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№ 2006.008 — Massachusetts Institute of Technology — Commencement address
Ben Bernanke
Chairman, Federal Reserve
Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke delivered the principal address at MIT's 140th Commencement, offering a brief history of economics at MIT and praising its faculty, including Nobel laureates Samuelson, Modigliani, and Solow. He described a 'virtuous circle' in which economics, science, and technology mutually reinforce innovation and economic development, and emphasized the benefits of global competition and free trade. He urged graduates to seek new opportunities and to make a difference through service, volunteering, and their choice of work.
Key moments
- 01 History of economics at MIT and tribute to its faculty and Nobel laureates
- 02 The 'virtuous circle' linking economics, science, and technology
- 03 Benefits of global competition and free, open trade
- 04 Encouragement to seek opportunities and make a difference through service
Visual speech map
Ben Bernanke at MIT, 2006
A commencement address about economics as a living system, technology as a growth engine, global openness, and service beyond private success.
- 01 MIT economics
- 02 Faculty lineage
- 03 Virtuous circle
- 04 Innovation
- 05 Global trade
- 06 Competition
- 07 Opportunity
- 08 Service
Lineage
MIT economics becomes the starting point
Bernanke opens by placing the graduates inside a campus tradition where economic research, technical education, and public leadership have long reinforced one another.
He points to MIT economists and Nobel laureates as evidence that ideas can travel from classrooms into national policy.
The address treats economics not as a side topic, but as a discipline intertwined with how societies use technical capacity.
By honoring the Institute first, he builds a bridge from local pride to a broader argument about prosperity.
System
Technology and economics form a virtuous circle
The central frame links science, engineering, markets, and policy in a cycle where discovery creates growth and growth expands the room for discovery.
Research and invention supply the new tools, processes, and industries that raise what people can produce.
Economic systems can spread useful innovation when incentives, competition, and institutions are aligned.
Prosperity then funds more education, infrastructure, and research, continuing the cycle.
World
Open competition widens the arena
Bernanke defends global competition and freer trade as forces that expand opportunity, while requiring people and institutions to adapt intelligently.
The speech frames openness as a source of productivity, lower barriers, and wider participation in growth.
Competition is not presented as comfortable; it demands movement, learning, and willingness to meet new conditions.
Graduates are asked to think beyond local careers toward a connected economic landscape.
Charge
Use opportunity to make a difference
The closing turn shifts from macroeconomics to obligation: graduates should seek opportunity, but measure their lives by contribution as well as achievement.
Career choices become a practical way to direct talent toward useful problems.
Service is treated as a habit available alongside professional success, not after it.
The final standard is impact: economic freedom matters most when people use it for others.
Transcript
The full transcript is hosted by the original publisher. Commencement Archive links to the source rather than republishing copyrighted text.
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