How Greg Mankiw became an economist?

Well, Prof Mankiw’s blog and research followers know he was a math guy first and then moved into econ.

Here is a more elaborate version of what actually happened. He realised he is not good enough in Math as others are and then moved into economics based on what someone in college told him about the subject.

This is part of a commencement lecture he gave recently at a school. He discusses the key moments in his life. He draws four lessons from his life experiences:

Communities matter. Communities influence your behavior and shape who you will become. So choose your communities wisely. What is the right community for one person is not necessarily the right community for another. Find a place that will support you and push you to be a better person, as this school has. So far in life, your parents have often chosen the communities for you. But going forward, this is going to be more of your responsibility.

You may think you are good at something, and you may think you know what you should spend your life doing, but you may well be wrong. You will learn a lot about yourself during your first few years of adulthood. Be prepared to change your mind about your path in life and about your self-image. I know I certainly did.

Your niche in life—your comparative advantage—is out there waiting for you. You may not find it immediately. It may present itself to you at an unexpected time and an unexpected place. Be sure to be ready with an open mind.

Random stuff happens. Life is not completely in your control. To be sure, some of the random stuff is bad. But some of the random stuff is awesome. Everyone in life is dealt a different hand. If you want to be happy and successful, don’t complain about the hand you are dealt. That takes too much energy, which only ends up being wasted. Do your best to play the hand you’ve got. And rest assured that as you are doing so, something or someone awesome may be right around the corner.

Nice bit…The last story on randomness is based on an amazing random event. Could be made into a Hollywood or may be Bollywood movie..:-)

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