus.

De grotere dissDe laatste jaren is hetislamitisch financierensterk in opkomst.Hoewel een geblondeer-de Limburger zou spre-ken over een 'kernex-plosie van krediet', heeftopkomst van het islami-tisch financieren weinigte maken met de toene-

mende invloed van deislam. Het overschot op de

lopende rekening van de voornamelijk islamiti-sche olie-exporteurs geeft hen veel kapitaal omvrijelijk te investeren. Daarom is deze schrijvervan mening dat islamitisch bankieren dankzijde toevallige olie-inkomsten en ondanks haareigen merites populair is. Het beperkt de trans-actievrijheid van de moslim terwijl het - door deimpliciete rente - haar sociale doelstellingenniet lijkt te halen. Mede door het eerstgenoem-de is vrijwel de gehele islamitische wereld eco-nomisch achtergebleven gebied. Goed, mis-schien is de 'renteniersklasse' kleiner dan hier,maar als je daarvoor hip-hop cd's en indoorplumbing moet opgeven, lijkt mij dát de groterediss.

WANTED NEWCOMMITTEE MEMBERS!

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Vanaf januari start er weer een nieuwe bedrij-vendagcommissie. Kun jij de uitdaging aan en or-ganiseer jij straks zo’n fantastische dag?

Did you enjoy your own introduction-week ? Organise it yourself next year and apply for the introduc-tion committee!

Did you enjoy the last ECU’92 conference about Oil&Gas? Are you able to organise such a day? Apply for the conference committee!

Do you want to have con-tact with interesting and important persons and want you to arrange lectu-res with them, apply then for the discussion and lec-tures committee


Open Letter

invest in major oil- and pill-pushing companies- there is no end to the opportunities out therefor people to exploit others. If you want toabsorb and master a discipline, do some good,stick around and read a book. It is really such aleap to have passion and genuine interest inyour chose field? Lord knows we would like toequip our staff with tazers and stun-guns to'shock' the students into working, but thatwould be attacking symptoms, not causes. The'jolt' should already be there, the want of a stu-dent to grasp and master interests in life, tobuild on what he was taught.Sure there are other things a person, and espe-cially a young student, might want to do, but itall comes down to a simple set of options andpriorities. A little forethought about where youare headed, what the consequences of your acti-ons now are on later life, will bring you somehealthy, much-needed perspective. Now is thetime for you to set the foundation of your futu-re, and we suggest you do it right. Remember,there is no shame is being labelled as 'ambiti-ous'. 'Ambition' is not a dirty word. However,'mediocrity' is, in our dictionary, and it wouldbe a disappointment if you where to be labelledas such.

If you hadn't grasped it yet, here is our messagein a nutshell: "You're supposed to be smart,right? So act like it already! Read your books,prepare your classes and participate."

With deepest concern,

- Everyone over 30

Dear Average Student,

There seems to be a problem. Grades are fallingall over the board, and along with it go subsi-dies, benefits, respect, IQ-points and morale. Acrisis such as this requires swift action, and sowe have located the problem. Now, don't beoffended, but it appears that you, AverageStudent, are pathologically lazy. Lack of input and effort is slowly eating away atthe fabric of your own education, and itsresults. Hardly anything can be achieved withan attitude that is geared towards barely suffi-cient effort, scraping the bottom of the barrel.Yet this is what we have observed as the meaninput of a large part of the student body. Theonly way you can expect to reach your goalswith the observed level of minimal input, is ifthese goals are set at a mediocre level, at best.This unprepared attitude is not without conse-quences, for yourself and for the society inwhich you might find yourself. If you will, makea comparison of your discipline with the medi-cal field - would you rather that your doctor,who treats you and your loved ones, reallymastered and understood his field, or wouldyou be satisfied with a doctor who had barelyscraped by on mercy-grades? Admittedly, econ-omics is not often a life-or-death matter, but itseffects are perhaps more far-reaching than thesubjective example above - we are talking interms of global impact. What we are dealing with here might be lack ofinterest, due to the simplicity of future goals. Inother words, a general lack of passion. If youjust want a guaranteed payload in later life,

Florian Krätke - You are about to read a critique of student approach to study-ing, written so that a poor soul can vent his frustration. Please note thatalthough the tone of the letter is meant to be satiric, this article is meant tobe an open letter.You can write a reply to this letter to [email protected] chances are it will be published in the next edition.

