SMU Economics Intelligence Club

SMU Economics Intelligence Club 2012

SMU Economics Intelligence Club Challenge

Wong Hong Wei, with contributions from Lin Fangjun, Lin Fangcheng, Leung Weiwen and both the 1st and

2nd SEIC EXCO, wrote this case primarily for record keeping, and to improve accessibility to information

on the branches within the club, which otherwise is not readily available in writing. This case illustrates

the problems the club faces, and the author hopes that this historical perspective on issues will help

current and future leaders in making decisions that will take the club to greater heights.

30 April 2012

Introduction Singapore Management University (SMU) prides itself on its pedagogy, which actively harnesses

active discussion to facilitate student’s learning. Yet, there is a lack of intellectual discussion in

Economics courses because many lecturers use limited lesson time to cover only the most relevant

course content. At best, lecturers leave the discussion to online forums, which is less than

satisfactory due to its limitations.

At the same time, the link between the academic materials and their application to daily life has

been weak. Many developed an aversion to technicality, and desire the less quantitative ones, as

observed from the preference in taking closer-to-life modules such as Public Sector Economics,

Maritime Economics and Game Theory. Due to the irrelevance of economic theories on the surface,

many students’ interest in economics dwindles. Learning often stops at the classroom (or the

seminar room in SMU’s case).

Therefore, the learning environment has been less than ideal as the faculty can only go so far in

fostering an environment conducive to learning. However, ultimately, the students are the ones

responsible for their studies.

The inherent need for further exploration, amongst students fervently passionate about Economics,

remains unfulfilled. With the motivation to make up for these shortcomings, a group of students1

came together and Chatternomist2 was born.

1 Lee Cheuk Yin, Lin Fangjun, Lin Fangcheng, Wong Hong Wei, Leung Weiwen, George Lee Ye Han, Lu Zihao

originated the concept of a seminar-style Economics Club. Shane Ai Changxun, Ben Lim Shi Cheng separately created its publications arm. Kwan Yu Wen, Justin Wong Siew Yann and Tan Kwan Hong, who joined later, were also integral members by the official formation of the club. 2 This was the previous unofficial name of SMU Economics Intelligence Club. The name was changed to

improve marketability and to adapt to suit the growth needs of the club beyond engagement in seminars.


Preliminary work before formal establishment of the club The founders aimed to meet 3 targets. Firstly, they wanted to foster an environment conducive to

learning of Economics by providing an avenue for intellectual discussion and sharing of ideas.

Secondly, they wanted to build a link between Economics theories and their application to daily life,

including public policy formulation. Thirdly, they hoped to promote interest in the field of Economics

amongst SMU students (regardless of School).

The original founders were eager to formally establish the club. However, they were not certain

about its viability3 or their ability to overcome red tape. Time was not on their side, as several key

members4 had planned for exchange programmes in the following year. To sustain the momentum,

they decided to launch the club unofficially early in the second semester of Academic Year 2010-

2011.

Preliminary work was done through conducting surveys to discover the general interest amongst

SMU students, and to gauge the actual demand for hosting a seminar series amongst students

(Exhibit 8). The result was encouraging. The vast majority of the respondents indicated their

preference on at least one particular topic of Economics, if a seminar session was held.

However, acknowledging that there could be differences between simply ticking a box on a survey

form and actually spending time and effort to attend a Chatternomist event, a series of 3 pilot

seminars sessions were held across the semester. The theme of the seminars was chosen to be

Economics History, which is believed to be an area of interest amongst SMU students not covered by

the faculty.

The actual turnout ranged from 12 to 15 students. Although the level of attendance was less than

initially hoped for, many attendees gave very positive remarks about the seminar series as it was not

only informative but also engaging, and there was genuine interest to participate in the seminar.

With this, the founders felt that there was sufficient evidence on the feasibility to hold such

seminars, and that an academically-inclined Economics club can value-add to the school. By June

2011, talks were already underway with SMU School of Economics (SOE). After the merger with

another group of like-minded students who were separately pursuing publications on current issues

in Political-Economics, the green light was given to set up the club.

