I was teaching in one of the universities while the country was suffering from a severe famine. People were dying of hunger, and I felt very helpless. As an economist, I had no tool in my tool box to fix that kind of situation.

–Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Price Laureate 2006

I would add that this is an example that the market is working–Muhammad Yunus emphasis that Grameen Bank is a business, not charity–

This is not charity. This is business: business with a social objective, which is to help people get out of poverty.

The problem with the discipline of economics, particularly the neoclassical school, is not about theories but ideology. Students are taught that market handles everything–which is right–without recognizing that they are part of the market. We are not encouraging our students to think and to innovate, because we tell them that an immortal market does that better than any of us.

Thanks to CBS’s highly detailed episode recaps for Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) Series, I realize I am much more attracted to storylines than actual shows.

Undergraduate Int’l: 3%
-We all know how difficult it is to get into Berkeley from Hong Kong
Undergraduate Asian: 41%
-Probably plently of them are Cantonese…

The figures are much normal (whatever that means) for graduate school…
Int’l: 18%
Asian: 17%

The first-time teaching assistant course in the department requires a self intro, so here it goes…

Chow Yan Chi Vinci
ECON 301
Self Introduction
My name is Chow, Yan Chi Vinci but I usually go by Vinci. I am a second year graduate student in the Department of Economics in Berkeley. Ethnically I am Chinese, born and lived in Hong Kong until college. I did my undergraduate in Cornell. I originally intended to major in urban planning, but the introductory microeconomics class taught by Robert Frank—who also happens to be a Berkeley economics PhD graduate—permanently changed my academic interest. Perhaps it was not merely coincident that I ended up in where I am.
Now about my life in Berkeley. Despite the fact that I am an economics graduate student I am also a freelance multimedia producer, specialized in animation and computer generated architectural drawing. I also have a very strong interest in portrait and sport photography as well as the piano. I consider myself comfortable at the computer, in the sense that I can usually answer computer related questions and fix computers—something many computer science majors actually not knowing how to do.
You might be wondering at this point I do not seem to be focusing on my studies. In some sense that is true; I value my outside-study life a lot more than inside. Not that I frequently go clubbing or socializing—these I actually have never participated—but that I believe life is truly a lot more than just my intended profession. Besides, I find all my aforementioned interests make me a much more needed person in this world than my qualifications in economics have, at least at this stage.
As an end to this short self introduction I would speculate on my future. My future probably ties with my home Hong Kong. Academic interest is one reason; I am interested in what differences do the lack of anti-trust laws bring. The other reason is life. Beside the obvious benefit of living close to my family I really love dinning out, and there is just no better place in the world than Hong Kong for doing that.

深得我心。

明報
豁達的倪匡…勸勉讀者們凡事都不用過分緊張，「我的座右銘很多家長都會一定說我『教壞細路』，就是凡事『得過且過』就可以，可別用框框死自己…

:)