Give Me Attitude


Activity

Utrecht School of Economics and it can impos-sibly be denied that this influenced the contentof mister Zalm's speech.

Song of praiseAlthough very interesting from a political pointof view, the enthusiastic story of a visibly proudminister Zalm about the policy of theBalkenende government is not what one wouldexpect to be the content of the lecture whenlooking at the subject 'trend-based budget poli-cy'. However, listeners who saw through theclouds of happiness and praise learned inte-resting things about sensible government poli-cy. What did we hear and what could we haveheard? Every person attending the lecture will haveheard that there are more jobs and more econ-omic growth in the Netherlands and that thereis healthier public finance. One could discussthe influence of the government on economicgrowth. This is a debate going on, and I will notsay this is not interesting, but we will now lookat what is behind all the happiness in misterZalm's lecture.

Trend-based budget policyThe pride of Gerrit Zalm is based on the policythat made him famous, not only in theNetherlands, but also in the other Europeancountries. The Dutch government started witha trend-based budget policy in 1994. GerritZalm was Minister of Finance in the cabinetthat started the policy and has been on that job

A lot of students came to the auditorium of thebeautiful old university building at the Utrechtcity centre to attend the speech of Gerrit Zalm.Not many empty chairs were left when misterZalm entered the hall. The lecture was plannedmonths in advance and was expected to beabout budget policy. But it turned out to be dif-ferent. Suddenly, the lecture became a song ofpraise about the policy of the Balkenende cab-inets and mister Zalm's conservative liberalparty VVD in particular.

Political crisisThe second cabinet of Prime Minister Jan PeterBalkenende started in 2003. It consisted of theChristian democrat party CDA, mister Zalm'sVVD and the liberal democrats, D'66. Thisgovernment was expected to be in charge of theDutch policies until 2007. However, a typicallyDutch political crisis led to the early fall of thecabinet when D'66 withdrew its support of thegovernment. A fundamental difference of opi-nions existed about the way the Minister ofIntegration and Immigration Rita Verdonk, amember of the VVD, dealt with the naturalisa-tion procedure of the controversial Member ofthe Parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali. After the crisisa demissionary minority cabinet was formed.The task of this temporary cabinet of CDA andVVD was preparing the elections, which wouldusually have taken place in 2007, and weremoved to the 22nd of November 2006 becauseof the crisis. This Wednesday in November wasone week after the lecture of Gerrit Zalm at

Roderick Udo - On the 15th of November 2006, the Discussion and Lecturescommittee of students association ECU'92 organised a lecture of Drs. GerritZalm, Minister of Finance in the Netherlands in four cabinets between 1994and 2007.The lecture was in Dutch, the Ecunomist reports on it in English.About Dutch public policy, drunken democrats and how many useful lessonsone can learn from a politician just before the elections.

Drunken democrats and public policy


for more than eleven of the twelve years bet-ween 1994 and today.At the moment the trend-based budget policywas first implemented, in 1994, theNetherlands did not comply with the EuropeanMonetary Union (EMU) convergence criteria.In order to be allowed to enter the EMU, thebudget deficit of a country had to be belowthree percent, the national debt below sixtypercent of GDP and a stable exchange rate ofthe countries currency wasrequired. With a deficit ofalmost four percent and adebt of about eighty per-cent of GDP, there waswork to do in theNetherlands. The trend-based budget policy waschosen as a tool to use forthis work.

This policy has four impor-tant characteristics: cau-tion with economic growthpredictions, one principledecision-making moment,separation betweenreceipts and expenditureand a fixed expenditure fra-mework. The first, cautious econom-ic premises, means that thecabinet bases its policy onexpected growth that islower than growth in thepositive scenario of theCentral Planning Bureau. The choice for thisway of policymaking results from lessonsdrawn from the period before 1994, in whichpredictions of economic growth had been toooptimistic, which made the budget policy toovulnerable.The second, the existence of one principle deci-sion-making moment, is also a choice resultingfrom past experience. The reliability of govern-ment policy was regarded too low, because offrequent adjustments throughout the year.Therefore, the initiators of trend-based budgetpolicy chose to have one moment every year atwhich decisions were made, in the spring.