The beginnings of SMU Economics Intelligence Club Lin Fangcheng was chosen to be the overall leader and the one ultimately responsible for the newly

created club, SMU Economics Intelligence Club (SEIC). The club, however, was very much run like a

self-managed team. Every member was a personal friend of another, and there were great amounts

of passion for the club. It was not uncommon for anyone to be stepping beyond his designated role

to help out voluntarily wherever possible.

3 The founders are not aware of the existence of any club at the undergraduate level that served the same

purpose, and there is a trend that undergraduates tend to avoid seminars which are overly technical. 4 Lin Fangjun, Lin Fangcheng, Lee Cheuk Yin indicated their wish to go on exchange in AY 2011-2012 T2.


The levels of fervour and excitement were running high amongst the founding members, and many

ideas surfaced on the direction that SEIC can take. To steer everyone towards a common goal, SEIC

formulated its Vision and Mission as follows:

Vision

To be the intellectual hub for SMU students in their journey of economic discovery.

Mission

To value-add to the school, enrich the lives of students and contribute productively and

meaningfully to society.

The formal creation of the club paved the way for further club expansion. Recruitment was of

paramount concern, so as to boost membership and spread the passion for Economics. Marketing

efforts were stepped up, spreading the word beyond friends and students of SOE. A Facebook SEIC

persona was created, and emails were sent to the school (Exhibit 6A) to create awareness. To

specifically target the freshmen, SEIC appealed5 to take part in Vivace 20116, and also made a

presence in OIKOS Camp 20117.

The publicity and recruitment exercise was a success, with over 100 people indicating their interest

in joining. To boost membership retention rates, SEIC distributed name cards (Exhibit 6B) which

displayed the seminar timings. Several emails and reminders were also sent to promote the

seminars.

The seminar sessions were student-run, and were held on a bi-weekly basis. Economics topics

(Exhibit 1) ranged from development to monetary policy. To deliver issues closer to the heart of

students, senior members of the club shared their experiences on internship, exchange, selection of

modules and brought in speakers for Public Policy Challenge 2011.

Yet, membership retention proved to be tricky. Only 41 members were present during the first

seminar, with subsequent seminars seeing a gradual decline in attendance. Some pinpointed the

main reason to be the increasingly heavy workload as the school semester progresses (and so

students have less free time to attend SEIC events). However, it is also noted that up to a third of the

seminar attendees were new faces, suggesting the failure of the previous session in generating

sufficient appeal. Another reason could be attributable to the differing interest amongst students, as

they would attend only the ones most relevant to them.

Despite the mediocre response, the enthusiasm for Economics discovery and sharing remained high.

This kept the executive committee (EXCO) going even when the work was taxing - plenty of research

was required prior to each presentation. To fill the gaps, a few members of the EXCO stepped up and

presented more than once.

Concurrent to the seminars, the publications wing of SEIC, SMU Political-Economics Exchange (SPEX),

keenly sought out members willing to write. With active contributors from highly-ranked overseas

5 Signups for Vivace had officially closed by the formal establishment of SEIC.

6 Vivace is an annual event that showcases the various clubs and student bodies in SMU.

7 Oikos Camp is an annual event organized for the freshmen of the School of Economics.


universities, and eager SMU students, SPEX successfully published a series of 7 newsletters, each

with 3 articles, also on a fortnightly basis. Without the budget for print, and with no in-depth

expertise in IT and web hosting knowledge, Scribd8 was employed to distribute the newsletter via

electronic means.

While the semester was coming to an end (Nov 2011), a new problem emerged. A few key members

had planned for exchange in the next semester. As these members held important positions, their

absence would create a leadership vacuum. In addition, the long-term sustainability of SEIC was

carefully considered and debated. It was not foreseeable for members to continue the demanding

practice of presentation and research on an individual basis. This made less sense when there were

untapped potential from members not within the EXCO, whom may be capable and willing to

contribute. A further problem arises when not all members of the club know one another - writers

do not attend seminars and vice versa.

