By Jimmeaha MacK
Contributing Writer
Interim Dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business Matthew Rousu published a book in June of this year giving insight into hidden economic messages inside Broadway musicals and teaches readers certain business principals in real life examples.
The book titled “Broadway and Economics” was not Rousu’s original platform for sharing his application of these economic principles, he used a website to show videos of the Broadway and well know music supplemented with descriptions on how the lyrics apply to the concepts. For example, Rousu highlights the concept of Communism in “Where You Are” from the Disney film Moana.
“Most people don’t have that instant connection, but then you hear and start to think ‘wait a minute they’re talking about how you shouldn’t be trading with other people and they also talk about the basics of the tenants of communism,” Rouso said. “We make and then we share with each other according to what we make, that’s kind of an easy way to relate, wow that’s kind of what Karl Marx was saying when he was talking about communism’ and actually if you look at how the performance of countries that have tried to take those tenants, they’ve really struggled, and the island of Motunui was actually really struggling as well.” Rousu said that even though the song wasn’t meant to carry an economic message, it should still help understand communism.
Rousu created the novel in addition to the website to reach a different audience: “The book goes into more detail on topics than the website does as well, and I had never written a book before, it was a little bit of a new challenge as well,” he said. Rousu credits three students in his novel, senior Mikalah Potvin, alumna Courtney Conrad and alumnus Torin McFarland for assisting in the editing process, as well as finding references, and producing videos and discussion questions to the website. Together they created connections between economics and 161 songs from 90 different musicals.
As for her time assisting with the research, Potvin began in the fall of 2015.
“I enjoyed the process and love working with [Rousu]. I have gained a great understanding and respect for those that research and the process itself. It is a taxing process and one that many only undertake out of a love for it,” Potvin said. During the time that he taught, Rousu would try to appeal to his student audience by playing a four minute song before class started.
“What I would like to do, and sometimes Broadway but sometimes it’s pop, country, hip hop, all sorts of genres, I start every class with a song that tries to relate to the days lesson,”Rousu said. “I think it helps make the lessons more real, when you can find the economic topic in a song; sometimes economics, for many students, is a difficult subject. So being able to relate it, you can start to tease out, well what are the economic lessons you can learn from the song and how can it relate to what we’re covering.” For Potvin, a former student of Rousu, this real and ordinary life application made her consider the world of economics.
“I think his teaching methods, including the use of music, make the concepts easier to understand and more engaging,” Potvin said. “After my first year at Susquehanna, I considered adding a minor in economics, which wasn’t part of my plan prior to college.” Rousu plans to continue updating his site as new music comes out and new links can be made.
He plans to track new songs, in possibility of making an addendum if the opportunity presents itself and will continue working with students whenever possible and with anyone willing to help keep the site up moving forward.