The third, separated receipts and expenditures,means that unexpected receipts are not used foradditional expenditures. When receipts arelower than expected, this will not affect theexpenditure, because the government will eitherrun a higher deficit or raise taxes.The fourth, the expenditure framework, meansthat ministers must comply with budgets theyget. Budgets are set for the total period of fouryears a cabinet is in charge and within that peri-

od a budget is set every year.

Drunken democratAlthough the most impor-tant message of the lecturewas 'vote VVD' instead of'trend-based budget policy isgreat', we learned a lot aboutbudget policy. Mister Zalmis really dedicated to 'his'policy and tells about it in avery enthusiastic and some-times also funny way. Thewell-known laugh of misterZalm appeared at its bestwhen Marc Sanders, teacherat USE and member of pro-gressive liberal party D'66,stood up to pose a question.Stunned by the D'66 t-shirtof Marc Sanders, misterZalm told the D'66 politicianthat he could be a D'66 poli-tician at moments he isdrunk because he usually did

not have difficulties in wor-king with most parts of the D'66 plans.The important lesson we can learn from misterZalm is that whether the economic growthmight be influenced mainly by governmentpolicy or by general economic circumstances,the trend-based policy is worth to be kept. Itcertainly doesn't hurt and everyone is benefitedby stability. The VVD lost the elections and isnot likely to be back in the government in 2007.The biggest party after the elections, CDA, alsoadvocates the trend-based policy. Let us hopethat the newly formed government will conti-nue with the policy, so that stability is guaran-teed.

Activity


Analysis

A famous case everyone's heard about is Enron- a company where employees where coveringup their wrongdoings, lying to the public, to itsinvestors and shareholders - to all of whom ithad obligations to fulfill. They were unethical

The first thing that comes to mind will be bus-iness ethics - a subject that contains both ethicsand economics, but also an element of commer-ce. Business ethics is an field of its own, whichcontains rules, programs, descriptions, referen-ces to the ancient times material, related to bus-iness and behavior. In economics, this remindsme of the behavior of individuals under con-straint. Wikipedia, my favorite online source,describes business ethics in a vague way, butwhat it does tell us is that it's a form of art thatexamines ethical rules and principals, variousmoral problems in the business setting, alongwith the responsibility of the individuals invol-ved. Corporate social responsibility (familiar tous from Introduction to Business Economics) isalso a significant part of business ethics, as wellas many ethical rules on separate divisions ofeconomics, e.g. ethics of production andethicsof economic systems.Not surprisingly, the one of the highest recom-mendations a business can have is the fact thatits employees correctly follow a code of busin-ess ethics. From my second-favorite online source, theInvestopedia, I found that if a financial analystis certified by Chartered Financial AnalystInstitute (CFA) he or she has passed exam thatcovers stages like economics and ethics,accounting, security analysis. Now, my enthu-siasm is rising as the bad examples of businessethics are related with punishing the wrong-doer, thus with law.

Elena Meshcheryakova - Ethics remains a key word in our daily life.When itcomes to making the right decision, doing the right thing under the circum-stances, ethics always comes up at some point.The question is, assuming weknow what economics is, how do we apply ethics to it? Is the right thing todo for society also the right thing to do in our own eyes?

Economics & Ethics


not just in business terms, but also in legalterms.

