Few Cornellians sit in class and pass the time before their professors begin lecturing by reading The Economist. Fewer reach for each weekly edition at the Cornell Store and think, “I could learn a lot about this cover, a lot about geopolitics and energy.” But this is exactly what Chief Energy Economist for Deutsche Bank, Adam E. Sieminski ’71, does. Yesterday, Sieminski came back to his alma mater to give a lecture co-sponsored by the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, titled “What We Can Learn About Energy and Geopolitics from the Cover of The Economist Magazine.”

Sieminski has always enjoyed the covers of The Economist. “The economist has some of the most interesting and provocative covers of any [publication] in journalism, and I always had it in mind that some of those covers would be very interesting and instructive in terms of what they did right and what they did wrong,” Sieminski said. “If I could start my career over again I think I would like to be on the committee that is charge of The Economist covers.”The Economist: The chief energy economist of Deutsche Bank spoke yesterday.

The lecture was held in the Plant Sciences building and was attended by about 100 students and faculty. Some students were prompted to attend the lecture to fulfill a major requirement, like public administration major Shanshan Zhang ‘11. “Each week we have a speaker from a nonprofit or a governmental organization. These speakers give us insights into the fields that they work in. For one thing it can broaden our horizons, and for the other thing, they provide us with more info about our jobs and what it is like to work in different areas,” said Zhang.

Sieminski addressed the audience of mostly public affairs and public administration students by saying, “You won’t have the foggiest idea of what you will be doing in 20 years, but don’t let it bother you.” This lecture was Sieminski’s first to an entirely Cornell audience since he graduated with his masters of public administration.

Sieminski’s lecture used various covers from The Economist to elaborate on issues in the global economy, like global production and its effect on the amount of oil consumed. Sieminski pointed out that oil prices tend to follow the same trends as GDP, and that when global production is high to meet high demand, oil prices skyrocket. However, now that global inventory is high, demand is not nearly as high, and therefore oil prices are expected to drop and the economy forecasted to rebound. Sieminski warned, “GDP values have increased, so it looks like we are having a speedy recovery. I still think that we might see more of a W-shaped recovery curve, with economic headwinds coming soon.”

He assured audience members that the world is not running out of oil — it is the demand for oil, not the supply, that has peaked. However, he said that as students of public administration and of public affairs, the attendees would be dealing with global warming and the politics surrounding it and oil demands for the rest of their careers.

Sieminski prescribed a series of solutions to aid the oil and economic issues facing the world today: increase energy efficiency, utilize all possible sources of fuel, encourage trade and investment, avoid easy solutions that ultimately worsen the problems they intend to alleviate, establish global standards for measuring carbon and enhance science and technology.

Thomas O’Toole, executive director for Professional Development and Student Programs for the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, said, “We try to address the interests of all students in the program, [with this lecture], we wanted to give the students a private-sector perspective on energy.”

When asked what he had hoped students would get out of the lecture, O’Toole said, “Two things: the private sector perspective on energy policy and as a Cornell alum, as an MPA alum, how [Sieminski] broke into a field that is of increasing relevance for our students both, domestic and international. I think it is important that they understand the private sector perspective because our program trains people to work on the divide between the public and private sector and to increase understanding.”