Linda has been involved in political affairs since she was at school. During her studies she joined the youth organization of a political party. Due to her studies in economics and political science, she mainly dealt with economic issues and especially with financing issues in this organization. She quickly made a name for herself for her extensive expert knowledge and innovative solution approaches.Linda is engaged to Gerd, a bank manager who specializes in investing in the stock market.Now that she has completed her studies, she is about to take a career leap: she received two offers, namely either to work as an assistant to the economic spokesman for this political party, or to work in the bank where Gerd works as well as in the field of stock market investments.The economic crisis is a particularly big challenge for her party, but also for her personally. Even before the stock market crash became known, the two had violent arguments because of the high risks Gerd took in investing the funds entrusted to him.As her first task in her new field of work, she should draft a policy paper for her party in which various proposed solutions for dealing with the crisis are analyzed. Among other things, the debate is whether and in what form bank managers who have made high-risk investments should be held accountable and whether it is fair to save banks from collapse by means of high monetary subsidies.Should her party decide to proceed in this way, Gerd’s professional career would be over. On the other hand, Linda wants to live up to her reputation as a very innovative expert and solution finder.
What should Linda do?
Which offer should Linda accept?
And why?
Platon Youth Forum 2009
Sieglinde Weyringer
University of Salzburg, Austria