Professor Christopher A. Pissarides, who is a 2010 Nobel Prize winner in Economics, gave a speech at AU on Dec. 16. He pointed out that the economic development should be based on education, and that general education is very important at universities, and students should keep learning.
The meeting attracted many AU and nearby senior high school students to join. And the main topic of Professor Pissarides’s speech is about the structural unemployment phenomenon. He said that the condition of short-term unemployment in labor markets is a good trend. Moreover, the unbalance of supplies and demands in labor markets caused the unemployment problem, and a critical reason of causing unemployment is the unemployees’ incomplete information about the jobs for applicants, the process of employee hiring, the needs of workers and investors, and so on.
After Professor Pissarides’s speech, the students asked him questions actively. A student whose major is international business asked a question about the influence of the progress of technologies on the future labor market. He answered that the advanced technologies influenced the hiring capability of the industry, and this was the reason why the economies of many countries transferred from the type of agricultures, through industries, and finally into service trades.
Other questions asked by AU students include what functions and policies the education in Taiwan should play, how students in universities should be trained to pursue jobs in the future, etc. Professor Pissarides answered that the economy should be developed based on education. “In addition, to face the diversified society and find ideal jobs, students should keep learning and continually improve themselves,” said Professor Pissarides.
Professor Pissarides and Dr. Dale T. Mortensen are both 2010 Nobel Prize winners in Economics, and they came to AU in December and October respectively to join forums held by AU and gave students speeches. To AU faculty members and students, these were precious opportunities to listen to well-known professors’ speeches. They all learned a lot from the world-class masters!
