12
Northwestern Business Review Winter 2012 By 7 a.m. on a typical week- day, Zoe Damacela is already taking pictures of garments, looking over legal and tax docu- ments, and updating the web- site for her self-named custom fashion design business she operates out of her Plex dorm room, Zoe Damacela Apparel. Her days end as late as 1 or 2 a.m. after a full line-up of class- es, homework, press interviews, fashion events and afterparties. Damacela’s schedule, at its busiest, amounts to a 19-hour day. Five hours later, she is ready to do it all again. “Business came naturally for me,” said Damacela. “I was always selling things my whole life and my business ventures expanded little by little.” Damacela, who started her first business venture at the age of eight, is a sophomore who doubles as an entrepreneur and fashion designer with aspira- tions to create an internation- ally recognized clothing brand. Damacela already has some impressive feats to her name: keynote speaker for President Obama’s Start-Up America Ini- tiative, a cover article in the October 2011 issue of Seven- teen magazine and mentorship by model and media personal- ity, Tyra Banks. Her popular custom-made dresses sell for as much as $300; more detailed items such as wedding dresses can net as much as $3000. It is Damacela’s entre- preneurial spirit that perhaps best accounts for her many impressive accomplishments. She is quick to point out her appreciation for the power of entrepreneurship, affirmed by her commitment to spreading its message beyond her own business ventures. Damacela is involved in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, where she speaks with people in low-income communities about the importance of start- Matthew Wong ing entrepreneurial businesses. Her experience as a keynote speaker for President Obama’s Start-Up America Initiative as an 18-year-old illustrated the accessibility of starting one’s own business, Damacela said. “It was refreshing to have an 18-year-old teenage girl give (her) perspective on entrepre- neurship,” said Damacela. “It goes to show how accessible it is, you don’t have to be a mid- dle-aged guy to became an en- trepreneur.” “I’ve been an entrepreneur since the third grade.” Damacela added. “Entrepreneurship is so important because you don’t need any prior knowledge, experience or training to get started.” Damacela started her fash- ion apparel line as a high school student at Whitney Young High School in Chicago with prof- its from her previous business NU Sophomore Zoe Damacela’s Fashion Line Flourishes ventures. Since then, Dam- acela’s business has taken off. Initially a self-run business to make clothes for her friends, Damacela said that her clothing business now includes a board of officers including her moth- er, Farah, who serves as Vice President, as well as a number of manufacturers and various interns. The expansion in Damace- la’s business has led to no short- age of attention. In early November, Dam- acela was featured in Latino Fashion Week, an event that showcases designers every year in Chicago. Damacela show- cased a 14-piece collection at the five-day event and received an award. In September, Dam- acela completed a fashion show for Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. And she is in high demand as an event speaker; Damacela recently gave a talk for the popular TED speaker series. But Damacela’s business ventures have not been without difficulty. “The most challenging thing is being taken seriously,” she said. “At a recent event where I was a speaker, every- one would come up to my mom and ask if she was Zoe. It goes to show that people still don’t take me seriously.” Damacela may not have the name-recognition she deserves as a fashion designer and busi- ness owner, but they have not affected her future ambitions. “I am going to try to sell more things online, which brings in more of a profit,” Dam- acela said. “I definitely plan on attending business school, launching internationally and getting more into children’s clothing and accessories.” Business came naturally to me. I was always selling things my whole life and my business ventures expanded little by little. –Zoe Damacela Damacela was the keynote speak- er for Obama’s Start-Up America Initiative, featured in a cover article of Seventeen magazine, mentored by Tyra Banks, and her 14-piece collection was featured in Latino Fashion Week. PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY ZOE DAMACELA The Northwestern sophomore in Weinberg is expanding on her fashion line she started in high school. Though in high demand as a keynote speaker, Damacela still feels that she is not taken seriously.

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Page 1: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

NorthwesternBusinessReviewW

inte

r 20

12

By 7 a.m. on a typical week-day, Zoe Damacela is already taking pictures of garments, looking over legal and tax docu-ments, and updating the web-site for her self-named custom fashion design business she operates out of her Plex dorm room, Zoe Damacela Apparel. Her days end as late as 1 or 2 a.m. after a full line-up of class-es, homework, press interviews, fashion events and afterparties.

Damacela’s schedule, at its busiest, amounts to a 19-hour day. Five hours later, she is ready to do it all again.

“Business came naturally for me,” said Damacela. “I was always selling things my whole life and my business ventures expanded little by little.”

Damacela, who started her first business venture at the age of eight, is a sophomore who doubles as an entrepreneur and fashion designer with aspira-tions to create an internation-ally recognized clothing brand. Damacela already has some impressive feats to her name: keynote speaker for President Obama’s Start-Up America Ini-tiative, a cover article in the October 2011 issue of Seven-teen magazine and mentorship by model and media personal-ity, Tyra Banks. Her popular custom-made dresses sell for as much as $300; more detailed items such as wedding dresses can net as much as $3000.

It is Damacela’s entre-preneurial spirit that perhaps best accounts for her many impressive accomplishments. She is quick to point out her appreciation for the power of entrepreneurship, affirmed by her commitment to spreading its message beyond her own business ventures. Damacela is involved in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, where she speaks with people in low-income communities about the importance of start-

Matthew Wong ing entrepreneurial businesses.Her experience as a keynote

speaker for President Obama’s Start-Up America Initiative as an 18-year-old illustrated the accessibility of starting one’s own business, Damacela said.

“It was refreshing to have an 18-year-old teenage girl give (her) perspective on entrepre-neurship,” said Damacela. “It goes to show how accessible it is, you don’t have to be a mid-dle-aged guy to became an en-trepreneur.”

“I’ve been an entrepreneur since the third grade.” Damacela added. “Entrepreneurship is so important because you don’t need any prior knowledge, experience or training to get started.”

Damacela started her fash-ion apparel line as a high school student at Whitney Young High School in Chicago with prof-its from her previous business

NU Sophomore Zoe Damacela’s Fashion Line Flourishes

ventures. Since then, Dam-acela’s business has taken off. Initially a self-run business to make clothes for her friends, Damacela said that her clothing business now includes a board of officers including her moth-er, Farah, who serves as Vice President, as well as a number of manufacturers and various interns.

The expansion in Damace-la’s business has led to no short-age of attention.

In early November, Dam-acela was featured in Latino Fashion Week, an event that showcases designers every year in Chicago. Damacela show-cased a 14-piece collection at the five-day event and received an award. In September, Dam-

acela completed a fashion show for Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. And she is in high demand as an event speaker; Damacela recently gave a talk for the popular TED speaker series.

But Damacela’s business ventures have not been without difficulty.

“The most challenging thing is being taken seriously,” she said. “At a recent event where I was a speaker, every-one would come up to my mom and ask if she was Zoe. It goes to show that people still don’t take me seriously.”

