Women in Economics

“Having it all is not having it all at once,” says Nancy Rose, the Charles P. Kindleberger professor of applied economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She discusses how her interest in public policy led to a career in economics, and how she handles “life-work tension.”

“I think it is critical that we teach basic economics to kids and then build on it year after year, just like we would with any other discipline,” says Mary Suiter, assistant vice president and economic education officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

"Tenemos una perspectiva y necesitamos ponerla sobre la mesa", dice Susan Pozo, directora del programa de Estudios Globales e Internacionales y profesora de economía en la Universidad de Western Michigan. Comenta Suzan Pozo en su conversación con Andrea Cáceres-Santamaría, especialista senior en educación económica del Banco de la Reserva Federal de San Luis, sobre su trabajo en Uruguay, España y Estados Unidos, y su investigación sobre la inmigración.

“We have a perspective, and we need to bring that to the table,” says Susan Pozo, director of the Global and International Studies program and professor of economics at Western Michigan University. She discusses her work in Uruguay, Spain and the United States and her research on immigration.

“I didn’t see #MeToo coming, but it came, and it’s taking a while still to come for economics, but it is,” says Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan’s Ford School. She talks about her research on women’s labor market experiences and how her teaching style has changed in 2020.

“Don’t be shy about giving an opinion,” says Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and syndicated columnist. She talks about her research on the federal budget, taxation and financial privacy, and using data visualization to educate the public.

“The COVID outbreak has had very differential effects for different geographies and different parts of the country, different metro areas, as well as for different cohorts of people in the economy,” says Beverly Hirtle, executive vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“I really saw how economics can be useful in your everyday life and how much those basic principles kind of run the world in some ways,” says Zena Pare, an intern with the St. Louis Fed. She joins fellow intern Ella Needler as they discuss studying and working in economics.

“What my students learned that day besides economics and things that were discussed at the symposium, is that … you may feel small and insignificant at times, and maybe even invisible, but your actions do matter,” says Natallia Gray, associate professor at Southeast Missouri State University. Gray and her students inspired the first Women in Economics Symposium at the St. Louis Fed.

“This profession is what we make it … and, therefore, it's going to take all of us to be responsible to make it a better profession,” says Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe, founder and president of the Women’s Institute for Science, Equity and Race, or WISER.