A Podcast Series from the St. Louis Fed
About
Less than a third of the students who graduate with bachelor’s degrees in economics are women. That percentage of women further dwindles as careers in economics advance.
In our Women in Economics Podcast Series, we highlight the studies and careers of those making their marks in the field of economics.
Episode 38: Zena Pare and Ella Needler
“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.
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Episode 37: Natallia Gray
“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 our first Women in Economics Symposium.
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Episode 36: Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe
“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.
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Episode 35: Kathleen Navin
“There’s really a lot that you can do in a field with a background in econometrics in forecasting,” says Kathleen Navin, an economist and director at IHS Markit. She talks about the challenges of economic forecasting during unprecedented times, like the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Episode 34: Yvetta Fortova and Maria Arias
“FRED really is a public service,” says Yvetta Fortova, manager of the economic data tool FRED. She and Maria Arias, FRED data engineer, both of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, discuss their personal stories about moving to the U.S., studying economics and working in the field.
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Episode 33: Ana Maria Santacreu
“I think it’s important for kids, young kids in general, to study economics because economics is in our everyday life,” says Ana Maria Santacreu, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. She talks about her research in international trade and economic growth.
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Episode 32: Marie Mora and Lea-Rachel Kosnik
“As economists, a lot of the research that we do in an academic environment affects policy,” says Marie Mora, associate provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Mora and Lea-Rachel Kosnik, UMSL economics professor, talk about their experiences in the field of economics and their roles at the university. Also, UMSL students discuss why they study economics.
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Episode 31: Mackenzie Alston
“On one hand it’s nice to be the first of something … but on the other hand, it's, like, wow, it’s 2019. How has this happened?” says Mackenzie Alston, an assistant professor at Florida State University and the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in economics from Texas A&M University.
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Episode 30: Paula Tkac
“The more different people we bring into the profession to ask different questions, the more we’re going to learn,” says Paula Tkac, senior vice president and associate research director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
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Episode 29: Daria Sevastianova
"This is the one science that helps to explain my world and my experience the most,” says Daria Sevastianova, associate professor of economics at the University of Southern Indiana. She talks about being raised in Eastern Europe, her graduate studies in the economics of conflict and how she mentors the next generation of economists. Also, students in USI’s Women in Economics Club discuss why they study economics.
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Episode 28: Oksana Leukhina
“One reason why the U.S. is still a world leader in terms of academic research is because we bring together so many people from all over the world to come to our graduate schools,” says Oksana Leukhina, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
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Episode 27: Zanny Minton Beddoes
“My advice to anyone is just grab every opportunity you can,” says Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist. She talks about serving as the first female leader of the international news and business publication.
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Episode 26: Tisha Emerson
“Economics is not synonymous with finance; we can talk about so many interesting topics, whether it be environmental issues and climate change,” says Tisha Emerson, professor of economics at Baylor University. She discusses her research on the gender gap in economics.
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Episode 25: Beatrice Weder di Mauro
“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.
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Episode 24: Anna Opoku-Agyeman and Fanta Traore
“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.
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Episode 23: Lucia Foster
“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.
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Episode 22: Martha Olney
“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.
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Episode 21: Carmen Reinhart
“I was born in a different country, and that colored my life experience,” says Carmen Reinhart, Harvard professor, about her decision to study international economics. She discusses the male-dominated field of finance and explains how she approaches economics with a detective’s frame of mind.
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Episode 20: Esther George
“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.
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Episode 19: Jane Ihrig
“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.
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Episode 18: Kathleen Hays
“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.
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Episode 17: Barb Flowers
“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.
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Episode 16: Amanda Bayer
Amanda Bayer is 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.”
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Episode 15: David Wilcox
“Economics is relevant and it's important, and it's much too important to be left to one segment of the population. And historically, the segment has been white privileged males,” says David Wilcox, then-director of the research and statistics division of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors. He talks about his research on the unequal distribution of economic education, the need to change econ classrooms and how it is the responsibility of every member of the economics profession to work toward diversifying the field.
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Episode 14: Lisa Cook
“People had a hard time taking me seriously, because I'm sure they didn't know any African-Americans who were economists,” says Lisa Cook, associate professor of economics and international relations at Michigan State University. She talks about discovering economics while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, how she overcame biases she faced as a woman and as an African-American, and her research showing GDP could be higher if more women and African-Americans were involved at the beginning of the innovative process.
