Boston Economic Consulting Group, LLP
|
Boston Economic Consulting Group, LLP |
| Contact Info. Sheet - PDF | Home | Contact Us | Search |
|
About Ken Education & Certification BECG, LLP Operating Philosophy KDG Blog Biography Resume Publications Research Professional Endorsements Areas of Practice by: |
 |
Human Behavior and Institutions... Picasso said, "...when I was a little boy, some boys wanted to grow up to be lawyers; some wanted to grow up to be soldiers... but, I wanted to grow up to be Picasso." I know what Picasso meant because I always possessed a propelling-sense of self determination. I thank Kent State University for giving me the means, and the freedom, to become what I was born to be. In the College of Arts and Sciences, I discovered a way to construct an individual program of study that allowed me to survey my interests, find out who I really was, build an associated educational foundation and achieve my innate character. It is only now, and with the benefit of considerable hindsight, that I come to realize I was always a new institutional economist. That is... I was always motivated by a conclusion that the central tendency of human behavior was rational, maximizing and self-interested, yet constrained by the institutions of a collective society. Looking back, I recognize how I bloomed professionally when I decided to follow my instincts, gather my interests and organize my thinking around a synthesis of the competing elements of social science curriculum of the time. Through a process of trial and error, and with repeated frustrations manifested in modest marks, I gradually came to a conclusion that there was no dominant social science. Rather, I concluded there was a durable scientific explanation of human behavior in the overlap of individual social sciences which was best organized, but not completely articulated by, the paradigm of economics. At that point, much like the Ape in Space Odyssey 2001, I sprang to life academically and have ever since maintained a daily passion for the Economic Analysis of Human Behavior and Institutions. Over five years of study, I concentrated and integrated over 160 semester hours and allocated them over four, roughly equal, clusters. The two substantive clusters of study focused first on economics and human behavior and, secondly, on the institutional structure and dynamics of human life. The substantive clusters were constructed from the recognizable undergraduate majors of Economics, Accounting, Psychology, Political Science and Business Administration. The two remaining support clusters focused on methods of analysis and communications. In my simple view of the world, there was no point to studying anything if I could not perform analysis and communicate its results. So, while I was doing the 'readin,' I also studied the 'rithmatic' and 'riten.' The first support cluster consisted of mathematics and science and the second consisted of language, philosophy and communications. The recognizable undergraduate majors forming these clusters were Mathematics, English, German and Russian. Fortunately for me. In those days education was good; it was cheap enough for a poor boy from the farms of Ohio; and the opportunity cost of my time was low. So I stayed in school not till they said I was done, but till I knew I was done. I would do it all again - much the same way. But, I also would study harder at times. Still, I was happy and I had the chance to enjoy the 'chimes at midnight.' I was a Student Senator and I enjoyed other experiences of leadership such as serving as President of the Ohio Lambda Chapter of PHI DELTA THETA. Kent State University, 1973  |
|||
|
|
|
|