Several changes were made to the structure of the club (Exhibit 4). The function of research was

separated from that of seminar because it was one of the main activities of SEIC, and additional

focus on it was required. Members were encouraged to form groups to research on common topics

of interest, with the choice to present their findings in subsequent seminars. Next, the consulting

branch was added, to locate and work with external agencies. In order to overcome the difficulty of

club segregation, future seminar sessions would be held with the aim of bringing together branches

from research, consultancy and publications. Through these transformations, the architects of the

club held on tightly to the club mission, as they envisioned the branches in publications and seminar

disseminating information and value-add to the school, research enriching the lives of participating

students, and members of consultancy applying the skills learnt in the classroom to the public sector

where work is done for the good of society. Finally, an interim EXCO was chosen, with Wong Hong

Wei as the interim President.

Building on and sustaining the legacy Club development continued into December 2011. The winter break provided a good respite from

academics for the club to be reorganized and consolidated. Nonetheless, it was difficult to gather

the entire EXCO (in its expanded form), especially with members overseas. Emails proved to be slow,

messy and unconducive for discussions. In response, a Facebook9 group was created with EXCO only

access. This mitigated some of the problems of electronic communication. When speedier responses

were required, Skype10 meetings were held. Group decision making over the internet actually turned

out to be fine, much to the surprise of the interim EXCO.

By the start 2012, much work was already done. The consulting branch had 2 teams assigned to the

Ministry of Manpower (MoM), each with a separate project objective. 5 research teams were

formed with the focus on various topics, including economic bubbles, pollution, monetary

economics and poverty. SPEX continued its momentum and trained the new members for editorial

work. Except for the invitation of guest speakers, which was waiting to be confirmed, the schedule

for the next seminar sessions to be held in the coming semester was planned and finalized. Then,

8 Scribd is an online website used to share publications.

9 Facebook is a very popular online social networking website.

10 Skype is an online messenger service.


SEIC also began operating its very own website11, and had its first approved budget from SOE, which

granted it more financial discretion for funds utilization, as it was previously only a small pool that

was contributed by the founders.

The interim EXCO was ready to take on the tasks. Recruitment efforts were restarted. The message

of SEIC was spread through personal contacts, emails and Facebook. Things looked brighter than a

semester ago, with the increased membership numbers holding stable during the semester. Mr

Manu Bhaskaran, a prominent speaker, and partner of Centennial Group, and speakers from the

Ministry of Trade and Industry, accepted the invitations to speak at SEIC’s seminars. SPEX made a

breakthrough when the newsletter became available in Chinese, to be circulated to renowned

Chinese universities through informal networks. At the time of writing, SPEX had just successfully

published its 14th newsletter.

Nevertheless, it was not all smooth sailing. Both consulting projects required high levels of

commitment. The given assignments were not easy. One project underwent the stage of

conceptualization multiple times because data which were much needed were not easily available,

incomplete or unreliable. The other project was more fortunate as there were sufficient data.

However, the methodology relied on advanced knowledge in mathematics and Excel, which the

junior team members had difficulties in.

The problems were compounded when many members of the consultancy team were also the ones

most actively involved in and leading the research groups. A decision was made to halt most

research activities, after the presentations in the first seminar, so as to focus on the consultancy

deliverables, judged to be of higher urgency and importance as MoM, an external party, is involved.

Another matter high on the agenda of the interim EXCO was to prepare and lay the ground for the

next EXCO to take over. The next EXCO had to be selected because a number of personnel in the

interim EXCO would not be able to serve for a second semester. Also, it was felt that the new people,

who will be roped in, can better ensure the longer term continuation of the club. And elections, as

opposed to hand-picking, would grant the new EXCO with the mandate to carry out its roles and

responsibilities. In spite of the need for elections, voting was foreseen to be problematic when

members do not know one another well. Interactions between club members at the few seminar

session might be inadequate for members to know one another well enough. To mitigate this issue

on elections information asymmetry, all candidates were encouraged to fill in details (Exhibit 7) to

make known their intentions to run, their qualifications which qualify them to be part of the EXCO,

and the plans they have for SEIC in the future. The elections were smoothly executed, and the club

voted Leung Weiwen to head the next EXCO.

