Introducing Brian

Hi all! I am Brian Fong, a third-year economics major and politics minor. Outside the classroom, I enjoy following professional football, baseball, and basketball. Additionally, I am a big fan of television shows such as Succession, a board-room comedy drama series as well as Impractical Jokers, a cringe comedy show.

The opportunity to take a political economy course featuring such a dynamic player in world geopolitics is one that I could not pass up. Given my academic background and interest in economics and politics, this course offered the opportunity to fuse those two disciplines together, in addition to gaining a first-hand and in-person view of Germany. Often, we rigorously study countries through textbooks and lectures, but rarely up close and personal. Combining these three components, I am sure that ECON 312 will be both an educational and enjoyable class.

Before exploring Germany in-person, I look forward to the good governance and economics module, learning about the political and economic frameworks in place that can help explain German policy and outcomes surrounding sustainability. Having a solid grasp of the country’s political history plays an important role in crafting future policies that are impactful and long-lasting.

In Germany, I am most excited to visit Stuttgart, specifically the Mercedes-Benz headquarters in order to learn about their business model surrounding sustainability and future innovative cars. As a luxury and commercial vehicle company, I look forward to hearing from their employees about how Mercedes-Benz plans to address disruptive technology in the automotive industry.

A question that I have thought quite a lot about is, “how can organizations incorporate sustainability into their business models — especially those who have seldom deeply considered the concept before?” This question comes at a time when numerous companies are placing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues at the forefront of how they operate. And with this in mind, how organizations foster relationships with varying stakeholders including policymakers to promote sustainability suddenly becomes so much more crucial.

I am excited for this course and look forward to working with each of you this semester in and outside the classroom.

Brian Fong