Damacela may not have the name-recognition she deserves as a fashion designer and busi-ness owner, but they have not affected her future ambitions.

“I am going to try to sell more things online, which brings in more of a profit,” Dam-acela said. “I definitely plan on attending business school, launching internationally and getting more into children’s clothing and accessories.”

Business came naturally to me. I wasalways selling things my whole life and my business ventures expanded little by little.

–Zoe Damacela

Damacela was the keynote speak-er for Obama’s Start-Up America Initiative, featured in a cover article of Seventeen magazine, mentored by Tyra Banks, and her 14-piece collection was featured in Latino Fashion Week.

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY ZOE DAMACELAThe Northwestern sophomore in Weinberg is expanding on her fashion line she started in high school. Though in high demand as a keynote speaker, Damacela still feels that she is not taken seriously.

Page 2: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

New Test Prep for the Digi tal Age, 4

2 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | January 2012

PHOTOS FROM WEBFUEL AND GROCKIT.COM

Inside This Issue Location-Based Services, 5The M

LB Hot Stove Season, 6-7

From C

NBC to Entr epr eneur, 8

SPONSORS

Page 3: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

January 2012 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | 3---

As the European Debt crisis attacks Greece, Italy, and Spain, Eu-ropean nations have

been struggling to restore mar-ket confidence and prevent another eurozone recession. With the gross domestic prod-uct inching a mere 0.6% in the third quarter, the eurozone has reached its lowest growth rate in two years. Although Germany’s economy boasted a 2% annualized growth rate and France a 1.6% growth rate, other countries in the region have been facing contracting economies and a negative fi-nancial outlook.

To combat the growing debt crisis, Germany had pro-posed a limited treaty change among all 27 EU nations to enforce tighter budget con-straints by the end of 2012. As one senior EU official told Reuters, “they want treaty change and they are doing ev-erything they can to push for it as rapidly as possible.” De-spite Germany’s push for im-mediate restructuring, many EU nations like Greece, Italy, and Spain fear that they will be unable to keep up with such a fast change. Given the urgency of the situation, it will also be

difficult to adopt a plan for all EU nations.

Consequently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sar-kozy have directed their atten-tion to just the 17 nations in the eurozone region. Initially, they outlined a proposal that takes after the Schengen III Treaty that was initially signed by only 7 members of the EU with 5 other nations joining soon after. Another possible model that has been tossed around is the creation of a mini-agree-ment between Germany and France alone; Sarkozy had re-cently acknowledged the pos-sibility of a two-speed Europe.

To combat the crisis, the

European Commission is in support of common eurozone bonds. Supporters of the plan argue that the “stability bonds” would bring back fiscal cred-ibility to all eurozone nations, however, Germany and the European Central Bank have protested against the use of these bonds. While Merkel is in support of immediate radi-

The Dangerous Persistence of the Eurozone Crisis Is the collapse of the euro or a recovery on its way?

Sophia Hsu

Jordan Fudge

The eurozone has reached the lowest growth rate since its exit from the recession two years ago.

cal changes and fiscal integra-tion, she believes that if imple-mented too early, the eurozone

bonds will only face failure. Others have also argued that common bonds will

drag down the hard-earned reputation for countries like Germany and increase the cost of borrowing for those who have worked hard to achieve low loan rates.

Although many are enthu-siastic that the European na-tions are striving towards long-term changes to their financial systems, the market has yet

to respond positively. Rumors of these forming plans are not enough to instill confidence within the market as seen by investors’ refusal to leave the safety of U.S. treasuries. De-spite the urging of many euro-zone countries, the European Central Bank has refused to intervene with bonds and has upheld its conservative policy.

With ongoing debates and no signs of compromise, many can only watch nervously and hope that the market plays out to prevent the continuation of the European debt crisis, which has already started to affect American companies like MF Global.

Reports of Groupon’s accounting problems appear not to have dissuaded investors from flocking to the daily-deal site’s offering last Friday. Initially priced at $20 per share, the stock hit $28 by the open-ing bell and reached its zenith at $31 before closing at $26.11. Groupon’s $700 million offering is tech’s largest since Google’s in 2004, with many counting its success in the market as a positive economic in-dicator.

Still, concerns over Groupon’s business model and solvency continue to plague both new and pro-spective shareholders, with many speculating that the company’s questionable fundamentals do not necessarily support its eyebrow-raising $16.5 billion valuation. In any event, Groupon’s strong performance Friday sent an unmistakable signal to Silicon Valley and those in the venture capital community, perhaps acting as the inspiration for fellow tech-giants such as Facebook and Zynga to

Groupon IPO Surpasses Expectations, Paves Way for Facebook, Zynga

$20Opened at

per share

quicken the pace with which they present their own IPOs in the near future.

Groupon was advised and underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Gold-man Sachs and Credit Suisse.

PHOTO FROM LAKEMR.COMAs of Jan. 11, GRPN’s stock price is $19.00.

PHOTO FROM BLOOMBERG NEWSThe eurozone grew a just 0.6% in the third quarter, a clear signal that the European economy may be heading towards a recession.

Page 4: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

4 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | January 2012

ences for each of its users. Using a similar algorithm to the one that Google uses to determine search results, Grockit’s software pres-ents questions based upon each individual user’s strengths and weaknesses. Say you are studying for the math portion of your SAT. You successfully complete multiple algebra problems. Grockit will respond by offering more com-plicated algebra problems. If you happen to struggle with geometry, Grockit will, in turn, present easier geometry problems. This same al-gorithm also allows users to track their progress over time.

Moreover, Grockit is centered on a socialized learning experience. Taking an idea from the history books, Nivi frequently references the one-room schoolhouse model in interviews. As Nivi notes, back in the late 19th and early 20th cen-turies, twelve grades of students were frequently taught in a single classroom. As a result, students—not the teacher—did most of the instruction. A senior would teach a junior, who would, in turn, teach a sophomore and so on. Nivi be-lieves that such a peer-based learn-ing experience is far more success-ful than the now commonplace model, as students learn not only from receiving instruction, but also from giving it. As such, Grockit is centered on a peer-to-peer model.

Users can see and communicate with others studying for the same exam. In doing so, they can share their experiences—their successes and their failures. In doing so, stu-dents learn from each other.

If students prefer, Grockit of-fers instruction from trained pro-fessionals. Video explanations of questions and links to other instructional videos are built in to Grockit’s interface. The company provides more formal, yet still per-sonalized, test-prep courses for a reasonable fee, as well. (A pre-mium membership costs $29.99 per month and tutors’ fees vary.) For the relatively miniscule cost—some SAT tutors can cost over $100.00 per session—Grockit will provide live, online tutoring ses-sions with expert instructors.

Learning Can Be FunGrockit is unique in one other

way as well: the website tries to make learning fun. The software allows students to play “games” or complete “challenges,” with each “game” or “challenge” targeting a specific area of the curriculum or skill set. “Badges” and “experience points” are rewarded based upon a student’s success in the game. Grockit games can be completed in two modes: single-player and multi-player.

