By: Sam Kinsman 
It is no secret that the United States economy has seen high unemployment, economic uncertainty and less-than-stellar growth since the recession began in 2008. In fact, is seems that the phrase “it’s the economy” has been used in nearly every industry, government office and school across the country to explain changes that have occurred since 2008. After the unprecedented failure of the investment bank Lehman Brothers that prompted the beginning of the financial crisis, politicians, the media and many American citizens turned their attention to the finance industry for the first time. Nearly four years, trillions dollars of losses and billions of dollars of government bailouts later, mainstream newspaper headlines with the words “Corporate Greed”, “Excessive Pay,” and “Out of Control Wall Street” have become the daily norm. The combination of this attention and protest movements like the Occupy Wall Street movement last year have given a new negative connotation to the word “finance” and anything associated with the financial system. This negative association is not completely without justification. Americans have a right to be upset with the economic actors whose poor decisions pushed the U.S. into a recession. The problem is the unjustified extension of these negative attitudes towards all things business.
Why is this a problem? Businesses, after all, do not have feelings that can be hurt. To answer the question, we must remember that businesses themselves are composed of people. They are groups of individuals who design, manufacture and sell new products that make people’s lives better. With an entire generation of baby boomers set to begin their retirement, the U.S. needs more college-educated students to replace them.
Yet the disparagement of corporate America has an ongoing impact on university students who want to study business. Recent data suggests more young people are staying away from the degree to avoid being associated with its negative reputation. The problem also impacts current students who choose to major in business, particularly finance students. With each negative news article written, finance gathers an increasingly negative reputation among their peers. Business students are often judged by others to have “sold out” to the money of a corporate job. As a finance student myself, I have seen classmates ashamed to answer the standard introduction question among new friends, “what is your major?” While it may come as a surprise to people outside the business community, many finance students really are passionate about learning their area of study. In the same way the human mind fascinates a psychology student or a beautiful poem excites and English major, finance students love learning about the interplay between math, markets and decision-making behavior. Students who choose finance because they think it is a golden ticket to a lucrative career find that, like any profession, people who lack passion and are only motivated by money are revealed quickly and rarely succeed in the long run.
With clear economic challenges ahead, many would argue the U.S. will need as many talented business professionals as possible to help maintain its economic competitiveness. There exists, however, an unspoken pressure for students to choose a different discipline that will “actually improve people’s lives and make the world a better place.” Does working in a business contribute to society? Can a finance student working in a bank or private equity firm make a difference in another person’s life?
To answer that we have to examine what businesses actually do. Corporations exist because they sell a product or service that other people or businesses need. A world without companies like Apple, Pfizer, or Ford would leave people without products they use to make their lives better. These companies will continue to exists as long as they can deliver their product or service better than anyone else (ever try building an iPhone or making an anti-cholesterol drug in your kitchen?). The money businesses make from selling these products is used to hire people, buy other firm’s products and pay taxes that support the government, and profits are reinvested in the firm to hire more people and develop more new products through research and development. These actions (hiring people, developing new products, paying taxes) are all things that make society better off and stimulate the economy. What about banking and finance professionals? They work to ensure firms have the money and investment advice necessary to keep the cycle in motion.
It seems clear (if not obvious) that businesses are integral contributions to society. This is especially true in emerging nations such as Brazil, where economic development from business activity has lifted millions of people out of conditions of poverty and into the middle class. As such, how should we react to the growing anti-business sentiment? First, we should limit the response to new coverage of unethical corporate practices. These events are exceptions to the trillions of dollars a year in ethical and productive business output around the globe. Second, prospective and current business students should be proud to study an area of business that interests them. The contributions that finance and other business students will make through their companies create the standard of living that developed countries enjoy today and that emerging markets aspire to have in the future.
It’s time for the anti-finance slant to go away. There are profound, fundamental reasons people go into business, and many of them have nothing to do with money. As Thomas Watson once said, “To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.” And the money that for-profit firms do make for their time? Workers are paid, other firms are paid, governments are paid, owners are paid and the “profits” are invested in new products for our future.
