Dear Graduates,
On behalf of the faculty and staff of the Department of Economics, it is my privilege to congratulate you on the completion of your Bachelor of Arts degree. You have worked long and hard for it in the isolation and chaos of a pandemic. You and your family should be very proud of your accomplishment.
You have begun a new journey as a professional economist. You have studied investing, how to form a business plan, when insurance markets work and when they unravel, the flows of international trade, the decisions we make in the labor market and in daily life, how to analyze data, the rise and fall of firms, and how economic policies promote or discourage development. You have learned to think “on the margin.” And, because you live in interesting times, you have observed first-hand how changes in consumer demand have accelerated the technological change that was reshaping firms and industries and creating new winners and losers. While the technology is new and the shifts in consumer demand were unexpected, the laws of supply and demand are not suspended. You still need to think “on the margin” to understand which strategies, plans and policies will foster innovation and economic growth.
You are now joining a very large family of alumni. We are proud of the accomplishments of our alumni and are pleased that many of them still have a commitment to the Department of Economics by serving on our Board of Visitors, speaking in our classes, serving as interviewers for our Sharpe and Simon Fellows Programs, being mentors to our current students, providing feedback on our students’ presentations, and participating in many other activities. We hope that you will consider helping fellow Bruins by becoming involved. And remember that your alumni family is your network.
As you begin your life after college, we hope that you will remember to take your economics seriously and to get it right in all aspects of your life. Before that, however, we hope that you take the time to celebrate your accomplishment, thank your family for their support, and to reward yourself for a job well done.
Congratulations and best wishes!
Dora L. Costa
Kenneth T. Sokoloff Professor of Economic History
Chair, UCLA Department of Economics