Testimonials and SuccessSo far, Grockit has proven

successful. After only a few years of operation, Grockit has allowed students vastly improve their SAT scores and has helped them to gain acceptance into some of the world’s best universities, including our very own Northwestern Uni-versity.

Nivi and other Grockit per-sonnel recognize, however, that it is nearly impossible for Grockit to compete with expensive, highly qualified tutors. A student who spends one hour per week with a $200.00 per hour math SAT tutor will almost definitely have more success on the exam than a student who spends one hour per week completing Grockit’s math SAT questions. However, Grockit is not trying to compete with expensive tutors. Rather, as Grockit’s chief ex-ecutive, Roy Gilbert, stated in a re-cent interview, “We’re never going to compete with $1,000-an-hour tutors in Manhattan…Our biggest competitor is doing nothing.”

This past October, Grockit an-nounced that it had raised over $7 million in venture capital. Since its founding four years ago, Grockit has now raised a total of $24 mil-lion. With the new capital from investors such as GSV Capital and NewSchools Venture Fund, Grockit is primed to grow and really make its mark on the test-prep scene in the near future.

At Grockit, Test Prep for the Digital Age

Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are the ultimate forms of pro-crastination. When I want to

take a break from my studying—or postpone the start of my study-ing—I usually end up on one of the two websites, if not both. Yet while such websites hurt work efficiency, one new social network is aiming to do the opposite.

In 2007, Farbood Nivi found-ed Grockit, a social network for learning. Now, more than four years later, Grockit is taking off and is primed to revolutionize the test-prep industry.

The FounderAt the University of Michigan,

Farbood Nivi focused his studies on Organizational Psychology. After graduation, Nivi worked as a mas-ter teacher at Princeton Review, where he developed course cur-riculum and trained other teach-ers for instruction/test-prep for the SAT, ACT, LSAT, GMAT, GRE, and MCAT. Nivi later went on to serve as a the academic director at Ka-plan Test Prep and Admissions for the region of Southern California.

After several years of working in the test-prep and standardized test industry, Nivi decided that it was time for a change. In his view, the system in place—classroom based instruction—was not suffi-cient and was optimal only for the instructors. In order for students to achieve the highest possible test score, they would need more per-sonalized instruction. The former Princeton Review Teacher of the Year turned his passion for pro-gressive teaching strategies into a solution, developing Grockit, an in-novative test-prep service.

What Exactly is Grockit?Grockit is an online test-prep

service unlike any other, helping students study for the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and general K-12 education in an innovative way. As the company’s website states, Grockit is an “adaptive, person-alized learning program distin-guished by its unique social learn-ing features that are proven to help people learn quickly and answer more questions correctly.”

Most test-prep services to-day function in the “one size fit all” manner. Grockit does the complete opposite, developing personalized study plans and learning experi-

PHOTO CAPTURED FROM GROCKIT.COMGrockit.com gives detailed explanations for correct and wrong answers as seen in this practice writing prob-lem for the SAT. Grockit also provides a video explaining the correct way to answer the question.

Dylan Kraslow

Page 5: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

January 2012 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | 5---

On a rainy Saturday night in Evanston, Chris Mo-rales checked in to Buf-falo Wild Wings using

a location-based services (LBS) application on his phone.

“I check in so it looks like I’m doing something,” said Mo-rales who attends Mather High School in Chicago and was at Buffalo Wild Wings for the UFC watch party.

Morales did not redeem any discounts for checking in. How-ever, he could have had a free Coke Zero or six free wings sim-ply by a few clicks on his mobile device.

Businesses are shifting mar-keting strategies to put emphasis on mobile devices — a way of responding to a rising consumer market: individuals who are al-ways on the go. In just the last year, smartphone use among 13 to 34-year-olds rose about 20 percentage points, according to a recent Nielsen study.

Discounts Moveto Your Mobile DeviceThe use of mobile marketing

has increased over 40 percent-age points in the last two years, according to an Association of National Advertisers study.

“It now becomes possible for marketers to say how can I be relevant knowing where you are,” said Tom Collinger, the ex-ecutive director of the Medill IMC Spiegel Digital & Database Research Initiative. “That’s not a question that was really all that relevant until this.”

“The way that media was planned, bought and sold was not so much where you are, but what you are interested in.”

Location, Location, LocationToday, location plays a huge

role in marketing efforts to en-tice consumers.

At LuLu’s in Evanston, con-sumers who check in on Four-

months ago when her friends told her it had deals at local restaurants, she said. Bronk, a senior in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, has only re-deemed one reward at a McDon-ald’s in Chicago.

Like Bronk, many consum-ers do not seem to be using

these deals r e g u l a r l y . Desai Clay, a part-time associate at RadioShack in Evanston, said people “don’t have the incentive

to check in here by themselves.”“A year ago we had 20 per-

cent off if you checked in and we all mentioned it at the counter,” Clay said. “People were checking in left and right.”

However, RadioShack em-ployees were not supposed to mention this deal to customers. When they stopped prompting customers to check in, Clay said he noticed the number of people who check in on Foursquare dip to roughly two people per week.

But the modest number of unlocked LBS rewards does not stop at consumer electronics as Red Mango has seen a modest number of unlocked rewards at its Evanston location. The frozen yogurt chain offers one deal on Foursquare and Assistant Man-

ager Pablo Zayas said “no more than five” rewards have been re-deemed.

Privacy vs. CommerceAs businesses begin to of-

fer more LBS focused deals on mobile applications, the chal-lenge arises for the business to be more relevant than intrusive.

“We are on the very front end of this wonderful, wonderful sea change of making it possible for people to get what they want, when they want it, where they are,” Collinger said. “The prob-lem is that, from the consumer side, if it really isn’t seen as cool, if it’s seen as an invasion, they [businesses] have started to kill their golden goose.”

Eddie Lakin, the owner of Edzo’s Burger Shop in Evanston, does not use mobile marketing because it is “too crowded and confusing.”

“I’m ‘anti’ all of that,” Lakin said. “It’s just too much infor-mation. I can’t wrap my brain around it.”

But like Lakin, some con-sumers feel the same way. Carlos Agrelo, a banker from Chicago, does not use those applications because they “seem a little silly” and invade his privacy, he said.

“Those coupons are geared if you have expendable income not for staples of the household,” Agrelo said. “People aren’t eating out every day. Let me check in to Trader Joe’s for some hummus.”

Ross Gordon

It now becomes possible for marketers to say how

can I be relevant knowing where you are.

–Tom Collinger

Businesses Use Location-Based Technology to Market to ConsumersMarketing Goes Mobile

INFORMATION FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF NATIONAL ADVERTISERSMobile marketing use increased 43 percentage points from 2009.