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Episode 13: Kate Warne
“I come from a family of economists. So, of course, I didn’t want to go into economics,” says Kate Warne, a principal and investment strategist at Edward Jones. She talks about why we need women in finance, policy and other fields related to economics.
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Episode 12: Louise Sheiner
“I never even considered taking an economics class, because I thought it was business. I thought it was about making money,” says Louise Sheiner, the Robert S. Kerr senior fellow in economic studies and policy director for the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at the Brookings Institution. She talks about how she stumbled into economics after studying biology, her work in health economics and why she thinks high school debate could spark girls’ interest in econ.
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Episode 11: Lael Brainard
“It's still a very important challenge to get more women and more minorities into the economics profession,” says Lael Brainard, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She talks about women in economics at the international level, her time as the U.S. representative to the G20, her focus on financial stability and more.
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View photos of Brainard's visit to the St. Louis Fed, April 3, 2019.
Episode 10: Una Osili
“There were times when you were the only woman in the room, and you had to bring your self-confidence, your belief in yourself, and the desire for excellence in your pursuits,” says Una Osili, associate dean and professor at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. She talks about the intersection of economics and philanthropy, the state of women in economics internationally and the need for more people of color in the field.
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Episode 9: Gail Heyne Hafer
“I think students need to be doing economics, so it’s not me telling them stories or showing them graphs,” says Gail Heyne Hafer, an economics professor at St. Louis Community College-Meramec and author of two children’s books about economics. She shares her stories of how students and teaching have changed during her 30 years of teaching economics.
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Episode 8: Diane Swonk
“I may be dyslexic and I can't read very well. I flip numbers, but I can do calculus in my head,” says Diane Swonk, chief economist and managing director at accounting firm Grant Thornton, as she discusses how her learning disability became a strength. She also discusses how growing up during the economic “demise” of Detroit in the 1970s and 1980s helped show her how economics could have made a difference.
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Episode 7: Fenaba Addo
“There are a growing number of communities within economics for young women who may feel isolated or questioning whether or not this is a path that they want to pursue,” says Fenaba Addo, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a visiting scholar at the St. Louis Fed’s Center for Household Financial Stability. She talks about finding her voice as the only black woman in most of her economics courses on her way to her bachelor’s and graduate degrees.
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Episode 6: Loretta Mester
“We are identified as women in the field, and yet, we really want to be known as good in the field regardless of whether we’re a woman or a man,” says Loretta Mester, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She talks about being a leader in the male-dominated field of economics, her love of math and how she “lucked into economics.”
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Episode 5: Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria
“We need to fix the issue of girls thinking that they cannot study something with math,” says Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, a research economist at the St. Louis Fed. She talks about the economic theory of matching and how it applies to finding a spouse or partner, why we need more women in macroeconomics and how we should encourage girls to pursue economics and other fields involving math.
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Episode 4: Susan Feigenbaum
“I firmly believe that there is more ‘we’ and less ‘me’ among women, which leads to productive teamsmanship and the nurturing of each other and the next generation of economists, whether male or female,” says Susan Feigenbaum. Feigenbaum is a curators’ distinguished teaching professor in the department of economics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
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Episode 3: Claudia Sahm
“Maybe we can do better than we have,” on diversity in economics, says Claudia Sahm, the section chief for consumer and community development at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Despite groups and newsletters dedicated to women, minorities and the LGBT community, Sahm said there is room for improvement in the field.
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Episode 2: Ellen Zentner
“I realized that keeping your head down and working hard was not going to get you that far, because you need to get recognized for that,” says Ellen Zentner, chief economist at Morgan Stanley. This “aha” moment led Zentner to actively manage her career, and the result was advancement and success. Zentner went from the University of Colorado to the state of Texas and finally to Wall Street.
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Episode 1: Mary Daly
“There’s no way that I would have been able to find my way without some help,” says Mary Daly. She shares her story of how she went from high school dropout to research director at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Daly credits a counselor, a professor, and even former Fed chair Janet Yellen for aiding in her success.
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The St. Louis Fed continues to encourage women and underrepresented minorities to pursue economics through the Women in Economics Podcast Series and the Women in Economics Symposium.