This is a random memory...good enough for a blog post!
When I was an undergrad I took a course called "Economic Development." We had to write a paper. I was a dumb undergraduate. I'm not even quite sure what the paper I wrote was about or what it was supposed to be about. I actually did a lot of work for it, though a lot of work does not necessarily translate into a quality paper. I got a 'B' I think. One thing about going to a "shitty state school" is that there isn't any grade inflation, or at least there wasn't then.
Anyway, as I said, I did a lot of work, or at least what I thought was a lot of work. I also drank a lot of beer. I was an undergrad! Whatever. I remember the professor (I forget his name but he was great) commenting that my paper wasn't really about economics, but politics. He was right! Because everything I read (maybe the wrong things) about what we called third world countries at the time stressed the need for those countries to prove that they were credit worthy to first world banks and governments. Everything I read was about how those central banks needed to prove they would fight inflation, and that governments needed to prove they were credit worthy, and prove to businesses that they weren't going to go all commie and start nationalizing stuff.
It was a bad paper because I didn't get the assignment. But also it was a good paper because I think I got something right, even if I didn't understand it. Back then, economic development meant making pleasing noises to Uncle Sam, or so people thought. Nobody actually believes that anymore. Hi China!
