Winter Wonderland

So yesterday a picture of a guy with blood all over his face and hands rapidly spread via the social media in Belgium. It was taken at the Christmas village "Winter Wonderland" in Hasselt. The subscript said "This is what happens to when you are gay at the skating ring of Winter Wonderland. Thanks to the security guards and organisation." It immediately provoked a lot of reactions on how intollerant and dreadful the live standards of gay people in Belgium still are.

At the beginning it was shocking and gradually you got an impression of how many support there is for banning gaybashing. Nevertheless, some nuance is called for. A lot of people immediately showed sincere sympathy for the guy and his boyfriend. Even if they did not know them. And more importantly, did not know the facts!

Of course it is incredibly heartwarming to see such reactions. Nonetheless, the reality was partly conveyed by the rapid speed of the social media. The sources were not 100% waterproof. There seems to be a different side to the story, which wasn't interesting enough to spread. Apparently, he and his 'boyfriend' were getting into each others pants where children were present. They did not wanted to adjust their behaviour when asked by other people. As a result, the security asked them again, they became agressive and refused. The security asked them to leave, so they became even more agressive and refused. They where thrown out and one of them fell on the floor, causing the bleed.

In the end, it is not up to me to judge what actually happened. If they did use their sexual orientation as a false excuse to misbehave in public and be arrogant. Shame on them! If it was indeed a matter of intolerance, we can only gain courage from the fact that so many people showed support so fast. Hence, irrespective of the truth about this incidence, I think it still is reasonable to judge Belgium as one of the best places to live as a gay guy. 

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On another note, as a PhD student it is hard to find some spare time nowadays. The last week I have been preparing to present the provisional of my masterpaper to the rest of our research department. Kind of scary, let that be clear. The professors don't spare any opportunity to criticise an assumption, result, ... Presenting as a doctoral researcher is definitely different from presenting your work as a regular student. Nonetheless, they all do it to point out things you can improve or get you thinking about other perspectives before submitting it. So, although it all was quite overwhelming, I survived. My promotor even said it was a very clear and good presentation.

Ooh, and Christmas is approaching! So I'm continuously in a good mood. We've decorated our new home last week. It looks marvellous ... Now the preparations for our Christmas party have started. Selecting a range of sweets to bake, doing groceries, and so on. I'm thrilled because over 30 people agreed with our invitations. It's going to be nice to see all those people again. More on that later ;)

Recess Is Over

As some of you might have noticed, I stopped blogging for a while. Although I do not owe any excuses to anyone in particular, here is why I lacked the time and appetite (i.e. what major changes have taken place) and especially for what reasons I am calling a halt to this indefinite hiatus!

Despite I did not find any right moment to write things down, there has been a lot on my mind. As I mentioned before I was on the verge of finishing my second (advanced) economics master - in the Anglo-Saxon system this would be equivalent to concluding the graduate program. As such, I handed in my master's dissertation/thesis in August. Before preparing myself for the oral defence in September I took a few weeks off to start packing all of my stuff, have some good old fun with friends, and return to my parents' home. Getting pampered by my parents as a token of their appreciation before moving out and taking things easy was just what I needed. I spend time reading the books I did not have time for during the year, enjoyed the summer sun, had a lovely time playing badminton at my old sports club in my hometown, and started to look for a new  place to live.

Eventually, the defence went very smoothly and I passed magna cum laude. Nonetheless, it wasn't without any nervousness as my future carrier path depended on it. But in the end I had the luxury of choosing among three different PhD positions. All had their pros and cons. After weighing them carefully I decided to aim high and take on a challenge at one of Europe's most renowned universities. Currently, I am delving deeper into the literature, during December I will present and rewrite my thesis to get it published (more details will follow later), and other basic things such as guiding other students writing a dissertation under the supervision of my promoter. From January onward, however, the actual project will start and I will be involved in a thorough analysis of the most effective and efficient funding of the Belgian regions and the most desirable way of assigning responsibilities to the various government levels (i.e. fiscal federalism from an economic point of view in the Belgian context). Nevertheless, the work for my PhD will be more theoretic in nature and aimed at macroeconomic problems such as government borrowing. Consequently, the next 4 years in my life are expected to be intriguing. But as the story goes, they will also be one of the most exhausting!