In Microeconomics2, we learn about exportingeconomics into other disciplines (law, socialsciences) and importing other disciplines intoeconomics. The question is whether we can doboth with Economics and Ethics. Exportingeconomics into ethics will mean adopting econ-omic theories, formulas and rules to 'ethic' stan-dards - which equals putting a constraint oneconomic problems. But can we expand econ-omics to the borders of ethics? Whose bordersare larger, fuller, longer? When we try to adopt one into the other, therecannot be a specific determination of what isimport or export, economics and ethics interla-ce into a ball. Ethics is a discipline, a branch ofphilosophy. It is a stream of knowledge onbehavior, coming from hundreds of years beforeus. As some might know, philosophy is traditi-onally divided into logic, physics and ethics. The point of study of ethics is morality, whichmakes the central problem of ethics as a scien-ce the distinction between good and evil. Thefounder of the term 'ethics' was Aristotle, wholived in the 4th century B.C., and has a similarapproach to what we do here at USE - in histheories and teachings (on some of which ourcourses are based) of ethics always come downto choosing the best solution, to compromiseand finding the middle ground, also referred toas the Golden Rule. Ethics tells us, from expe-rience, what is good and bad for people, and itis up to us to decide which side we choose.

We can also apply Ethics to the Utrecht Schoolof Economics, in the sense of academic integri-ty - cheating on homework and exams, lying tothe faculty. USE is certain of its policy on ethicswith respect to cheating at exams - the cheateris expelled. Even though it does stop some stu-dents from cheating, most students wise up anduse other means of storing the information nee-ded for the exam. Next thing we know, graphi-cal calculators are forbidden for certain courses,which leaves me and my colleagues speechless.The effect of taking away one of the basic toolsof 21st century students is damaging.

I'd like it to be right across the sentence ongood and evil

There is enough material on Ethics andEconomics: journals, books, websites and cases.All our futures, be they in the are of economicsand law, economics and geography, economicsand social science, or economics and some othertrack, is interconnected with choices andmaking the right decision. Do we know enoughto make that decision? Are we prepared, orshould USE introduce "Business Ethics" as anew level 3 course?

Recommended reading: Nicomachean Ethics

Analysis


Afgestudeerd……en dan?

De bedrijvendag die ECU'92 jaarlijks organiseert is voor velen de eerste kennismaking met hetbedrijfsleven. Een divers aanbod aan bedrijven en overheidsinstellingen presenteertzich op de uitgebreide informatiemarkt, in een workshop of in een indivi-dueel gesprek. Door deze dag kom je er achter welke specifiekerichtingen in het bedrijfsleven jouw interesse hebben. Op debedrijvendag van ECU'92 of een andere carrièredag leg je de eer-ste contacten met bepaalde bedrijven of overheidsinstellingen. Het isvoor jou dan ook van belang om in contact te blijven met deze bedrijven of overheidsinstellingen.Dat kan via Carrière Contact!

Carrière Contact is dé intermediair tussen student en bedrijfsleven. Het is een samenwerkings-verband tussen Studievereniging Efact uit Tilburg en Studievereniging ECU'92. Inmiddels hebbeneerdere verenigingen zich aangesloten bij Carrière Contact waardoor het bedrijfsleven veelvuldiggebruik maakt van de diensten van Carrière Contact.

Op de website van Carrière Contact (www.carrierecontact.nl) kan jouw persoonlijke interesse-profiel worden aangemaakt. In dit profiel geef je aan in welke fase van de studie je bent en in welkespecifieke richtingen je bent geïnteresseerd. Op basis van dit persoonlijke interesseprofiel houdtCarrière Contact je op de hoogte van de activiteiten die de voor jou interessante bedrijven organi-seren. Dit zijn activiteiten als business courses, in-house dagen, oriënterende stages en work-shops.

Kortom: Carriére Contact houdt je op de hoogte van de voor jou belangrijke activiteiten! Oriënteerje op een snelle, safe en simpele manier op de carrière na je studie en maak nu je profiel aan opwww.carrierecontact.nl.

Voor meer informatie, kijk op de website van Carriere Contact of mail naar: [email protected] of naar [email protected]

Antoine Burgers & Malou van den Berg - Na tenminste vier jaar (of langer) zwoe-gen is het eindelijk zover. Je hebt je Master diploma gehaald en je bent klaarmet je studie. Maar dan……wat nu? Stel deze vraag maar eens aan degemiddelde student. De meest gehoorde antwoorden zullen waarschijnlijkreizen of werken zijn. In ieder geval is het, welk van de twee antwoorden erook gegeven wordt, een goede zaak om je alvast te oriënteren op je carrièrena je studie. Carrière Contact is hierbij hét ideale hulpmiddel.