The Struggle BetweenNoise and Knowledge

The solution is engagement Here are three steps crucial to any firm’s success in online and of-fline markets.

Alec Schulman

1CREATIONThe concept must be clear and concise; easily modifi-

able and has the ability to be re-vised and tweaked, because all content on the web is both looked over by the mass and scrutinized by the few. Its purpose must be stated strongly to reach out to the skimmers and intelligent enough to attract the critics.

2NETWORK DEMOGRAPHICSOne of the Internet’s most

powerful innovations is behav-ioral targeting — the ability to document every click, purchase and comment. Collating this information into a database promotes logical advertising of thoughts and products to the groups that seek it.

3INSPIRINGCONVERSATIONThe more relevant content

becomes to a network, the more likely it is to be spread among others. If condition is not satis-fied, the concept will be nothing more than noise — a cacophony that enters the ear but never makes it into the brain of the audience.

square and spend more than $15 can get a free brownie desert. Through 55 days, the reward was unlocked 139 times, according to William Guth, the web project manager of the North Shore Me-dia Company and manager of Lu-Lu’s mobile marketing strategy.

“The brownie did surpris-ingly well,” Guth said. “It is a good motivator to get people to come in.”

LuLu’s also offers a loyalty reward on Foursquare where if customers check in three times before Dec. 31, they can get $10 off their next bill.

“The number of customers we do a day… the number of re-demptions we get… it’s a very small amount,” said Owner Dan-iel Kelch.

Buffalo Wild Wings uses SCVNGR — a mobile application that allows customers to check in, post photos or complete challenges at locations to receive points. Customers can get $5 off of their purchase of $25 or more for 35 points and a free Coke Zero for seven.

However, Sheridan Foster, the manager of the Buffalo Wild Wings in Evanston, said she only redeems two SCVNGR deals a week.

“I’m not seeing many people do challenges,” Foster, 32, said. “It surprises me when they do have it.”

Consumer SkepticismAs of now, only 5 percent of

cell phone owners, 12 percent for smartphone owners, use their devices to check in, accord-ing to a 2011 Pew Internet sur-vey.

Mackenzie Bronk started using Foursquare about two

Page 6: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

6 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | January 2012

Major League Baseball’s “Hot Stove” season is heating up. Former three time National

League MVP Albert Pujols recently signed a ten-year contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Ana-heim, worth over $250 million. Even some of the league’s poorer teams have chosen to spend big this winter. The Miami Marlins committed nearly $200 million so far this off-season, signing short-stop and former National League batting champion Jose Reyes and pitchers Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell to free agent contracts. How can some teams afford to spend enormous amounts of money on star athletes, while others can only pay “scrubs” smaller salaries? And, more importantly, does the size of a team’s payroll really matter?

Why are some team’s payrolls larger than others?

Sports writers and league employees typically refer to base-ball teams as belonging to one of two groups: big-market teams and small-market teams. Specifi-cally, the “big-market” designation refers to those teams that play in the nation’s consolidated statisti-cal metropolitan areas (CSMAs); “small-market” refers to teams that play in smaller CSMAs. In the league, the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, and the Boston Red Sox are undoubtedly “big-market” teams. The Cincinnati Red, Kan-sas City Royals, and Milwaukee

Brewers are “small-market,” teams while the rest fall somewhere in the middle.

While the size of the market refers only to the population of the respective city, it is also closely correlated, in most cases, to the amount of money that a team will spend on players. In general, teams in “big markets” attract more fans, allowing them to raise ticket pric-es. (This is a simple principle of economics. The larger the fan base, the greater the demand for tickets. Ticket supply is relatively constant; a stadium can only hold so many people. As a result, prices rise.) Larger ticket sales and higher tick-et prices together increase a team’s revenue, allowing team owners to reinvest more money into their organization while still turning a profit.

There are notable exceptions, however. Owners of big-market professional baseball teams may decide, for a number of reasons, to cut payroll and spend more like a middle-market or even small-market teams. For example, over the past few seasons, Fred Wilpon, the owner of the New York Mets, has lowered the team’s payroll by many millions of dollars amidst a Bernie Madoff lawsuit. On Opening Day of the 2009 MLB season, the Met’s total payroll was over $135 million—the second highest in the league. At the start of the upcom-ing 2012 MLB season, the club’s payroll is projected to be closer to $100 million.

On the other hand, small mar-

The MLB Hot Stove SeasonThe Cost of Winning and Competitive Balance in MLB

The data is even more star-tling when examining the payrolls of World Series winners. Of the ten World Series champions from 2001-2010, six ranked in the top ten in end of the year payroll. The remaining four teams all belonged to the middle ten.

Despite the general trend, there have been examples that defy the common logic. Rich teams have crashed and burned; the New York Mets, for example, have accumu-lated a payroll of over $100 million each of the last few seasons, but have not made the playoffs since 2006. Last year, with a payroll of nearly $119 million, the Mets won only seventy-seven games, and by the end of the season was barely competitive. Less commonly, poor teams have succeeded, playing over their heads and exceeding ex-pectations. By example, in the early 2000s, the Oakland Athletics, with one of the lowest payrolls in the game, ranked at or near the top of the league in total wins.

MLB’s CBAMajor League Baseball’s col-

lective bargaining agreement (CBA) includes multiple condi-tions that, when read together, attempt to create competitive balance. First, the league’s collec-tive bargaining agreement puts in place a system of revenue sharing. Under the system, the league redis-tributes wealth away from richer teams towards poorer teams. Ev-ery team is required to deposit a percentage of their local revenues into a pot at the end of each season.

PHOTO BY SIDEONECINCY ON FLICKR, WIKIMEDIA COMMONSFormer New York Met, José Reyes, signed a six-year $106 million deal with the Miami Marlins. The Florida Marlins ranked 24th in spending during the 2011 MLB season.

PHOTO BY KEITH ALLISON, WIKIMEDIA COMMONSMark Teixeira, first baseman for the New York Yankees, plays for the team with the highest payroll in the league.

Dylan Kraslow ket teams sometimes overspend, hoping that a higher payroll—and the signing of marquee talent—will attract a larger fan base. For ex-ample, the Miami Mar-lins—previously the Florida Marlins—play in one of the leagues smallest markets. (The team frequently strug-gles to draw fans and played a game in front of a dismal crowd of 347 this past August.) The Marlins, however, have rebranded them-selves this year. The team will be moving to a new stadium for the 2012 season and recently released images of its new uniforms. Considering the circum-stances, the Marlins’ owner, Jeffery Loria, has spent a large amount of money so far this offseason; the 2012 Miami Marlins’ payroll will be almost twice the team’s 2011 payroll. The size of an organiza-tion’s payroll is, in the end, com-pletely up to its owner.

Does a larger payrollreally matter?

