Marcelo Guzman Aguirre

2026
Economics. Spanish. Data Science.

As he received the Nobel Prize in Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa masterfully affirmed that “reading changed dreams into life and life into dreams,” thus describing the often-indescribable feelings that books produce, but, more specifically, the passion they instigate, the dreams they cultivate, and the interests they spark. Amused by Clarissa Dalloway’s wanderings around the affluent Westminster neighborhood and thrilled by Robinson Crusoe’s “self-made” man status, my love for literature morphed into cautious attention to history, politics and, above all, economics. The discovery of the resolutely rational economic man–homo economicus–as portrayed through Woolf and Defoe’s prose opened a window of opportunities. Marginalism, supply, and demand suddenly became words I was always searching for. Exhilarated by how the theories mirror reality, I was even more invigorated by when they did not.

The demand for a Veblen good–a type of luxury good–increases as its price increases, essentially contradicting the law of demand after which countless economic models are constructed around, given the goods’ scarcity and appeal as a status symbol. Yet, what does exclusivity entail in the 21st Century? What does exclusivity entail within design? Through this class, I aspire to formulate an initial answer to the aforementioned queries, to question exclusivity’s role in shaping American economy, society, and popular culture.

Born and raised in Lima, Peru, I am pursuing a double degree in Economics and Spanish.