1. Undergraduate Economics Association
First General Meeting

2. Announcements
Financial Stability and Energy Security in the
Americas and Europe:
 Thursday, February 13 at 5:30pm in the BU
Castle
Econ Brunch
 Sunday, February 3 at 1:00pm at Trident
UEA Journal
 The first UEA Journal
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3. Undergraduate Economics Association?
The BU UEA exists to socially, academically, and professionally develop Boston University
students interested in Economics.
Platform for gaining insights into today’s
economic issues
Platform for generating discussions
on economic issues
Platform for showcasing your talent
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4. The UEA Website
Student Writers Article Competition
Columnists UEA Journal
Database Events
Gallery Constitution
Presentations
BUUEA.com
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5. Student Writers & Article Competition
Student Writers: Article Competition:
 Write Economics related articles  Twice a semester
 Full discretion  Winner chosen by pre-defined criteria
 Articles are edited & proofread  Student writers are given certificate and an
award
Previous Winners:
Ben Denis Shaffer Jeevan Parameswaran
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6. UEA Journal & The UEA Constitution
UEA Journal:
 Semester long
 Best articles compiled into a journal
 Journal available online
The UEA Constitution:
 All relevant information
 Regularly updated
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7. General Meetings & Events
General Meetings & Events:
 7:00pm to 8:00pm Tuesdays in CAS B12 Presentations Discussions
Guest Speakers Speaker Panels
“The Multilateral Trading Systems:
“European Liquidity Crisis” “The European Crisis Panel” Strengths & Challenges for LDCs
“Fixing the Economy”
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“Incentives in Education”
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8. The Econ Brunch
The Econ Brunch:
 Occasionally get together for brunch
 Usually Sunday or Saturday
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9. The Social Websites
Inform Discuss Debate
Network
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10. Operations
E-Board
Executive VP of VP of
VP of VP of
President Vice Editorial Information
Marketing Operations
President Content Technology
Website Facebook Meetings & Events
VP of VP of VP of Executive
VP of
Editorial Information Editorial President Vice
Operations
Content Technology Content President
Student Writers Club Members Club Members
Columnists
Writing Committee
Presentation Committee
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11. The E-Board
President Executive Vice President of Vice President of
Fadi Humaid Vice President Editorial Content Operations
Federico Mele Daniel Currie Cassandra Chin
Vice President of Vice President of
Marketing Information Technology
Beixi Zhou Massimiliano Hasan
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12. How You Can Get Involved
Student Writers  Simply write an article and send it to uea@bu.edu or dcurrie@bu.edu
 All articles are eligible for the BU UEA Article Competition & BU UEA Journal
Article Competition
 The BU Article Competition takes place twice a semester
 Winners are chosen by a formula: 0.28(quantity) + 0.14(quality) + 0.58(traffic)
 All student-written articles are eligible for the BU UEA Journal
UEA Journal  Articles are chosen based on quality each semester
 The Journal is virtually distributed to members, professors, and alumni
Columnists  After being active student writers for at least one semester and having written at
least 5 articles, student writers are eligible to apply for a columnist position
Writing Committee  Apply via uea@bu.edu or dcurrie@bu.edu
 Applicants are not required to be Student Writers
Presentation  Coming Soon
Committee
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13. Semester Theme
Imbalances between Importers and Exporters
 Lop side trade flows cause large imbalances in global trade and capital flows
 Helped cause the financial cataclysm of 2008
I.O.U.
Cash
 Fixed/Controlled Exchange Rates
A  “Habits”
 Politics
Imports B
Exports
Cash
 Huge Trade Deficit  Huge Trade Surplus
Cash
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14. Semester Theme
Current Data
Pessimistic Optimistic
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Source: Bloomberg Markets; IMF
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15. Semester Theme
Current Data
Pessimistic Optimistic
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Source: Bloomberg Markets; IMF
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16. Semester Theme
Current Views
Pessimistic Optimistic
 Current changes are temporary  Chinese efforts in fostering domestic
 Growth is restraint, when growth picks up consumption
imbalances are likely to widen once more  Restrained wages and cheaper energy are giving
 The recession has spurred governments and Americans an edge over rivals in Europe and
central banks to spend trillions of dollars to Japan
stimulate growth, this has been done through  Average expenses in for U.S. companies
debt (including labor & materials) forecasted to be
 Political dead lock in U.S. 15% and 21% less than Germany and Japan,
 U.S. addicted to consumption respectively, by 2015!
 Obama not likely to cut consumption  U.S. exports have risen as % of GDP
 Republicans not likely to allow increase in taxes  China exports have decreased as % of GDP
 China’s efforts to foster domestic consumption  Greece has cut wages by 22% and Portugal has
may not last fewer national holidays
 The Euro still exists  Spain improving competitiveness
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Source: Bloomberg Markets
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17. What Do You Think?
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