There is a clear gap between the league’s richest and poor-est teams. At the beginning of the 2011 season, the New York Yan-kees had the league’s highest pay-roll; an astonishing $202,689,028. Meanwhile, the league’s poorest team—the Kansas City Royals—had a payroll of only $36,126,000. (The New York Yankees highest paid athlete last season was Alex Rodriguez who earned $32 mil-lion, almost as much as the entire Kansas City Royal’s payroll.)

But does this payroll gap really matter? Recently, CNBC’s sports business journalist (and Northwestern alum) Darren Rovell reported a study focusing on this very issue. During the period from 2001-2010, 61.5% of the league’s playoff teams were among the top 10 biggest spenders; 23.1% ranked 11th-20th in total end of the year payroll and 15.4% were among the league’s poorest 10 teams. The evidence is clear: teams in the top third in overall payroll have almost twice the chance of reaching the playoffs than other teams.

Page 7: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

January 2012 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | 7---

Luxury tax payments and other miscellaneous funds are also put into the pot. The pot is then redis-tributed amongst the thirty teams, with poorer teams receiving larger portions of the pot.

While the league’s revenue sharing system succeeds in redis-tributing wealth, it does not signifi-cantly improve parity amongst the teams. Rich teams still spend large amounts of money on team pay-roll, regardless or revenue sharing. Moreover, teams receiving large portions of the pot have often mis-used the funds. Rather than invest-ing in a higher payroll and signing better talent, MLB organizations have, in the past, used the shared revenue to otherwise increase profits. The new CBA requires that teams spend a portion of shared revenue on payroll. The effects of this stipulation have yet to be seen, however.

More importantly, the league’s CBA implements a luxury tax. Organizations that spend over a specified amount of money in to-tal payroll face a monetary penalty for their actions. The luxury tax threshold varies from year to year and is stipulated in the CBA. For the upcoming 2012 season, the thresh-old is $178 million. The amount paid depends on the offense. First time offenders must pay 22.5% of salaries above the threshold. Sec-ond times offenders must pay 30% and third (and sequent) time of-fenders must pay 40% of salaries above the threshold.

While the luxury tax attempts to deter teams from spending huge amounts of money, it has been wholly unsuccessful. Since the tax was first implemented in 2003, only four organizations have been

penalized. Over the nine-year pe-riod, the New York Yankees have paid over $192 million in penalties. The Boston Red Sox have been pe-nalized approximately $15 million, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim $1.3 million, and the Detroit Tigers under $1 million.

Why has the luxury tax prov-en ineffective? The most likely an-swer is that the threshold has been placed too high. The average team payroll at the beginning of the 2011 season was approximately $93 million, just over half of the luxury tax threshold. Moreover, only three teams were even close to the limit: the New York Yankees ($202.7 million), the Philadelphia Phillies ($173 million), and the Boston Red Sox ($161.8 million).

What does the league need to do to achieve competitive bal-

ance?The league’s current luxury

tax has done little to improve the league’s competitive balance, but would the league benefit from a different, more stringent system? Should the league adopt a sal-ary cap? Of the nations four ma-jor professional sports leagues, Major League Baseball is the only league without a true salary cap. The NHL adopted a hard salary cap for the 2005-06 season. Under the new CBA adopted in the sum-mer of 2011, the NFL also adopted a hard salary cap of $120 million and a salary floor of $108 million. The NBA’s salary cap is a “soft” cap; teams cannot spend above a certain payroll threshold except in the case of certain “exceptions,” in-cluded in the league’s new collec-tive bargaining agreement. For ex-ample, under the “Larry Bird” rule, teams are allowed to spend above

the maximum payroll in order to re-sign their own free agents.

Of the three contrasting leagues, the system currently in place under the NFL’s CBA pro-vides the best solution the league’s concerns. A simple hard salary cap would be ineffective: unless the league were to adopt a lower maximum than the luxury tax threshold, the cap would only af-fect a few teams. A soft cap would also be fairly pointless—there are too many exceptions. With a salary cap and a salary floor, however, not only would teams be disallowed from generating a high payroll, but they would also be banned from spending too little money on ma-jor league talent. The system could be particularly effective in MLB, where astonishingly low payrolls are almost as big of a prob-lem as high payrolls.

Unfortunately, the league seems particularly hesitant towards change in this regard. In the recent labor talks that concluded in early December, team owners and the league’s players’ associa-tion debated the institution of a luxury tax in reverse. Under the proposed system, there would be a thresh-

old at the lower end of the payroll scale. Teams that spend below the threshold would be hit with a tax, just as teams that spend above the current luxury tax threshold are penalized. Not surprisingly, the system was not adopted. Team owners—particularly the owners of the league’s poorer teams—want to ability and opportunity to keep costs down.

With a new CBA adopted only a month ago, the league’s luxury tax system will remain in place for at least the next five seasons, effec-tively ensuring that a competitive balance will not be achieved.

PHOTO BY KEITH ALLISON, WIKIMEDIA COMMONSJeff Francoeur, right fielder for the Kansas City Royals, plays for a fran-chise which had the smallest payroll in the MLB for 2011. The first and last time the Royals won the World Series was in 1985.

Page 8: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

8 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | January 2012

Nicole Lapin is busy.At the time of our

phone interview on a Friday afternoon, Lapin

was traveling in a car en route to her next destination. And on Twitter, Lapin posted from New York—past midnight Eastern Standard Time on a Sunday—that she was “still going strong at the office,” made apparent by an accompanying photo on Ins-tagram of a table filled with note-pads, coffee cups, half-eaten food and sets of fingers typing away on three brightly-lit MacBook Pro laptops.

Lapin has reason to be busy. In September, the do-everything journalist left her job as anchor of the CNBC business news pro-gram, Worldwide Exchange, to start her own multimedia pro-duction company, Nothing But Gold Productions, which will al-low Lapin to bring her personal brand to a multitude of news outlets, both in broadcast and out of it.

“As part of my production company, I am going develop and host television shows, and create digital and print content for ma-jor media outlets,” she posted on her Tumblr.

For Lapin, a Medill gradu-ate who was valedictorian of the Class of 2005, the career move is a chance to become the “Reces-sionista-in-Chief” she describes herself as, a business and finan-cial journalist who can close the gap in knowledge between Wall Street and Main Street.

“Building a multimedia production company consumes my mornings, afternoons and nights,” Lapin said. “I was a nerd in college and I am a nerd now, I love my work.”

Despite the time and effort it takes to build a production com-pany, a hectic schedule is noth-ing Lapin is not already used to. At Medill, Lapin worked full-time at news outlets in Chicago, in-cluding covering the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for First Business network, while still obtaining her Bachelor’s de-gree in Journalism summa cum laude and honors for her second major in Political Science.

“Working full-time while

The Self-Proclaimed Recessionista-in-Chief

Lapin leaves CNBC to star t own companyMatthew Wong

taking classes enabled me to fast-track my career,” Lapin said. “It was an adjunct, invaluable expe-rience.”

