Perkins’ Picks

Picture of me by Brian Bradley

I read an article in New York Magazine by Jennifer Senior about “Recession Culture,” and it made me think that maybe a recession really isn’t the horrible catastrophe that people make it out to be.

“No money changes everything, from murder rates to museum attendance, from career choices to what you eat for dinner, and not all for the worst”

Could your brain on money be like your brain on crack? Yea, probably not. However, psychological experiments have shown that thinking about money makes people less likely to help strangers, handling money makes people less sensitive to physical pain, and staring at a  screen saver of cash makes people more likely to to work alone and less likely to collaborate. So the current lack of money should have the opposite effect. In fact, New York Volunteerism is booming, divinity school enrollment is up, and more people are going to museums. There has been a 20% drop in Manhattan home sales prices, the same drop for rentals, and violent crime has gone down. The city is also full of deals on clothing, furniture, and even upscale restaurants.

“A more affordable city, better attitudes towards work and leisure, finer civic mores- these are the silver linings for culture and New York’s luckier people.”

Now for some negatives- especially for the students. Those who graduate from college during recession make less money than those who do not, and the disparities don’t completely erode over time. Each point on the unemployment rate at the time of graduation correlates to a 6% decrease in starting salary! Another consideration for  graduates is that there are less jobs in finance, insurance, and real-estate (FIRE) and more in the intellectual, cultural, and educational sectors (ICE).

“In 1992, Marc Jacobs produced a legendary grunge collection that reinvigorated the New York fashion world”

Grunge was all about recession ready style, and what Jacobs did was take risks even during a recession. By the way, Marc Jacobs seems to be doing something similar during the current recession with his affordable line Marc by Marc Jacobs (they have $5 canvas totes!). As Jacobs demonstrated, it’s still a good time for entrepreneurs- companies like Dell, Intel, Apple, Wang, and Adobe even started during tough times.

I appreciate the bit of optimism, but I’m not convinced that money is no longer stylish and we’re all going to volunteer and become more religious.  These are just some things you may want to contemplate.  And I’m really hoping the statistic on graduate salaries is not true.

-DB