Carrière Contact


ReactionOh, boy. To answer this question is like revealing our best keptsecret. It concerns the greatest conspiracy of women against 'our'men in charge. While I don't like to follow suit, I won't try tobeat around the bush - which is also said to be one of our lessattractive female qualities. Here it comes: it's all about keepingup appearances. Of course we always want to be in control, butthe difference is we choose to arrange it the delicate way. We rea-lize that, as long as the men around us believe they are running the show, we can get things done wit-hout them catching on. We - possessing outstanding manipulative talents - are the devil and angel onyour shoulder; the voices inside your head. Personally I think this is the most Pareto efficient outcome.Most women who achieve a position of power, think they have to prove themselves over their female(and especially male) subordinates. This makes them difficult to work with, the more so as they areapt to take every criticism personally. Certainly, it is true we are much more vulnerable to stress. Atthe same time, it would not hurt if men swapped some of their laidback attitude for our perfectionism.Then again, this last sentence is exactly the reason why you males will always need a woman by yourside. You can decide where to go, but as is well known men will never take the trouble to ask the way.We don't mind a man driving. We have the map.

Joëlle Tabak

Action/Reaction

Mars versus Venus

ActionMen are from Mars, women are from Venus" from John Gray, is a book about the differences betweenmen and women. I always thought it was nonsense; but I am beginning to wonder…A few months ago I was the editor-in-chief and you were the treasurer of ECU'92. Now the tableshave turned, and for me things changed. Let's generalize a bit: we all know that men find it difficult tolet someone else be in charge, especially a woman. It is that female touch that drives us insane.Women are meticulous and patient, while men prefer the no-nonsense way: full speed ahead and getthings done. But on the other hand women tend to be stressful, while men are more relaxed. For me,being an editor instead of an editor-in-chief is a world of difference. The fact that I am no longer incontrol and just have to write articles is like getting into a bus together and me letting you drive anddecide where to go. A man always wants to drive and be in char-ge, unless we are to drunk for either, but in my case that is notgoing to be a problem. Women on the other hand don't seem tobother whether they are running things or not, they seem toaccept it and live with it. How is this possible? How do you dothat? Do women come from Venus after all? Or is it just from theoutside?

Silvester Bosma


Column

charity was taken as the solution for destitu-tion. I do not want logic to be replaced bymysticism, and truth replaced by expediency. Ido not wish political debate substituted bypolitically correct sound-bites, and politicalleaderships elected by beauty contests super-vised by advertising agencies. And I do not wishthe discipline called economics to be deprivedof its humane character and turned into the

narrow study of business - the studyof the maximisation of private pro-fit."

My neighbour laughed. "Youmay be right about you being aconservative, but you are certainlywrong about your prejudices.Prejudices are unfair and oftenunfavourable feelings, or opinionsnot based on reason or enoughknowledge. Your prejudices areneither bereft of reason nor basedon lack of knowledge. And yourclaim to be conservative does notconvince me. What you saidsounds more like a new form of

socialism than conservatism.""I see that you haven't been listening well

to what I said.Yes, I'm a conservative. I believethat the task of economists is to study the econ-omy with the objective of banishing povertyand destitution. I believe that the mankindwhich has learned to overcome the retentive-ness of nature, and to synthesise materials bet-ter than nature has provided, has it also in itspower to regulate the production and distribu-tion of its resources in a manner leading toeconomic growth, stability and equity. As

My neighbour asked me if I have many prejudi-ces?

I told him that I have. "I'm against poverty,injustice, senseless violence, corruption, greed,lies, hypocrisy, pornography, tyranny, cowardy,and people smelling of garlic."