But “fast-tracking” her ca-reer would be an understate-ment. Growing up, Lapin said her goal was to become an an-chor for CNN. She accomplished that at age 21, becoming one of the first anchors to launch CNN Pipeline, a video news service by CNN that provides both live and on-demand video via the Inter-net. She then served as a reporter for CNN in a variety of news ca-pacities, from anchoring major events such as the 2008 Presi-dential election and the Virginia Tech massacre to launching the “Young People Who Rock” series, where each week she profiled a different person both with a unique story and under the age of 30. When she moved network stations, Lapin honed in on busi-ness and financial journalism. As an anchor on Worldwide Ex-change, Lapin would break ma-jor financial news stories around the world, interviewing major CEOs or geopolitical figures and analyzing movement in the stock market among other business news.

“My goal in life was to be an anchor at CNN, but I got that at 21,” Lapin said. “What’s next?

CNBC, which I reached at 25. At 27, I realized that I wanted to start a company that would allow me to disseminate my voice in the most powerful way possible.”

All of which brings back Lapin’s self-described title as “Recessionista-in-Chief.” As an anchor on Worldwide Exchange, Lapin was able to shape the way the recent economic recession was covered. In September 2011, Lapin told AdWeek that becom-ing founder and CEO of Nothing But Gold Productions would give her the opportunity “to decode really intimidating money topics for different networks,” some of which would be “finance news in a party dress” while her coverage for other outlets would consist of “very straight financial news.” With ramifications from the re-cession still reverberating, bring-ing business news in a non-intim-idating manner to the masses is Lapin’s ongoing goal.

“The economy is the story of our time, the story of our genera-tion,” Lapin said. “The last biggest story was terrorism but today the economy is the biggest conversa-tion we are having.”

“People need to realize that financial information does not need to be as intimidating as it should be,” Lapin said. “The econ-omy will change our personal

lives and every story can be relat-ed back to money from celebrity bankruptcies to economic poli-cies coming out of Washington.”

But Lapin’s “decoding” will go beyond her role as an televi-sion anchor. Lapin is also work-ing on publishing a book entitled Decoding The Wall Street Journal, which will break down money-related topics in an easy-to-read manner, launching a suite of on-line personal finance and invest-ment tools, and spending time on her charity “Lost Girls,” which gives career advice and pre-worn workplace attire to unemployed young women.

Despite Lapin’s young age, her range of professional experi-ences allowed her to reflect upon the rampant changes in the me-dia industry and broadcast jour-nalism, specifically. When Lapin was still a student at Medill, a video news service such as CNN Pipeline had not yet come into existence.

“There is no longer a space for the anchorman who is the voice of God,” Lapin said. “View-ers are smarter than that and want more authentic news as well as anchors who will talk with them and figure out the news together.”

Lapin also offered some ca-reer advice for journalism stu-dents looking to make a mark in the industry.

“Journalism is not about cut-ting your hair the right way, it is about being passionate about the news so if you are going into broadcast journalism because you want to be on television, you are in the wrong business,” Lapin said. “Know your voice and choose your own destiny.”

On her blog, Lapin wrote that she left her role as an an-chor on CNBC because she “had to act on the sense of urgency…to demystify the intricacies of Wall Street and personal finance for everywoman.”

She wrote further, noting that helping people “navigate a time when the economy is in such turmoil will be the driving force for all of (her) endeavors.” While Lapin advised Northwestern stu-dents to choose their own des-tiny, it appears that she already understands her own.

PHOTO FROM NICOLE LAPINWith her Medill degree, Lapin was able to create a company where she determines business stories to “decode.”

Page 9: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

An investigation intothe student loan

debt crisis

The young woman reached into her backpack for her business cards. Bagged in a small Ziploc, the business cards advertise a photography com-

pany, the only part-time work Sara Schroeder has been able to find since graduating from El-mhurst College with a philosophy degree last spring.

Except today, as with most days, she is handing them out not to a prospective client, but to a reporter.

Schroeder is among those manning the corner of South La Salle Street and West Jack-son Boulevard as part of the Occupy Chicago movement. She is also one of the hundreds of thousands of college graduates who are out of work and thousands of dollars in debt from college loans.

Schroeder says she’ll be lucky to repay her loans in less than ten years, with the help of her parents. She says she has friends who won’t be fully free for 75 years.

In 2011, total outstanding student loan debt surpassed $1 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, an un-precedented figure that has been blamed on colleges, lenders, and the government, with proposed solutions ranging from a complete federal student bailout to a fundamental re-structuring of the student loan lending and repayment system.

Schroeder believes this student loan debt crisis boils down to the entire culture sur-rounding college education.

“I think it has to do with the values we’ve been raised on,” Schroeder said. “We go to col-lege, we get a job, we get the job that we want-ed.

“If you don’t go to college, you don’t have a future,” Schroeder added. “Now, you don’t have a future if you do go to college because it’s $40,000 worth of debt, $90,000 worth of debt.”

Another Occupier, 23-year-old Chicago resident Christopher Reyes, echoed this an-tagonism toward the basic picture that society paints of higher education.

“I’m not against college,” Reyes said. “I’m against the system with which they promote college.”

Of course, $1 trillion doesn’t stack up this quickly just because of misguided cultural perceptions. It is a vastly complex issue. Fast Company and Huffington Post writer Anya Ka-menetz has authored two books on the matter.

“There is a broken ‘market’ in higher education and colleges are only one piece of the problem,” Kamenetz said. “Education, like health care, is subject to a pattern called ‘Bau-mol’s cost disease.’ Put simply, these are highly skilled, labor-intensive industries so the base costs are always going to rise faster than infla-tion.”

In other words, a college education comes at a high cost because it is an extremely and ev-er-increasingly expensive product to produce.

Kamenetz said she does believe the col-leges are partly responsible for the debt crisis.

“Rather than focusing on affordability, they prefer to increase revenues and spending if they can in order to raise their profiles,” she said. “I would like to see the federal govern-ment extend and reinforce the ‘gainful employ-ment’ rule, punishing colleges when too many of their students default on their loans.”

Under the current laws, a school’s stu-dents’ default rate is not factored into whether a school prepares its students for “gainful em-ployment.”

Yet, defaults are becoming increasingly and dangerously commonplace. According to the Department of Education, around 8.8 per-cent of student borrowers who entered repay-ment in 2009, more than 320,000 people, de-faulted by the end of 2010, up from 7.0 percent the previous year.

In spite of these rising figures, Morton Schapiro, president of Northwestern Univer-sity and author of hundreds of articles and multiple books on the economics of higher education, said he believes the price of college remains well worth it.

“With the returns to higher education at record levels, reasonable loan debt makes per-fect sense,” Schapiro said. “Graduation rates at highly selective private colleges and universi-ties are very high, and so are the economic re-turns to attending these schools.”

