Value-Based Economics

Quoted from my writing in Business Week MBA Forum, 12/1/04:

Sadly many people overlook the importance of marriage, kids, charity, religion, and other factors besides career success that are important to achieve a meaningful (successful) life.
sometimes I think these talented people are 'prostituting' their lives in exchange for money, power, prestige. They're letting themselves be seduced. They let their lives be 'bought out' for money, power & prestige. But at the end, the pursuit of money, power and prestige will only prove empty and hollow.

I always believe that money & power shouldn't be the end goal... they are just means to do something positive to your family, community, religion, etc. The more money & power you have, the greater good you can create for the world. The chief goal of economics should go beyond profit-maximization... it should be about maximizing one's life fulfillment, which includes contributing to the lives of others, to the world, to things that are more worthy to value than money.

Those immensely talented people could have utilized their talents to do so much more for the world. Wasted lives.


Now, let's get real. As I'm getting married this October, what should I do with my MBA plan? I'm only taking 1 class this quarter, with 19 more to go. While maintaining my full-time job, I can only take 2 classes per quarter. Mira has pushed me to speed up so we can go home as soon as I get my MBA. But on the other hand, I'd like to spend more quality time with her, make all the mental & spiritual preparations for marriage, while at the same time trying to enjoy and cherish the process.

MBA Scenario 1:
Take 2 classes each in Spring & Summer, leaving me with 20-1-2-2 = 15 classes to go.
That will take me another 7-8 quarters starting from January 2006 to finish my MBA = Summer or Autumn of 2007.

MBA Scenario 2:
Take 1 class each in Spring & Summer, leaving me with 20-1-1-1 = 17 classes to go. That will take me another 8-9 quarters starting from January 2006 to finish my MBA = Autumn of 2007 or Winter of 2008.

A possibility of having a child also comes into play. Say, I get married this year, and birth a child in about 2 years (around Autumn of 2007). We can't move to Indonesia before the child reaches a certain age, right? So, most probably we'll move around Summer of 2008.

Therefore, Scenario 2 looks like the best-case scenario:
- We'll have the aforementioned quality time to make preparations for marriage
- Our first child will be ready by Summer 2008
- It will give me with an ample time to finish my MBA, perhaps taking another quarter off for family matters (or during the child's birth)
- It will also give an ample time for the Green Card process (which started in Autumn 2004)
- My mortgage will be exactly 5 years since it started (full usage of the low ARM rate) plus we'll get another year of nice price appreciation

Unless if we decide to have child right away; now that's a different story. But, nah, we're not ready yet. And I don't think she wants it that soon.

Sidenote:
According to a recent Financial Times report, the GSB ranks #6 among the world's business schools (Kellogg ranks #9, btw).

Averaging six publications (Business Week 2004, US News 2005, Financial Times 2005, Forbes 2003, Economist 2004, WSJ 2004), the GSB ranks #3 after Harvard & Wharton, then followed by Stanford, Kellogg, Columbia, Darthmouth, Michigan, MIT, Yale, Virginia, NYU, Cornell, Duke, Berkeley.

(Note: Very consistently, GSB ranked 2-6 by the different publications; Kellogg ranked #9 by both FT and Forbes; Harvard #13 by WSJ; Stanford #10 by WSJ, Wharton #8 by The Economist. WSJ's ranking on H&S may reasonably raise serious questions. Without including WSJ, the GSB will drop a notch to #4 below Harvard, Wharton, Stanford).

At the end: Not bad at all, GSB.

This makes me feel excited about school and what lies ahead in my GSB education.