Microfinance

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Several of my students have the opportunity to see Muhammad Yunus speak at Accenture this coming Monday evening. He will be speaking on the topic of social businesses, about which he published a book earlier this year. Recently on NPR's Planet Money, there was a moderated discussion between Muhammad Yunus, Yikram Akula (founder of SKS Microfinance), and Mary Ellen Iskenderian (Women's World Banking) about the changing nature of microfinance. The discussion focused on the role of profit-making in microfinance businesses, in particular whether it is OK for private, external investors to earn a profit from the poor through microlending. I'm not sure how I come down on the issue and I look forward to hearing whether my students have developed an opinion on it after hearing him speak (if he discusses it).

Here's the link.

Would yuan appreciation solve the US trade deficit?

In the past week, we've seen increased rhetoric from the United States about China's managed floating exchange rate. Many politicians seem to believe that letting the yuan rise significantly against the US dollar would solve the US trade deficit problem and result in more jobs for American workers. I think they significantly underestimate the damage such an appreciation would cause to the economy in terms of imported inflation and declines in standard of living for Americans.

Last week, the spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry Jiang Yu said that yuan appreciation would not improve the US trade deficit and that the Sino-U.S. trade imbalance was a result of the international division of labor rather than exchange rate fluctuations.

Do you agree with her? What might this statement have to do with the J-Curve effect we learned about today?

Reading eyes

We are about to enter a unit on human resources. A good human resources manager is to be able to communicate well and empathize with others. Reading facial expressions is a very valuable skill in this regard. Click here to go to a test to find out how well you read people's emotions through their eyes. Women generally do better than men - how well can you do it?

Muhammad Yunus and Social Businesses

We've been discussing different kinds of business structures in Grade 10, but one type of structure that is definitely on the rise, but not fully recognized is social business. Social businesses often make a profit, but their goal is not profit maximization. Often, though, not always, the profit made is reinvested into the social business to try to extend its impact.

A great example of a social business model is micro-credit. Micro-credit involves granting small loans to entrepreneurs in communities underserved, or not served at all, by the traditional banking industry. The loans help fledgling businesses get started or expand and can make a real difference in alleviating poverty. One of the most well-known micro-credit lenders is called the Grameen Bank. Its founder is Muhammad Yunus and he has recently written a book called "Building Social Businesses." If you want to watch a video documentary about the impact of microloans on the poor, click here.

I Scream for Ice Cream!

Here in Germany it is very difficult to find good ice cream. Occasionally, you find decent home-made ice cream in parlors like Dulce in Frankfurt. But most parlors don't make their own and their ice creams are loaded with artificial flavors and colors. The same is true for grocery store ice cream. In the last 10 years I've lived in Switzerland and Germany, I have longed for those all-natural popsicles and ice creams I found in (some) stores in the US. I think the ice cream situation has improved a lot there even since I left!

Recently, I read about a small, artisan ice cream maker in Ohio named Jeni. Hers is an inspiring entrepreneurial story. If I weren't teaching, this is what I would be doing here in Germany. There's a niche to be filled!

Autonomy Day in Grade 10

In keeping with my attempt to give you a bit more freedom in your studies, Friday's Grade 10 Business / Economics class will have a period to explore the Web, with a bit of guidance from me.

Below are a list of links that I hope you will be interested in exploring during the period. There is no quiz on these, or assignment associated with them. You can just explore, click, follow links, find things you didn't know existed. I will come around to see what you're up to and don't expect to find you on Facebook.

The first link is a great food blog called Orangette. Molly Wizenberg is a fantastic writer and a wonderful example of two lessons that we will learn in the human resources unit: do what you love and there is no plan. Read her profile to see how she came to write the blog and what happened to her since she started. She and her husband have a pizza restaurant in Seattle called Delancey that just celebrated its first anniversary. Delancey's Web site is beautiful, a great example of the use of white space. In Orangette, she explains how Delancey got started and all they help they got from friends. It's a moving piece, but I was also impressed by the links to all her friends and supporters. Many are also "sole traders" doing interesting work and have beautiful Web sites. I could spend hours just browsing here.

Growing Business Online Magazine has a list of young entrepreneurs under 35 who achieved remarkable success with their innovative ideas. Click on the link to see their pictures and read about their success. You may find some interesting ideas for your own hypothetical business for this class!



The last site is a platform called Etsy, that helps small entrepreneurs sell handcrafted items. There is an amazing variety of goods for sale on Etsy. I've bought a custom, made-to-measure skirt from a designer in New York (Sohomode), a necklace and a handbag. The quality of all the goods has been fantastic, the service very friendly and prompt and I feel good about helping new start-ups achieve success with their designs. Poke around the site to see what's available, how the process works and all the ways that the site helps visitors to find new things they might not have been searching for.

New Freakonomics Movie

Several of my students reminded me today about the new Freakonomics movie coming out soon. We watched the trailer for it at the end of class today and I am really looking forward to it.

Interestingly enough, the movie is being released on iTunes about one month before it appears in theaters, bucking the normal routine of first release in theaters. Some people are speculating that the authors and producers are trying to test the thesis that no one will go see a movie in the theater if it is released through another outlet first. What do you think?

Welcome to a new school year!

Over the summer I read three books by Daniel Pink about the importance of the right brain, career advice, and motivation theory. I'll be trying to incorporate what I've learned into the Grade 10 Business course as a part of the curriculum. But I've been giving some thought as to how I can use the ideas to improve how I teach.

One aspect of motivation theory I find especially compelling is the idea that autonomy is very important for motivation. Last year, this blog was forced upon my Grade 11s as a part of their grade. This lack of autonomy, for the students who had to write comments and for me who felt compelled to write regularly, greatly reduced the possible enjoyment and intrinsic motivation to participate in the blog.

This year, we'll do things differently. I'll still be blogging, but I'm removing the blog from the grading structure of the class. It's voluntary. I'd like to hear from you and hope that you will be motivated enough by your own interest in the course to visit every so often and post a comment when you feel like it.

Let's see what happens!

How Useful is GDP for measuring living standards?

Just in time for our class! The Economist is currently running an online debate about the usefulness of GDP statistics. Read through the two sides of the debate (you don't have to read all the comments) and prepare a few ideas for a comment to post on The Economist Web site. We will put together a few group comments to post on Monday, so as not to overwhelm the site with our positions.

Your group comments should also be posted here on this blog so I can find them easily for marking purposes.

Click HERE to get to the debate online - have fun!

Why is Denmark so happy?

Year after year, in studies of Subjective Well-Being, Denmark is declared the happiest country. The video embedded below discusses why Denmark comes out on top.

Does the information presented in this video reflect our class discussion on the link between income and happiness?

What can governments do to help us be happier?

Do you think that the main economic goal of governments should be to grow their economies or make us happy? Can they do both at once? To what degree might the two goals be incompatible?