Forging ahead and taking SEIC to greater heights At the time of writing, the new EXCO strongly feels that SEIC still have high potential for growth.

There are plans to execute a Community Service Project (CSP), tying Economics concepts and public

policy with the goal of reaching out to the community at large. Simultaneously, it is hoped that the

CSP will provide an alternative platform for SEIC to reach out to the incoming batch of freshmen.

Also in the pipeline is the creation of SEIC Database, which will house data and information

11

SEIC was given free web hosting by the student association of SMU, available at http://seic.smusa.sg


generated by primary sources, with wiki-like contribution by users. This will further augment the

research capabilities and capacity of SEIC. Additionally, the new EXCO have swung into action for

recruitment via Vivace 2012 and Oikos Camp 2012 to expand the membership base. To top it up, the

new initiatives will be bolstered by the SEIC website (currently undergoing major revamps), that will

boost publicity for the events and support data gathering and storage.

Although SEIC is now in a much stronger position than a year ago, with established branches, 54

active members, and growing presence, the ex-interim president finds that a number of challenges

remain regarding the club’s long-term viability and sustainability.

Membership is a major concern. A majority of the founding members are now in their senior years.

As the club continues to rely on their support, will the club lose its fervor and fade away after their

graduation? Also, a few other clubs in SMU are moving towards research, consulting and

publications, albeit in different fields. This may pose competition to attract members with similar

interests and skill sets.

Next, even though each elected personnel holds an EXCO position, there is no specific task or

requirement assigned to each person. The club is able to function up till today because of close

personal ties between EXCO members. Will SEIC in the future come to a standstill when

responsibilities get bounced around? Or will competition occur over the scarce club resources? For

example, the 4 branches of the club might dispute over the rights to the allowance of 2 emailers a

week to the school.

While growth is good for the club, expanding too quickly could mean that the club could be

targeting too many areas. Manpower again could be thinly stretched, resulting in decreased

productivity. And it would be less than ideal if the club was to deviate from its core vision and

mission.

Then, certain students of the school do not view SEIC favorably. The perception of SEIC as a dean’s

listers12 club could have deterred potential members from signing up. Casual conversations with a

few students revealed that they think of SEIC as a club for nerds or simply a club that only the

intelligent can join.

12

Dean’s List is awarded to students who have achieved a GPA of 3.7 out of 4 over the academic year.


Exhibit 1: Seminar

Chatternomist, AY 2010-2011 Term 2 Seminar (Date, Week13) Topic

Seminar 1 (13 Jan 2011, Week 2)

Freakonomics: price discrimination

Economic History – The Ages before Adam Smith

Economic Update: What Good is Wall Street

Seminar 2 (10 Feb 2011, Week 6)

Freakonomics:

Diversified Opinions Increases Attractiveness

Maths and Economics

Seminar 3 (10 Mar 2011,Week 10)

Introducing SPEX

Iron Law of Value

A Discussion on Gold

SMU Economics Intelligence Club, AY 2011-2012 Term 1 Seminar Topic

Seminar 1 (22 Aug 2011, Week 2)

Highlight of past seminars

Why Development?

How to choose your modules

Seminar 2 (5 Sep 2011,Week 4)

External study programs

“How much is the view at East Coast worth?”

Seminar 3 (19 Sep 2011, Week 6)

Commanding Heights 2: the Battle of Ideas

Seminar 4 (10 Oct 2011, Week 9)

“Who Hayek blames for our economic messes today?”