He laughed. "Is this all? No more?""Well, I'm also allergic to bad manners and

rudeness, lack of compassion, silly televisionprogrammes, economists who stillbelieve that Deregulation is thepanacea for all our social andeconomic ills, and thatGlobalization will, of necessity,make poor countries affluent. Inshort, I'm a prejudiced conser-vative. I want to conserve theachievements of theEnlightenment, and of the earlypost-war generation. But, I'm aconservative, not a reactionary!A reactionary is someone whowants to go back to the awfulrule of priests, the hegemony ofan upper class, and to the socialand economic conditions beforethe coming of the Welfare State."

My neighbour looked amused. "And whatabout politics?"

"In politics I hanker back to a world of ide-ologies, to rationality, to real political argumen-tation, and to the scientific study of politicaleconomy. Naturally, I do not wish a return tofake ideologies such as Stalinism posing asMarxism, or Fascism denying the unity of man-kind. I do not wish to return to the world inwhich poverty was blamed on the poor and

Reflections of an Adasaurus

Albert Einstein put it: "whatever (science) willproduce depends entirely on the nature of thegoals alive in this mankind. Once these goalsexist, the scientific method furnishes means torealize them. Yet it cannot furnish the verygoals... But perfection of means and confusionof goals seem to characterize the age."

"I do not believe in myths: in an "invisiblehand" equitably distributing the gains fromeconomic growth. I do not believe in the theoryof supply-side economics, and in monetarism. Ibelieve that effective demand, and new techno-logical inventions, engender investment. But Ido not believe that some mysterious forces oranimal spirits encourage the owners and con-trollers of financial resources to employ themunless they have good reason to expect handso-me rewards. I know that investment generatesa sequence of incomes which raise demand, butI also know that aggregate net investmentdepends on expected profit. And, as expectedprofit depends on expected demand, anddemand on income distribution, I find it diffi-cult to ignore the last mentioned. It thereforeseems reasonable to me that the state takes anactive role in the economy. The state is the only

factor, which controls the instruments whichare capable of regulating demand, supply andemployment, which is not depending on theexpectation of profit. In short, I want a returnto the principles that by the end of World WarII inspired the founders of the Welfare State.This makes me a conservative! Naturally, I wantto remedy the faults made by the politicianswho were unable or unwilling to eliminate theabuses of the system. But I do not want it repla-ced by the newfangled pre-war economic ideo-logy that mistakes egoism for individuality."

My neighbour shook his head. "All you toldme does not make you a conservative. It makesyou something like a new-born Keynesian."

I smiled. "When Einstein was summonedbefore McCarthy's US Senate Subcommittee onInvestigations, and was accused of anti-American activities, people joked that yester-day he was a great American, but today he isdefamed as a dangerous enemy of the UnitedStates. It is all a matter of relativity."

Bilthoven: January 2007 Y.S. Brenner

Column



Article

had signed up for the English Bachelor. 'You aregoing to have so much fun with all these inter-national students! You are in to languages, andfor your career it comes in handy to be interna-tionally orientated!' He has been studying econ-omics for half a year now, and it turned out notonly to change his life in the ways people hadalways told him, but to give the roots of hisexistence a violent stir.

In the first period he encounters Math andStatistics and Introduction to Economics. Hehad never been into numbers, so for the firstcourse he just had to study big time. After spen-ding an entire afternoon on some mathematicalor statistical problems, he could not forgetabout all these numbers. When opening thefridge to get something to drink, he immediate-ly thinks of the possibilities the bottle of soda

Peter wishes life could be like that all the time.Primary school was not bad either; just havingfun all day and learning a little about calcula-ting, grammar, geography and history. Highschool also represented loads of fun. His firstgirlfriend, parties, alcohol, new friends; not a loton his mind. Of course he had to work a littlefor school, but the night before the test wasenough to pass and then he could start livingagain.

The horrible change in his live started in thesixth year of his VWO, meaning the last class ofthe highest form of high school education,which allows you to participate in Universityprogrammes. Suddenly there was this fat, blon-de lady with a crooked nose and vicious breath.She popped up from nowhere, pushed the tea-cher aside and claimed to be the person thatwould help everybody to find a suitable studies.

