Wednesday’s Headlines: Is Business School the Path to Politics?

Francois Hollande will be France’s first president with a business school degree, thanks to his 1975 graduation from HEC Paris. As Businessweek reports, the school also counts World Trade Organization director general Pascal Lamy, former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Senegal Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye as alumni.

Previously, the Financial Times had written about the rise of MBAs in politics. The story points out that business degrees are held by British foreign secretary William Hague, former U.S. treasury secretary Hank Paulson, Dutch finance minister Jan Kees de Jager, former French minister of energy Jean-Louis Borloo and Indian home affairs minister P. Chidambaram. And let us not forget George W. Bush, the first U.S. president to hold the degree.

The FT wrote:

There are several competing explanations for the prominence of such politicians: from the need for greater professionalism in government, to the simple fact there are more business school graduates in circulation these days. Not surprisingly, however, opinion is divided about their effectiveness in office. Depending on the point of view, MBA politicians either offer technocratic common sense, or are symptomatic of a creeping managerialism.

HEC’s dean told Businessweek: “If someone wants to be a leader in politics, they must first master economic issues. Second, they must master international issues. Business education is important for that.”

 

Other News:

Credit Suisse will cut 126 New York jobs before Aug. 6th. [Bloomberg]

Shareholders approved Dimon’s $23 million pay but they voted before they knew about the $2 billion loss. [CNN Money]

The FBI is investigating J.P. Morgan’s $2 billion loss. [DealBook]

Hedge funds are profiting on J.P. Morgan’s bad bet. [Fortune]

Slideshow: Biggest recent trading losses. [Investment News]

KKR is in talks to buy Prisma Capital. [DealBook]

Middle East governments look to private equity as partners post-uprisings. [Dow Jones]

Carlyle aims to raise $3.5 billion for its fourth Asia fund. [Businessweek]

Japan’s three largest banks posted strong 2011 profits. [WSJ]

Investors in Spain’s Bankia lost half their investment. [Bloomberg]

Goldman’s new PR chief has his work cut out for him. [WSJ]

Vanguard is leading the pack in index funds inflows. [Investment News]