Seminar 5 (24 Oct 2011, Week 11)

Research group update (bubble economics, poverty, monetary policy in China)

SMU Economics Intelligence Club, AY 2011-2012 Term 2 Seminar Topic

Seminar 1 (18 January 2012, Week 2)

Introduction of EXCO + Updates

Research @ SEIC on Trade, Growth and Poverty

MOF Budget Challenge 2012 Networking Session


Grameen Bank and Microfinance

China’s Monetary Policy


MTI Talk on Emerging Markets

Seminar 4 (7 March 2012, Week 9)

An evening with Mr Manu Bhaskaran

Seminar 5 (21 March 2012, Week 11)

Awards Ceremony

Dialogue on Pollution

Discussion on our upcoming CIP

13

Week refers to the number of weeks into the semester, as provided by the academic calendar of SMU


Exhibit 2: Research

Research Project 1

Description: China’s surging housing prices & its money

China saw high inflation in 2010 and 2011. In particular, its real estate prices surged. This is the

problem our group identified. We find that it is a complex problem with a number of causes. They

include the Government’s foreign exchange policy, hot money both within and without and shadow

banking or black money. We also did a comparison with Japan’s bubble burst in early 80s. Finally, we

propose a tight monetary policy (raising interest rate), structural reform from an export-oriented to

domestic consumption-driven economy. These policy responses have their merits but also come

with costs. The Chinese Government has to balance the pros and cons so as to achieve sustainable

growth

Research Project 2

Description: Trade, Growth, Poverty

What is the relationship between trade and poverty? On the one hand, trade is said to increase

growth, and growth is arguably good for the poor. On the other hand, anti-WTO protestors often say

that WTO expansion hurts the poor. We use a World Bank dataset from 2005 to 2010 and find a

negative correlation between trade and growth and explain this as due to the global recession. In

normal times, this would be positive. We find a positive correlation between growth and income

share of the bottom 20%. Hence we conclude that trade helps the poor.

Research Project 3

Description: Transboundary Pollution

Economic theory has good solutions to stop pollution when both polluter and victim are in the same

country. However, when the victims are in a different country from the polluter, it is often hard to

get an optimal solution, given that a world government does not exist.

We analyse the case of the Southeast Asian haze. Indonesia has been a source of forest fires in 1997,

2006 and 2010. We conclude that a more effective long-term management strategy is required. In

particular, ASEAN should focus on helping Indonesia’s efforts in modernizing the landownership

system, as well as creating a proper incentive structure for preventing slash-and-burn techniques.

Currently, most solutions are symptomatic, such as trying to put out fires as quickly as possible.


Research Project 4

Description: Bubble Economics

Bubbles seem to be the norm in modern economics. Real Estate Bubbles, Credit Bubbles and even

student loan bubbles are just some examples seen in recent times. Through our research, we find

that bubbles (or at least bubble-esque price movements are not freak events) but rather the

underlying nature of the behavior of particular goods and asset classes. This implies that with

sufficient understanding of such prices forces, such price movements can be expected and

anticipated rationally, hence disputing the very definition of what constitutes a bubble. Further

research into the particular behavior of simple asset classes is the projected direction for the

research project.

Research Project 5

Description: Evidence of China’s Reliance on its Required Reserve Ratio (RRR) as a key monetary tool

Since 2007, the People’s Bank of China (BOC) has been actively relying on its required reserve ratio

as a key monetary tool to make major adjustment to its money supply which ultimately affects

China’s interest rate. The first section of the research presents the large and frequent RRR

adjustments, growing complexity of China’s RRR, comparison to international benchmark and RRR

being regarded by the Chinese as a popular sterilization tool as evidences of the growing significance

of RRR as a monetary tool. The second section showed the persistent need for large scale

sterilization, China’s quantity-centric monetary policy framework and tactical advantages from the

perspective of the BOC to be the key reasons for Chinese government belief in RRR to be one of the

most reliable tools. The last section showed how a change in RRR affects interest rates and, in turn,

its implications on the suspected property bubble in China.


