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Prof. Alkin is a columnist for the business newspaper DUNYA and has 2 best selling novels in Turkish about socio-economics and writes about new dimensions in the business life in the various magazine. He has two sons and speaks French and English.
He is also a rock musician and fan and in my own views, someone you will be inspired by from the moment you meet him.
Emre, you are such an extremely accomplished individual that is hard to choose just a few topics to talk about today. So let's start at the beginning. Let's see how Prof Dr. Emre Alkin became who he is today. Emre, what sparked your interest in economics at a young age?
Actually, it wasn’t my plan. It was my father’s and my mother’s plan. I liked to play music and playing professional tennis when I was 18. But in the late 20th century, people used to work in their fathers' area of work. It seems a bit awkward today, but I am happy with my choice now.
Actually, I cannot say that I wanted to do my father’s work, I just wanted to be better than my father. He was a man of science, music, and philosophy. I wanted to add more qualities like sports etc. on top. Economics was the only subject that interested him.
In high school and college, what else did you like to study?
In the 1980s and 90s, high school and college education were quite multidisciplinary in Turkey. Now, young people are more relaxed and focused. In my time, from philosophy to psychology we had to know many things to get our grades.
For example, accounting was one of the hurdles and I also remember Civil law lessons that we had to pass. But all of these were quite OK with my character, as I dared to do everything.
Actually, I still dare to do everything. Back in the day, I was studying and playing professional tennis and in addition to this, I was making money from music and private lessons.
You sure were a super achiever Emre, and I get it, as a young kid I also loved to play tennis and wanted to be a tennis pro, but on those days it was all about academics. If you could give one piece of advice to economic students, what would it be?
I think I will give the same advice that I give to my kids. You can be everything that you want, but first be happy Remember that without hard work, we are nothing. Talent is important but not everything. Mathematics is the key. You cannot measure if you cannot be calculating.