Women in Economics

“What distinguishes us as economists from some other sciences is that there is a real world out there which is changing day by day and it’s very important that the right concepts are actually applied in the real world,” says Beatrice Weder di Mauro, Centre for Economic Policy Research president.

“We want to get to a point where it’s normal for underrepresented minority women to succeed at a higher level within these kind of careers,” says Anna Opoku-Agyeman. She and Fanta Traore discuss why they co-founded the Sadie Collective, which aims to cultivate a community of black women in economics, finance and other quantitatively demanding fields.

“In order to understand the portraits that we’re providing to the American people, we need to understand the viewpoints of the American people. And that means a diverse view of the American people,” says Lucia Foster, chief economist at the U.S. Census Bureau and chief of the Center for Economic Studies.

“I think we're on the precipice of change partly because there's increasing awareness of this issue within economics,” says Martha Olney, University of California Berkeley professor. She talks about why she mentors and how former Berkeley undergrad Alice Wu’s thesis took the profession by storm.

Carmen Reinhart, Harvard professor studying international economics, discusses the male-dominated field of finance and her detective-like approach to economics. The podcast covers her experiences as a prominent woman in economics, her bestselling book, her problem-solving methods, advice for women in the field, mentorship programs, collaboration, education, and perseverance in economics.

“You can't work for the central bank without understanding how the principles of economics come to bear on everything we do,” says Esther George, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. George discusses her background in banking, growing up in rural Missouri and how she expanded the role of women at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

“I’ve really enjoyed feeling like I’m making an impact at an historical time in the Federal Reserve System,” says Jane Ihrig, associate director of the monetary affairs division at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Ihrig discusses her education, her work in the economics field and her monetary policy work on the Council of Economic Advisers during the 2008 financial crisis.

“What I'm trying to do is add value … really try to get to understand what someone's thinking, why they're doing what they're doing, where they're heading next,” says Kathleen Hays, the global, economics and policy editor for Bloomberg Television and Radio, about her economics education and its role in her prestigious business reporting career. She also discusses business and journalism changes over her three decades in the reporting field—and whom she’d like to interview next.

“Economics is a good field of study for learning about how to manage your life,” says Barbara Flowers, economic education coordinator at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She talks about her experience as a nontraditional student and why she is passionate about creating economics curriculum for minority students.

Amanda Bayer is hopeful and optimistic about increasing diversity in the field of economics. “There’s a lot of attention being given to these issues from various points within the profession now, including at the highest levels and the leadership of the AEA, the American Economic Association, but also coming from the Federal Reserve System,” Bayer says in this Women in Economics podcast. “There is enough action coming from enough quarters that we have the potential to change the culture of our profession.”