Exhibit 3: Publications

SPEX Publications Publication Article

SPEX 1 (11 September 2011)

The Ripple of US Debt in China

UK Fiscal Measures Report

Introducing the ASEAN Bloc

SPEX 2 (26 September 2011)

Opportunities in Unexpected Territories (Africa) (Part 1 of 2)

Towards Robust Asian Bond Markets

Greek Debt Explained

SPEX 3 (10 October 2011)

The ASEAN Infrastructure Fund

An Update on the Woes of the American Economy

Opportunities in Unexpected Territories (Africa) (Part 2 of 2)

SPEX 4 (24 October 2011)

Understanding the BRICs (Part 1 of 2)

The Price of the Safe Haven (Part 1 of 2)

The Federal Reserve and the US Economy

SPEX 5 (7 November 2011)

Understanding the BRICs (Part 2 of 2)

The Price of the Safe Haven (Part 1 of 2)

Deflation in Japan (Part 1 of 2)

Gadaffi’s Death – Libya’s Black Gold May do Little for Oil Prices

SPEX 6 (5 December 2011)

Inflation in China

Euro Woes

What’s Wrong with China’s Monetary Policy?

SPEX 7 (19 December 2011)

The Economic Implications of Nationalization (Part 1)

Divided We Stand, United We Fall

Are We Creating Another Tech-based Bubble?

SPEX 8 (16 January 2012)

More Liquidity or Else

The Rise of the Renminbi: Why does the Renminbi have to Appreciate and What are its Consequences?

Deflation in Japan (Part 2 of 2)

SPEX 9 (30 January 2012)

Overview of China’s Growth Outlook

The Role of Banks in Society

A Happier Singapore in Not-So-Happy Times

SPEX 10 (13 February 2012)

Brazil – An Increasing Protectionist attitude?

Why is there Inequality?

The Ailing Elephant

SPEX 11 (27 February 2012)

Vietnam’s Uncertain 2012

Capitalism Goes Beyond Mere ‘Self-Interest’

Social Security – Source of Insecurity (Part 1 of 2)

SPEX 12 (12 March 2012)

Social Security – Source of Insecurity (Part 2 of 2)

EU Oil Sanctions

The Success of Grameen Bank

SPEX 13 (26 March 2012)

Is China’s Economy Slowing Down?

Basel III: Its Provisions and Its Impact on the Financial World

Nobody Wins, Somebody Loses

SPEX 14 (9 April 2012)

Demystifying Singapore’s Budget

Reforms in Myanmar’s Economy

Staggering Growth of the Indian Economy: Lessons to learn from China


Exhibit 4: Leadership Structure

SMU Economics Intelligence Club, AY 2011-2012 Term 1


President Wong Hong Wei

Vice-President (Research)

Leung Weiwen

Vice-President

(Consulting) Justin Wong

Vice-President (SPEX)

Ben Lim Shane Ai Changxun

Publications Director Tan Jia Ming

Vice-President (Operations) Kwan Yu Wen

Finance Director Tan Kwan Hong

Honorary General Secretary

Timothy Ong Marketing Director

Herman Cheong IT Director Daniel Ang

Human Resource Director Ronny

Corporate Communications

Director Lee Beng Hwang



President, Leung Weiwen

VP (Research) Timothy Ong

VP (Consulting) Lee Beng Hwang

VP (SPEX), Ben Lim

Publication Director, Tan Jia Ming

VP (Operations) Herman Cheong

Finance Director, Alok Balachandran

Corporate Communications

Director, Lim Jun Jie

HR Director, Ronny

Honorary General Secretary, Vera Soh

Marketing Director, Fariha Imran

IT Director, Daniel Ang


Exhibit 5: Human Resources

The data below uses information updated on 1st March 2012. SEIC has 54 active members.