On top of this great new phase of my life, I also started another one. Living together with my boyfriend. We found a lovely newly built house at the border of the city. It has a lovely open plan kitchen, living room, and dining area. It has a spacious bathroom and three bedrooms, of which one has been converted to my personal home office. And we immediately fell in love with the modern design and quiet garden. We moved in there on the first of October. But, if there was one thing I underestimated during the last months, it is the burden of moving. Damn, I takes a lot of time and effort to get settled again. For example, I never thought I had so many books. But we managed it. After some housewarming parties for friends and family, we can now call it our home - notwithstanding some decorating still has to be done (pictures will follow) - and are already planning the merriest Christmas party of them all.

This all made me realize how lucky I am. And sometimes you just need a medium to voice your appreciation. On the other hand, sometimes you just need to get things of your chest. This blog is my medium. This is the way I reflect about various things. As I have always done about the (simple) things on my mind. Ranging from my recent Christmas shopping, to my consternation about topical subjects (e.g. the European debt crisis), or to the more fundamental (economic) problems during my PhD or the growth of my (gay) relationship. Everybody deserves a voice. This is mine. 

Lots of love,

Wolter

Early Monetarism

As some of you might know Milton Friedman is widely recognized as the intellectual leader of monetarism. As such, he provided valid evidence on the relation between money and output in the United States during the century from 1867 to 1960. In particular, he showed that monetary policy was a very powerful instrument and explained most of the fluctuations in output. And, although he didn't entirely dismiss the power of fiscal policy, he is widely seen as the founding father for the thoughts on the usage of monetary policy as currently done by American policymakers.

Nonetheless, it would be wrong to associate the thoughts by the great mind of an early monetarist with the current events in too large of an extent. Friedman was skeptical that economists knew enough and that policymakers could be trusted to do the right thing. He argued for the use of simple rules, such as steady money growth. Unless economists are thought to have found the knowledge entailed by the Holy Grail - which is rather unlikely given the prejudicial developments for macroeconomists' image in face of the recent crisis - and policymakers (in particular, central bankers) are now bona fide, one might take into account the words of the monetarism messiah I came across today:

"A steady rate of growth in the money supply will not mean perfect stability even though it would prevent the kind of wide fluctuations that we have experienced from time to time in the past. It is tempting to try to go farther and to use monetary changes to offset other factors making for expansion and contraction ... The available evidence casts grave doubts on the possibility of producing any fine adjustments in economic activity by fine adjustments in monetary policy - at least in the present state of knowledge. There are thus serious limitations to the possibility of a discretionary monetary policy and much danger that such a policy may make matters worse rather than better.

Political pressures to do something in the face of either relatively mild price rises or relatively mild price and employment declines are clearly very strong indeed in the existing state of public attitudes. The main moral to be drawn from the two preceding points is that yielding to these pressures may frequently do more harm than good."

Milton Friedman

"The Supply of Money and Changes in Prices and Output", 

Testimony to Congress, 1958

Gay Themed Short Films

Some nice short films about teens struggling with their sexuality and love I came across recently. Hope you like them.

It's my life ... 1.0

I've got a few minutes to spare before my busy life continues again. Oh, who ever thought a student's July could be so busy: working on my thesis, meeting professors, meeting with friends (e.g. we had a nice bbq in the garden of one of my friend's place), enjoying the weather, spend some extra time with the parents (because both my brother and I are moving out at the end of the summer), ... ^_^

Some of the things that happened the last few days that are worth mentioning:

• I got pharyngitis over a week ago which made eating a living hell for a while. Furthermore, speaking wasn't that pleasant either. But by now I'm pretty fit again. It didn't really stop me from doing anything fun actually. My life continued in its normal way, just the eating had to be adjusted. And the kissing :(
• My brother, on the other hand, is doing really well. His recovery is going much faster than expected.
• I've been officially offered another PhD position and by now am pretty sure I can start a PhD in October, which makes me incredibly happy.
• My boyfriend's graduation ceremony was on Friday evening. It made me feel so proud of him. He even got a distinction.

Lots of love,

Wolter