Studying came into sight. 'A new challenge!','New friends!', and of course 'The right momentto move out of your parent's residence!'. Withinno time, he had a meeting with this monster ofa woman and she was questioning him abouthis likes and dislikes. He had always liked tradeand money and he wants to have a career. Afterhe said this it spat out: 'It sounds like econom-ics is the perfect study for you!'

And there he is, enrolled in the Utrecht Schoolof Economics. Ambitious as his parents are, he

Joris Hehenkamp - 'Children, it is eleven o'clock, time for something to eat anddrink!' If the peaceful kindergarten classroom where a tiny box in the handof a giant, the teacher just gave this giant the order to shake his hand brutal-ly. Children jump up, drop the puzzles they have been working on the entiremorning and rush towards their Sponge Bob, Bob de Builder or WhateverBob bag. Quickly they gather round, start singing and enjoy their yoghurtdrinks and biscuits.

Studying economics in practice


had been emptied by the former consumer. 'Sowe have Ho: the bottle is almost or completelyempty, and H1: the bottle is full enough to helpme get rid of my thirst.'

He quickly closes the door and throws himselfin front of it. 'My god, what am I doing? I justwant something to drink! Let me try it again.'He takes the bottle out of the fridge.Immediately, he puts it to his mouth, thinking:'No time to get a glass. I might go nuts again.'After a few big gulps, he removes the bottlefrom his lips. The soda tasted great, but he isnot thirsty anymore. The bubbles hurt his thro-at; he drank the chilled cola to fast. After thebubbly feeling left his system, he looks at thebottle.

'So now I am not thirsty any more, but some-how I am into another sip. The opportunitycosts of more soda are the benefits of the bestalternative… No wait, I could get a stomachache from too much soda, and I am not thirstyso the marginal benefits are way low, maybeeven negative…' He looks up and sees his ownimage mirrored in the metal of the fridge door.Without thinking of any benefits or costs heplaces the bottle on the counter, grabs his jac-ket and leaves home. While cycling towards his favourite pool bar,he calls a friend. 'Hey, it's Peter. How are youdoing? I am ok, but I really studied a long timeand now I have to get my mind cleared of allthis crap. Are you into a game of pool?' Hisfriend would be there in a second. He orders afew beers and reserves a table.

After a little chat, his friend mentions his stu-dies. 'So what have you been doing that longthat made you leave your home in a rush forrelaxation?' He tells his friend he has been spen-ding hours on Mathematics and Statistics andthat he has not even finished his work fortomorrow. 'Due to this utterly childish effortrequirement, we have to hand in our exercisesat the start of the lessons. And they do not evenlook at them! It is madness! We are adults andwe have our own rhythm, how come they donot let us study the way we want to?'

Michiel, who knows Peter for years and alwayslikes to tease him a little, asks him how he isgoing to meet this requirement while poolingand not studying at home. 'You should be athome now, working on your assignments! Letme see, you have wasted about half an hour nowdrinking beer and catching up with a friend.How does this make you feel? Your studies areso important! They are the start of your life!Without a diploma, you will fail in life, you willnever make the career you have been planningsince we met.' At the time, Peter had been six.After he had beaten Michiel in a game of mono-poly, he kept shouting he would become worldleader.

Peter thinks of this for a second, and thencomes up with an answer. 'You just steppedinto one of the major pitfalls in decision-making; you forgot to erase sunk costs fromyour calculation! This half an hour I spent withyou, which has indeed been a complete waste oftime, can never be used again. The decision I amfacing now is: should I go home and study somemore while my head bursts and I would produ-ce extremely inefficiently for about four hours,or shall I beat you in pool and thereby gain newenergy which I can use to beat up some mathe-matical problems in less than half that time? Donot forget about the average/marginal distincti-on either!'Michiel looks dazzled, and loses the game ofpool. Peter explained the "pool player analogy"while playing and now feels superbly. Rightbefore they go their own ways, Michiel turns toPeter. 'You have really changed, man. I can notsee or listen to you without the economical stu-dent flapping out. Will we ever be able to justchill again?' Peter gives this a long thought. Hisstudies should form a challenge, he would makenew friends and soon he would move out. Butthe monster never said anything about a com-plete new lifestyle! 'Damn it, I wish I couldreturn to kindergarten and do primary and highschool all over again. Life was great at the time.Hakuna matata, no worries.' He cycled home. Inthe back of his mind, he estimates the numberof rotations his legs need to perform before hewill arrive.

