Yesterday’s investment bankers are tomorrow’s civil servants?

The winds of change are blowing across America’s college campuses. Two events have prompted a major shift in college students’ job-search focus. First, Barack Obama’s reversal of the tone in Washington has reignited the belief in many young minds that public service is a noble and worthy career track. And second, the downfall of so many banks and financial institutions, and their role in the country’s economic downfall, has caused public opinion of bankers and money managers to plummet.

The result?

Many students are choosing to forego the fat post-graduation paychecks of Wall Street and instead go into public service. A recent New York Times article by Steve Lohr discussed this trend.

And like all trends, this one is destined to be temporary. A glance at recent history shows that what is happening now is a monumental shift in peoples’ thinking and actions that was brought about by an imbalance of both. Like the bursting of the tech boom bubble or the deflation of the housing market, this rearrangement in priorities seems to have brought things closer to equilibrium. The effect of it all—a generation of civic-minded men and women eager to help make America greater—will be felt for decades to come.

So will yesterday’s investment bankers become tomorrow’s civil servants? As discussed in Mr. Lohr’s article, it appears that more college students are indeed choosing public service over banking and consulting than in years past. So, at least in some cases, the answer is ‘yes’. But since the prosperity of our economy is dependent upon bankers, money managers, and consultants—just as it is dependent upon teachers, doctors, engineers, government workers, etc.—we should hope that talented individuals continue to be drawn to Wall Street. And given the disparity in income between the public and private sectors, there is little doubt that they will.

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