Club composition by Gender Club composition by Year of Study

Club composition by Primary Degree # of Participants in each SEIC Branch

Male, 42

Female, 12

1st year, 20

2nd year, 18

3rd year, 15

4th year, 1

Economics, 39

Business, 13

Accountancy, 1

Law, 1

36

12

10

9

0 10 20 30 40

Seminar

Consultancy

Research

Publications


Exhibit 6A: Marketing (Emailer)

Below shows some of the emailers sent to the school by SEIC since its inception

Date: August 12 2011

Date: September 17 2011


Date: January 15 2012

Date: March 20 2012


Exhibit 6B: Marketing (Name card)

Front

Back


Exhibit 7: Elections Write-up

Below is an instance of a submission by an election candidate.

List of Candidates

Candidate 1: Leung Weiwen Campaigning for: (1) President

a) Please introduce yourself

My name is Weiwen and I am hardworking, happy, and humorous. I'm in my third year in SOE with

a second major in Applied Statistics. Many of you know that I plan to do a PhD in Economics as an

aspiring academic. I thank many of you for allowing me to serve you. Without you, SEIC would not

be what it is today.

b) Describe the relevant experiences you have, including i) contributions to SEIC as a member /

EXCO etc or ii) Any other past involvement (such as CCA) which you think should qualify you

for a position in the EXCO

Contributions to SEIC:

- Founding member of SEIC

- Incumbent Interim VP (Research)

- Headed & oversaw four Research Teams (Poverty, Pollution, Monetary Policy, Bubblenomics)

- Assisted a consultancy team with the Ministry of Manpower

- Spearheaded SEIC's drive to become Best Newcomer CCA

Besides this, I also have been Teaching Assistant seven times, for Economics modules such

as Applied Econometrics & Economic Development in Asia, as well as non-economics modules such

as Political Philosophy and Systems Dynamics & Business Gaming. c) Tell us how you see SEIC, the problems and challenges SEIC faces, your planned course of

contribution/action

SEIC in the future.

- I plan to foster more cooperation between three of our branches (Research, Consultancy, SPEX). I

am already organizing summer seminars to train future Consultancy & Research group leaders and

members. I will persuade SPEX to run one or two seminars alongside this to make it a whole of SEIC

effort.

- Individually, I also see Research, Consultancy and SPEX, and Operations as centres of excellence.

Research and Consultancy have little problems finding group members. However, it becomes more

difficult when it comes to finding group leaders. The summer seminars are one way to solve the

shortage in group leaders. Another way to do this would be to make future leaders Exco members

(although they would not be required to attend all Exco meetings). I will also help Operations with the

organizing of seminars and SPEX with promoting their magazine.


Exhibit 8: Survey Results

72 responses were collected and 62% have economics as their primary degree. The survey indicates

three areas which students are most interested in. They are the economic naturalist14 (53%),

monetary economics (50%) and behavioural economics (47%). Only 2 responses or 3% indicated “not

interested”. This survey was done to gauge the actual demand for such a seminar series among

students.

In the same survey, results also revealed that about half the respondents are not aware of

economics related jobs but are interested to find out more. The founders saw the potential to invite

guest speakers with the purpose to network and share information on the job market.

11%

32%

50%

7%

Are you aware of jobs specific to economics graduates?

Yes. There are a lot of such jobs.

Yes. But there are not many such jobs.

No, not aware. I would like to find out more.

No, not aware. And I do not think this is so important to me


Exhibit 9: Plans on the shelf

Below are 2 initiatives discussed amongst the first SEIC EXCO. However, due to time and resource

constraints, they have been put on hold even up to the time of writing.

Economics Study Mission

This will entail an overseas trip to explore particular Economic topics and policy impacts of

governments. Suggested institutions on the itinerary include central banks, ministries and local

industries. One reason this is proposed is because of the notable absence of a study mission in SOE.

Economics Competition

An inter-varsity competition on Economics could be held, with professors from the major

universities as judges. Alternatively, to start with something small, an Economics or Economics-

current affairs competition could be held at the Secondary-Junior College level.

SMU Economics Intelligence Club

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