Article


Uitsmijter

Als econoom weten wij alles van werk en pro-ductieprocessen, maar dan vooral in theorie.Tijdens het klussen kom je verschillende con-cepten in de praktijk tegen. Zo doorliep ik mijneigen learning curve tijdens het verf afbrandenvan lastige randjes in de houten deur, onder-vond ik derhalve de voordelen van arbeidsde-ling en bijbehorende specialisatie en concludeerik dat een van de redenen waarom ik het leverenvan fysieke productieve arbeid blijkbaarwaardevol vind, het feit moet zijn dat het voormij zo schaars is. De praktijk blijkt weer eensde beste leerschool.

Of ik later dan toch maar timmerman word? Ikdenk het toch niet, elke dag dat fysieke werk isook niet alles, het moet wel schaars blijven.Maar op z'n tijd is het lekker en geeft het echtevoldoening. En dat is lang niet met elke baanhet geval. Zou dit misschien ook de reden zijnwaarom er zich onder depressieve mensen zoweinig timmerlui, fietsenmakers en bouwvak-kers bevinden...?

Ik weet niet hoe het met jullie zit maar ik werkniet (ik poker), laat staan dat ik iets producéér.En dan bedoel ik iets tastbaars. Echt ietsmaken, met je handen. Hoe vaak doe je dat nogvandaag de dag? De voldoening lijkt hem danook vooral te zitten in het tastbare resultaat enhet idee dat je dat zelf met je eigen handen hebtgemaakt.

Zelf een uur besteden aan tomatensoep makengeeft toch ook een lekkerder gevoel dan een blikUnox opentrekken, ongeacht de smaak van jebrouwsel en alle efficiency van het blik tenspijt? Zo moet het met klussen in je eigen huisook het geval zijn: zelf maken is leuker.

Als economiestudenten spannen wij onsnatuurlijk ook weleens in, maar in plaats vaneen vermeld cijfer 5.8 op WebCT of een paperin de vorm van een paar vellen tekst, vertalen defysieke inspanningen bij het klussen zich directin een perfect gelegde houten vloer of een spie-gelglad geschuurde deur. Zaken waar je nogjarenlang wat aan hebt in je huis!

Net als bij sport heeft het daarnaast ook ietslekkers als je lichaam de gevolgen van inspan-ning zelf ondervindt. Zitten, koffie drinken eneen broodje eten, het voelt allemaal als een wel-verdiende beloning voor het werken, waardoorje er veel meer van geniet. Om van heerlijk in jebed liggen 's avonds nog maar te zwijgen."Arbeid adelt" is niet bepaald mijn spreekwoordmaar zoals zo vaak bij spreekwoorden zit erwat in.

Elias Hermans - Gisteren ging ik uit vrije wil mee klussen, gratis en voor niks.Niet echt typisch iets voor een econoom, hard werken zonder loon. Na vijfminuten voorovergebogen met de bandschuurmachine in de weer had ik alpijn in de onderrug en een handvol fijnstof in de longen. En toch is het lek-ker! Maar waarom?

Bob heeft in ieder gevalnooit een depressie...

Heb jij de juiste kwaliteiten voor Ernst & Young?Dit zijn Anke Laan en Marjolein Citroen, allebei accountant bij Ernst & Young. Tijdens werktijd de beste collega’s.

Maar tijdens de jaarlijkse sportdag gaan ze soms iets minder zachtzinnig met elkaar om. Tja, het zijn net

mensen, die Anke en Marjolein. En van dat soort zoeken wij er meer. Gedreven en collegiale medewerkers die het

beste uit zichzelf willen halen. Heb jij ook bijzondere kwaliteiten? Oriënteer je dan eens op www.ey.nl/carriere.

Bijzondercollegiaal

Ecunomist, Year 16, Issue 2

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Transcript of Ecunomist, Year 16, Issue 2