NPR’s “Planet Money” co-founder Adam Davidson will deliver some mixed news to college students when he presents the Murphy Lecture on Oct. 10 at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. Davidson writes the “It’s the Economy” column for The New York Times Magazine. He said he’ll present a hopeful yet down-to-earth message. The reality of today’s job market, according to Davidson, is that workers will have to continually figure out ways to reinvent themselves in their career and adapt their skills to fit into the global economy. But it's not so scary as it seems, he said, if young people always keep their finances in mind.
“Their careers are going to be filled with peaks and really low valleys. You have to be pretty good at saving when you’re doing well, and be pretty smart about when you’re not doing that well to make clever investments in your education or new businesses," Davidson said, from his office in New York.
Davidson is an international business and economics expert. The “Planet Money” reporters delve into big economic questions tied to the human experience. Davidson finds the partial government shutdown and debt ceiling debacle are a distraction to reporters like him and the American people as a whole.
“This is a self-imposed, idiotic, political crisis. This is not some essential economic crisis. That makes it a little maddening. There are bigger questions we should be talking about as a nation that we’re not talking about because all the oxygen is swallowed up by this sort of silliness," Davidson said.
The Murphy lecture is free and open to the public. The annual event is sponsored by Murphy Oil Corporation and the SAU College of Business. Davidson speaks Oct. 10 at 10:30 a.m. at SAU’s Harton Theatre.