Students should use finance jobs for social good

Harvard professor Sendhil Mullainathan is questioning whether students going into finance are making the best use of their talent. 

In 2014, one in five Harvard students took a job in the financial sector. This statistic was even bigger for economics majors — one in two students. 

Mullainathan explains that "every profession produces both private return — the fruits of labor that a person enjoys — and social returns, those that society enjoys." While finance is an industry in which returns are usually private, he argues, people in the industry can use it for common good by applying their skills to social problems rooted in finance, such as going into debt from having to take out loans to support meager paychecks. 

"So how should I feel about my students going into finance? I hope they realize that they have the potential to do great good and not simply make money. It may not be how the industry is structured now, but idealism and inventiveness are two of the best traits of youth, and finance especially could use them," Mullainathan said. 

Read the full article at The New York Times.

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