Katja Mann

When I look at you, I see my 15-year younger self. I studied something similar to IBP, a combination of political science and economics (naturally, I liked economics better). I was curious, ambitious and eager to learn, but at the same time constantly worried about not being good enough. Why? I can’t really say anymore and looking back my worries seem ridiculous, but then this is always easy to say in hindsight.

Talking to you is inspiring, energizing, and my favorite part of teaching. Having critical discussions about whether or not our models make sense, hearing your thoughts about what is happening out there in the real world, seeing you in my office hours asking about book recommendations or telling me that macro is your favorite subject (yes I know I am vain), male students choosing to work on feminist economics in their project group, and people being passionate about saving the planet and screw the stupid profit maximization maxim. But then comes the odd student who raises their hand only to ask a question about exam preparation. Most of you (not all!) shy away from presenting on the board and there seems to be a general fear of saying something wrong. Come on, you don’t always have to be brilliant! And then why are you so afraid of math? I never understood this. Math is great.

Being in the study board, I get yet another perspective on what you might call the IBP culture – and an occasional wonder about how much Danish student culture differs from other countries. I get to learn about your career paths, what interests you outside of my classroom, how the different disciplines fit together. And they really do, which is one of the best things about this program. Personally, I would not have wanted to miss a single one of my political science courses. (The teachers there were nicer, too.)

I hope I can inspire you. I hope I can teach you to think critically, to always, always question the assumptions we make while strolling through our simple little model world. I hope I can serve as the role model that I never had myself. I hope I can teach you how important macroeconomics is, and how much fun it is to spend your everyday life working on it. I hope that one day, some of you will do the same.