Northwestern’s six-year graduation rate for its entering class of 2004 was 94.36 per-

cent, according to the Office of the Registrar. PayScale.com’s most recent “College Salary Report,” an annual ranking of schools and de-grees based on post-graduation salary poten-tial, says Northwestern’s mid-career median salary is $88,300.

In comparison, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s six-year graduation rate for its 2004 entering class was 84.3 percent. Interestingly, the school’s mid-career median salary is $94,300.

However, that some schools are produc-ing less economically crippled graduates than others, as Shapiro said, does not take away from the fact that there are many economically crippled college graduates.

To help out these hundreds of thousands of students, Kamenetz calls for the restoration of bankruptcy protection on student loans.

Kamenetz said she believes that bank-ruptcy protection would provide “a fair re-course for borrowers in tough spots.”

She also said debtors need to take advan-tage of income-based repayment options, such as the “pay as you earn” program executively ordered by President Obama in October this year, which administration officials have said could help up to 1.6 million borrowers by cap-ping federal student loan repayments at 10 percent of discretionary income and relieving all remaining debt after 20 years.

It remains to be seen though whether such measures are miracle drugs or mere stop-gap solutions. Some believe that there must be more drastic action.

“A full student bailout would be a lot more efficient than the [bailout of the] banks,” said Zach Warburg, a Northwestern senior and neurobiology major.

Sara Schroeder agrees that a student bail-out may be the best option.

“There definitely needs to be some sort of student loan debt forgiveness. It’s become so unsustainable,” Schroeder said. “I think that education is a human right and that our so-ciety would benefit from everyone having an education.”

“Had I not gone to college I would be a totally different person,” Schroeder said. “I wouldn’t be here. I am endlessly grateful.”

X 1,000About 320,000 people started repaying student loans between Oct. 2008 and Sept. 2009 and defaulted before the end of 2010.

The Trillion Dollar Disaster

Tosten Burks

January 2012 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | 9---

Page 10: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

10 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | January 2012

America needs to clog the brain drains that are sucking up its top students.

Many of America’s best and brightest students are applying their

talent in ways that hurt, rather than profit America. There are two main so-called “brain drains” weakening America as college stu-dents graduate: the return of international students to their homelands and the flocking of elite students into the financial industry.

The International Brain DrainBrain drain has been a common term in

international economics for decades, but not until recently has it become a cause for con-cern in the eyes of Americans. Brain drain is defined as the emigration of a large group of individuals with technical skills or knowl-edge. When inbound, brain drain has always remained essential to the strength of the country. America, the land of opportunity, has long been a prime destination for foreigners. Countries around the globe have had their top minds “stolen” by the U.S. These “stolen” minds have flourished and become some of the most successful people in America: Pierre Omidyar of France founded EBay, Sergey Brin of Russia co-founded Google, and Jerry Yang of Taiwan co-founded Yahoo. However, the tightening of immigration policies is begin-ning to destroy this advantage, creating a re-verse brain drain as high-end talent leaves the U.S.

Who is leaving the U.S.? The massive numbers of international students who enter America for college are increasingly choosing to say “goodbye America,” “gàobié měiguó,” “alavidā amērikā,” and so on as they exit the country upon graduation. In 2010, over 690,000 international students were study-ing in America. These international students take up an enormous part of the American education system, obtaining more than half of the doctorates earned by American uni-versities in math, computer science, and en-gineering. Historically, most of these students would stay in America after finishing college: five years after graduation, 92% of Chinese students (128,000 total) and 81% of Indian students (105,000 total) were still in America.

A combination of increased standards of living back home and restrictive American immigration policies have flipped the situ-ation around. The booming economies and improved research and development of coun-tries such as China and India, along with the prospects of living near family have led many of America’s top college graduates to return home, bringing their skills and ideas with

them. While America clearly cannot inhibit all of this, a loosening of rigid immigration poli-cies could slow this trend.

The United States limits the number of foreigners who seek careers in the U.S., creat-ing a logjam of applicants struggling to gain citizenship. According to the National Foun-dation for American Policy, a highly skilled Indian national could wait up to 70 years for permanent status. Inventors, investors, and entrepreneurs who would love to enrich America, are being turned away. On top of that, the years the country just invested in the student’s education are wasted.

If this movement continues, the strength of America is destined to fall. Immigrants have accounted for 52% of Silicon Valley start-ups, 25% of US global patents, and 47% of PhD students. Is the country beginning to lose sight of its roots stemming from immigration? Canada, Australia, and other countries have policies designed to attract and keep skilled immigrants. The US, however, is sending the best of the best back home, so they can com-pete with America.

The American business community is insisting that President Obama takes action to keep these well-abled brains in the U.S. In rhetoric, Obama agrees that the brain drain is a concern, stating that, “Our future depends

on reaffirming America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technologi-cal innovation.” As mentioned earlier, over 50% of the company founders in Silicon Valley, the epicenter of America’s scientific discovery and technological innovation, are immigrants. In reality, nothing has yet to be done to solve the brain drain problem. Will America still be the most technologically advanced country in 20 years? Not at this rate.

Immigration is a tough issue, and there are certainly key disputes over its real effects on the country. Many Republicans have the steadfast opinion that immigration can only be trouble. The chief point against immigra-tion is that immigrants are taking jobs away from Americans. With unwavering views supporting and repealing this argument, you could spend a lifetime studying the complex economics of the situation and fail to find the correct answer.

Do immigrants take American jobs away? Yeah, probably. But how many jobs do you think companies such as Google, EBay, and Yahoo have added? And how much have these companies and others alike contributed to America’s economy?

In prominent Republican Pat Buchanan’s Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Sur-vive to 2025, Buchanan associates continued

The American Brain DrainMany of America’s best and brightest college graduates are not usingtheir talent to profit America, but rather to hur t it

Top 10 Most Popular College Majors in 2011

INFORMATION FROM THE “WHAT’S IT WORTH?” STUDY FROM GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITYThe top three most popular majors in 2011 related to the business/financial industry, one of the “brain drains” of the nation.

Business  Management  and  Administration 8General  Business 5Accounting 5Nursing 4Psychology 4Elementary  Education 4Marketing  and  Marketing  Research   3General  Education 3English  Language  and  Literature 3Communications 3

Jack Hodapp

Page 11: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

January 2012 | NorthwesternBusinessReview.org | 11---

immigration with the end of the Republican party and the eventual demise of the United States. Citing bankrupt California as an ex-ample, Buchanan makes the argument that the immigrants coming in are tax consumers, rather than taxpayers. As this path continues, America will slowly crumble. Buchanan’s po-sition, though, focuses on illegal immigration and that of Hispanics, not the largely eastern collection of international college students.

Can a general consensus be reached that the other groups of immigrants who are en-tering America for college are indispensable to the country? Is there a way to favor the types of immigrants that are taxpayers and contributors rather than tax consumers and freeloaders? For the good of America, we sure hope so.

