<p>I'm thinking about switching my Math/Philosophy BS to a Mathematical Finance/Econ/Philo BS soon. I realized that almost all the books I read for leisure have to do with economics and politics, especially with regards to developing countries. It truly is my passion and I would love to apply my mathematical skill to something grounded in real life. </p>
<p>My conundrum is that I find business/finance/marketing students to mostly be ignorant, overpriviliged, or both. I also have an irreconcilable distaste for large banks, neoliberal economics, and the corporatism that is strangling human progress and equality. I am not naive enough to say that everybody involved in the field is morally bankrupt but I definitely have a negative perception of most things banking and finance. I just get this feeling that most large banks, hedge funds, and investment firms don't actually do anything productive. They instead spend the majority of their time finding new sources of productive capital to exploit and hoard it. Quite frankly, I am scared I will be sucked into the culture of greed and become apathetic over time if I don't start thinking about this now. </p>
<p>That being said, there are a few bright spots. I have been reading a lot about development economics lately and coming from a family of which half are still in Northern Africa, it gives me hope for the future. Does anybody have experience or knowledge about jobs that will let me utilise my interest and aptitude in economics and finance without compromising my core beliefs? The only thing I can think of is organizing the finances of humanitarian organizations and NGO's. Are there any companies or groups I should be looking for internships with? </p>
<p>Please let me know if my question is too vague, I realize it is pretty nebulous. And before you ask, the username is a joke.</p>
<p>I am a second-year at a public university majoring in business or economics. I definitely know what you are talking about. These are some of my thoughts, but keep in mind there’d def. a lot that I don’t know!</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Look into social investments/social venture capital/ social private equity. This is a growing sector and it’s currently a miniscule fraction of the entire investment industry. The big players in this arena are Calvert Investments and Acumen Fund to name a couple. </p></li>
<li><p>Microfinance. The popularity of microfinance has pretty much exploded since Muhammad Yunus received a Nobel Peace Prize for Grameen Bank. Organizations like Kiva has literally globalized microfinance. </p></li>
<li><p>When you said “organizing finances for NGOs”, I’m not sure if you mean keeping track of the books or what not, but I would say there is definitely a lot of financial and economic skills required in the development sector. Look up Jeffrey Sachs. Regardless of your opinion of him, he’s one of the most influential voices in the development arena. A PhD in Economics may be a good option if you like this route. Also, universities such as Yale/Harvard have special Master’s degrees for these interests, Development Economics and Public Administration - International Development, respectively.</p></li>
<li><p>Think about what you want to do, and probably just as importantly, where you want to be. In some cases, you will be in the developing country(ies), but in other cases you could be located in a major US city like SF/NYC.</p></li>
<li><p>Internships are definitely more rare in this industry for two primary reasons 1) the industry is smaller than the traditional finance/banking industry and 2) these industries don’t typically recruit people straight out of undergraduate. </p></li>
<li><p>Look for the club Net Impact on campus, they have hundreds of chapters and are an organization that promotes social responsibility in businesses.</p></li>
<li><p>Lastly, talk to people in the industry. Try talking to professors/anybody who does relevant work in this area.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>“most large banks, hedge funds, and investment firms don’t actually do anything productive” </p>
<p>holy *<strong><em>, you are an econ major and you say something like that? you do understand that firms often need outside capital to grown? no one can actually force a company to sell equity, you know that right? It just *</em></strong>es me off that someone like you who sits in acollege dorm, in front of your macbook, after having a papa johns pizza, would complain about how capitalism sucks. I mean why do you think the US has so many top schools? It’s because they have huge investment funds and give the money private equity firms, hedgefunds etc. That’s how they can afford to have the best people and research. I am not claiming that capitalism is great at distributing wealth, but that doesn’t have anything to do with people being greedy.</p>
<p>Bankers are doing God’s work; just ask Blankfein. Anyway, it’s a little naive to say that they don’t do anything “productive” when banks provide liquidity to businesses and ordinary people have their pension funds tied in with what’s going on Wall St.</p>
<p>But maybe more related to what you’re looking for, for example, there are boutique firms that specialize in environmental companies and run “green funds”, which are “socially conscious” or whatever.</p>
<p>In response to drizzl, I work 40 hours a week with a finance company to pay my way through school and live in an apartment. I take 20 hours of class a week and volunteer at an organization that helps the working poor. I also cook all my own food from local farms and I build my own computers. I am aware there are plenty of people who decry the “evils of capitalism” out of mental laziness, I do not like them either. I try not to live in a state of coginitive dissonance. </p>
<p>What I am saying is that I am very alarmed at how aloof the largest financial institutions are when it comes to using other peoples money and the impacts they have on the world. When I say they aren’t productive, I am talking about large institutions that have gotten where they are by gaming the system and overleveraging themselves to the point of absurdity ( goldman sachs, lehman brothers, all the largest hedge funds). Yes, they provide capital to businesses and ventures but that could be done by smaller firms that need to focus on long term profits that would take the risks a little bit more seriously. Just because they are making insane amounts of profit does not mean they are providing a service to you or I. From the standpoint of net benefits to society, I would argue that the largest banks are a liabilty to society. They know that the general populace is going to be forced to bear the burden when they fail, any regulations are short term in scope and ineffective at best. Socialism for the rich and free market for the poor is probably the best way to sum it up.</p>
<p>and to icanread, I would hope most people have learned by now that relying on wall st. to fund your pension is no gaurantee you will actually get a pension lol. There is a huge gulf between the “real” economcy and the “finance” economy. What happens in the Dow Jones usually has limited bearing on the real world outside of things that are funded by stocks.</p>
<p>I too, am in the same position as YoungRepublican, except I wasn’t able to word my confusion so well.</p>
<p>Does anyone have advice on what kind of internships to seek to better prepare oneself if we’re prepared to take this not-strictly-finance-economics route, or just more information on this sector and its opportunities in general? What route do we take to get there? Start off in i-banking then get out after two years? What kinds of skills are required? Highly quantitative?</p>
<p>YoungRepublican - Have you considered the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? It seems to fit your expressed interest.</p>
<p>To eternitygoddess, I am actually aiming for policy based work. I really have no desire to work in America and am learning french for the express purpose of working with the EU or UN. I respect charitable organizations and I would not defer an opportunity to work with one but I feel that a chance to influence public policy is my best chance at making the changes I believe in. Too many people who are in favor of social democratic systems of government are liberal arts idealists (which is not a bad thing) and I believe there needs to be more people with mathematical ability and training in finance like me to actually catalyze change. Simply rejecting capitalism is a reactionary ideology that leads nowhere.</p>
<p>I know it doesn’t exactly answer your question, but have you considered using your comparative advantage? i.e., taking the highest-paying job your values can tolerate, and donating a large amount to the best cause(s) you can find? It seems to me that for most people this would be a more effective way to improve the world than trying to do so directly, and this is what I plan to do, at least in the near term.</p>