An extremely lucky opportunity to talk to a senior Economic adviser at HSBC


Friday was perhaps the best afternoon I've had in a long time. With school over and unable to talk economics with peers and teachers, that feeling of not being to share my passion with others has been gut wrenching. That said, the feeling of being able to talk to a senior economic adviser at HSBC, an author of a few books, a Freelance columnists and someone who was so well versed on his economics was such a nice interaction. I have kept details minimal about said economist to respect his privacy.

The first half of our hour long conversation was a bit of icebreaker questions. I gave information about myself, the reasons for why I love economics so much, the fact that I have played chess at a competitive level before and a bit more on why I am driven to make money. It was interesting to also learn how the economist had too come from humble backgrounds and genuinely wanted to make an impact. His journey was fascinating and it showed me the sheer power of hard work. 

Getting a bit too ahead of myself, I decided to ask about something I'm very interested in: Inequality. I mean not the general "Oh inequality is bad, what can we do to erase it" but a question specific to the niche sector of inequality that my readers are probably not interested in worrying about. Yes, he did give an answer that I was well versed with. But what surprised me was the way of his delivery. The usage of the past to show his thorough knowledge stood out. It was not the ability to understand a topic, use some fact that he had seen previously that was cool, but the ability to use past economic events to his advantage and mould his answer in that way.

Those really interested, we talked about the impact of QE and the worsening of inequality, specifically wealth divergences. 

We moved on to general career advice and the role of Oxbridge in boosting careers. Here, he mentioned the impact of having really really good lecturers and the advantages of smaller tutorial systems that add quite a bit of pressure. I also learnt how the course at most universities are limited and how if you really want to be a great economist, you need to do alot of reading and alot of understanding outside of the classroom. The fact that this syllabus may be quite narrow and this might lead to a lack of knowledge, this would be important not to fall behind on. There is alot of emphasis on learning history to back up your arguments and not always falling back on equations. 

"We're in the art of communication not the art of bamboozling people- look at Keynes". It is important to engage in persuasion.

1. Get outstanding A-Levels

2. Choose your course well, Oxbridge?

3. Art of communication, make sure you're someone that people like, can relate to. Thats how you progress.

4. You dont always know the opportunities that may come along the way. Keep an open mind

5. Be numerate. Be able to talk in depth about topics. Read alot around the subject

6. Play with data. Know how to manipulate. FRED, BoE website.


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