The Finance Brain DrainA recent Los Angeles Times article high-

lighted a different problematic brain drain: The flooding of elite students into the finan-cial sector – the same financial sector that many believed destroyed America’s economy over the past few years with their Wall Street greed. In other words, elite students are choosing money over social good.

Prominent banks annually carry out their most rigorous recruiting pushes at top schools, such as the Ivies, MIT, and Stanford. In 2010, even with the crisis in the financial sector, over 15% of Harvard, Stanford, and MIT students entered the financial service industry. Only consulting jobs drew more stu-dents.

A combination of aggressive recruiting, elite university culture, and the aura of high pay draw these incredible students into fi-nance. Large banks always have a presence at these exclusive colleges, using large salaries to lure both the previously interested, and those with job insecurity or no distinct career path.

For some students, the higher salary is a necessity.

“I don’t have the luxury to go into a field that pays less,” one Dartmouth student told the Los Angles Times. “It’s kind of insurance in a way – it will give me a steady income for me to stabilize my life, pay down my loans – and it will open me up for more opportuni-ties.”

The recent financial crisis has brought out a lot of anger in Americans frustrated with workers in these types of positions, as dem-onstrated by the Occupy movement. The same resentment motivating the Occupy movement is spawning a new movement – Stop The Brain Drain.

Stop the Brain Drain, founded at Stanford University, has its own website, and has slow-ly been gaining electronic signatures protest-ing the brain drain. The movement criticizes the “monopoly” that Wall Street holds on top young talent, arising from large donations to college career centers to obtain preferred access to recruitment. Instead of Wall Street, Stop The Brain Drain promotes careers as en-trepreneurs, scientists, and public servants.

While recognizing that the financial in-

dustry is very important for allowing the creation and growth of new businesses, the movement emphasizes that major companies are often still greedy. For example, its website notes that Goldman Sachs made 63% of rev-enue from its trading in 2010, compared to only 13% from corporate finance.

I personally have nothing against finance jobs and do not view them as selfish or greedy, nor do I care about the Occupy Wall Street Movement. In fact, I am still considering a job in finance as a possible career opportunity. Fi-nance is an integral part of the economy and is a great fit for a lot of people. Although em-ployees in high finance may go over-the-top sometimes in their pursuit for money, it’s not like the majority of other jobs out there aren’t also for profit.

Like many Northwestern students, the last few years of my life have gone as follows:

After spending all of high school work-ing extremely hard to try to be the best and get into Northwestern University, my focus is shifting. College will replicate high school – a bunch of late nights to ensure those A’s. Af-ter college, life takes a new direction. Where will my hard work and acquired talents go? Will my focus turn from grades to innovation, public service, money, etc? At this point, that money is looking very tempting.

What can America do to stop me?The financial sector could be a perfect

match for me. Maybe it is inevitable that I end up there. Nevertheless, America still can and needs to attempt to prevent this. In general, the high finance sector does not do much so-cial good. In my opinion, trading money and stocks around isn’t doing anything notewor-thy for the world. Considering how intelligent many of these people are, America is not al-locating its resources correctly. These are the people who should be changing the world, not just padding their bank accounts.

How Can America Plug The Drain?America can’t plug the drain.It can, however, clog it. The fact that in-

ternational students have family and increas-ingly higher standards of living is certain to attract some students home. The high pay and prestige of jobs in high finance will also never cease to exist. Who doesn’t want more money?

I’m no expert, but America and its people definitely need to look into these issues and attempt to solve them.

To prevent the international brain drain, America may want to develop a more econom-ically focused immigration system. Despite some potential moral hazards, America could treat immigration like college admissions: only accept the best. If an immigrant does something good for the country, such as start a company, graduate from a top university, or purchase an expensive house, America should make it easy for them to become citizens and continue to contribute to the country.

Do not forget the financial brain drain. America and its top universities should look to solve this as well. America must encourage careers that involve social good – entrepre-neurs, scientists, engineers and researchers.

Some of the first steps to stopping this brain drain have already started. MIT re-

cently created an e n t r e p r e n e u r -ship center for those seeking opportunities at start-ups or small companies. Har-vard has encour-aged nonprofits like Teach for America to move their recruiting to the same times as banks to give students more

options. Even loan forgiveness has been given to some law school students entering public service.

Incentives such as these ought to be ex-tended. Government aid for college could be redistributed to the areas of study that America wants the most. Albert Einstein once said, “I have no special talent. I am only pas-sionately curious.” This curiosity and interest should be incentivized and encouraged at a young age.

Earlier, I mentioned that America was misallocating its resources as its best and brightest students entered Wall Street. But isn’t capitalism all about allocating resources properly?

If the free market system were to work as it is supposed to, there would be no reason for the finance brain drain to exist. Well in this case, maybe the problem is that Wall Street does not function in a free market. When the government bailed out the banks in the midst of the recession, America was counteracting its very own principles of capitalism. If Amer-ica did not bail out the banks, would the high finance sector still have the same power as it does now? Would there even still be a finance brain drain? Perhaps the recent policies of America are the cause of this brain drain in the first place.

If you are an international student, I am not telling you to stay here. If you are a stu-dent looking to go into high finance, I’m not saying you shouldn’t. It is America’s job to keep this under control.

America cannot let its best young minds go to waste – it must stop both brain drains.

America can’t plug the drain. It can, however, clog it. The fact that international students

have family and increasingly higher standards of living is certain to attract some students

home. The high pay and prestige of jobs in high finance will also never cease to exist.Who doesn’t want more money?

Page 12: NBR Winter 2012 Newsletter

During the past three months the Northwestern Busi-ness Review has been hard at work writing up-to-date finan-cial, political, and insight arti-cles. We are also in the process of revamping our website.

Our growing readership now includes — according to our Google analytics — read-ers in Canada, Germany, Hun-gary, India, Russia, U.K., Australia, France, and South Korea in addition to all over the U.S.A. We hope to continue expanding our readership, both on campus and throughout the world. We had more than 1,000 unique visitors in the month of December alone.

I encourage you to check out our website at www.northwesternbusinessreview.org. Furthermore, we are in the process of launching a video segment that will focus on financial and political updates. We are implementing a calendar with business and caree related events for NU undergrads, and selecting next year’s edit board.

If you are interested in advertising in our next publication or on our website, or are interested in join-ing our team please shoot me an email at [email protected].

Jackson Siegal

NorthwesternBusinessReview.org

Letter From The EditorGreat things are ahead for NU’s business publication

Financial Outlook

PHOTO BY NATE PRINCE(Top from left): Jihoon Ko, Sophia Hsu, David Rubino, Judy Wu, Alec Schulman, Matthew Wang and Jack Hopper. (Bottom from left): Amrit Kanesa-thasan, Ross Gordon, Jackson Siegal, Justin Chen and Nick Catrakilis.

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