Economist

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GUEST OBSERVATIONS
What is economics all about? Ask a person in the street and the most likely answer will be along the lines of “economics is about money, earning money, something similar to business and finance”. But economics is more than just the study of money – there is a whole other side of economics that many people have never thought of. It is time we spread this message to attract more students, especially women and those from minority backgrounds, into economics.
A lack of diversity among economists has serious consequences for society. A survey of US economists found that the gender mix of economists could affect the nature of policy advice they provide.
In Australia, more than half of university economics students are in the top quarter of socio-economic status, with only about 10% in the bottom quarter. The low proportion of women, minorities and students from low socioeconomic backgrounds in the field of economics affects social problems we should all care about.
Economics can help patients find the right kidney donors or match foster children with the most suitable parents. When you do a Google search or use wireless internet, have you ever thought of the integral part that auction theory, a subfield of economics, plays in today’s digital age?
What about the most important issues facing humanity today? Media articles portray an inaccurate picture when they say that young people care more about social issues and the environment than about the economy. Without economics, none of these social and environmental issues can be tackled effectively.
Various specialisations of economics (including public, political, environmental, health, labour, cultural, social welfare, gender and development economics) analyse social issues and design testable solutions and policies for major problems of our times. This includes issues such as climate change, inequality, poverty and immigration.
Society has evolved into an economy. This means we need economic literacy to remain politically and socially informed. The problem begins with getting students into the economics pipeline.
How does an image problem affect the pipeline?
The widespread misconception that economics is essentially business and commerce creates a major hurdle to attracting students into economics. Since high schools introduced business studies in 1991, enrolments in Year 12 economics have fallen by almost 70%.
The lack of female participation in high school economics is equally stark. A 2016 study for the Reserve Bank found only about one-third of Year 12 economics students were female in 2016, down from around half 25 years ago. At Australian universities, women account for between 25% and 45% of undergraduate economics students.
Low female participation in economics at school flows on to a lack of women in economics, especially in academia. Less than 10% of economics professors at Group of Eight universities are women.
Too few high schools teach economics. Even when it is taught, its importance in solving social issues is neglected. Most high school students don’t get to know what an economist actually does and what the potential of economics can truly be.
Moreover, economics is offered mostly in private and boys’ schools. That helps explain why mostly students from a certain gender and socioeconomic background choose it as their career. This contributes to the lack of diversity in economic leadership and the related consequences for public policy and business decisions.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222915/original/file-20180613-153668-9emvuo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222915/original/file-20180613-153668-9emvuo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
Old-school economics: President George W. Bush meets in January 2003 with economists whose lack of diversity is striking. <a class="source" href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030121-1" target="_blank">Paul Morse/White House Archives</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">CC BY</a>
Another misconception about economics is that it is a difficult and mathematical subject, which women cannot succeed in or would not enjoy studying. In any case, there is no evidence that women are worse than men in mathematical subjects, including economics. On the contrary, several studies document the stereotype threat to the performance of women in these subjects.
Finally, the ambiguity of career paths for economics graduates is an important factor in the pipeline problem. If you study law, you become a lawyer. If you study medicine, you become a doctor. What occupation do you get as a graduate of economics?
Most young people are not able to answer this question. Having a clear idea of job prospects is crucial for students, especially those from certain demographic groups, when choosing a university degree.
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222917/original/file-20180613-153660-dobd7t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222917/original/file-20180613-153660-dobd7t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""></a>
 Author provided
How can we fix economics’ image problem?
Unlike declining enrolments in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, maths), the decline in economics enrolments, especially by women, has received little public attention. The remedy probably starts with expanding the number of high schools that teach economics. The curriculum also needs to be redesigned to highlight the relevance of economics to our daily lives and, more broadly, for resolving social problems.
Universities can also do a lot more. Initiatives that can help include organising high school events where speakers talk about social issues through an economics lens, choosing female speakers for these events, and preparing career guides that explain the wide range of paths that economists can follow.
Recently, steps have been taken to increase women’s participation in economics both at universities, such as the Women in Economics program at the University of Adelaide and Women in Economics Hackathon at the University of Queensland, and nationwide (Women in Economics Network). These initiatives promise the start of a new era for the pipeline problem of women in economics in Australia.
Yet a lot remains to be done to resolve the image problem of economics. Portraying a more accurate and inclusive image of economics in the media would be an effective step in this direction.
Duygu Yengin, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Adelaide
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/secret-mens-business-why-the-public-image-of-economics-is-bad-news-for-all-of-us-98145" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

Why the public image of economics is bad news for all of us

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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/74698/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1">GUEST OBSERVER
If I ask you to picture an economist, what’s the first image that comes to your mind?
I’m guessing it’s a man, probably with grey hair, a suit and a certain air of authority. And that’s not surprising: that is pretty much the public face of economics in Australia.
Very few women have reached the most senior ranks of the profession. Australia has never had a woman federal treasurer or Treasury secretary and only one women has been elevated to the head of a major economic agency at the Commonwealth level (Jane Halton, Department of Finance). We have never had a female chief economist at a Big Four bank, and very few major think tanks have been run by women.
The dearth of women in leadership positions raises a red flag for the quality of Australia’s economic decision-making. Too many “like” individuals reduces the range of perspectives informing decisions. It also means wasted talent: if you bench half your potential team then the one that takes to the field is probably not your strongest.
Those in senior roles now recognise the problem. Reserve Bank head Philip Lowe, Labor Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen and the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and former Treasury head Martin Parkinson are all persuasive advocates for improving the gender balance in economic leadership roles.
Where are things going wrong?
In Australia, like many other nations, the economics profession has a “leaky pipeline”: women’s participation starts off strong but progressively falls through the ranks.
At university, women account for between 35% and 45% of undergraduate economics students. They progress through to honours-level economics at a similar rate to males.
At our most significant economic agencies – Treasury and the RBA – about 40% to 50% of the staff are women. But they account for only around one third of the senior management positions. At the very top of Treasury, there are now two women (Maryanne Mrakovcic and Meghan Quinn) among the six secretary and deputy secretary positions. At the RBA there are two (Michele Bullock and Luci Ellis) in the top seven.
The leakage is even starker in academia where women make up half of research/teaching fellow positions in economics departments, just over a quarter of senior lecturers, but only 15% of associate professors and professors. And at the prestigious Group of 8 Universities, fewer than 10% of economics professors are women.
When it comes to the media, the pipeline nearly dries up. The 2016 Women for Media Report showed that of the people cited as “analyst” or “economist” in major Australian newspapers, just 9% were women. This was lower than the percentage of women cited with the position of CEO or Chair. My own survey of newspaper opinion pages showed that only 12% of opinion pieces in the Australian Financial Review over six months of last year were written by women.
But perhaps most concerning for the economics profession is we may now also have a problem at the source: the share of female enrolments at high school and university is falling.
In NSW, our analysis of data from the NSW Education Standards Authority found the number of HSC economic enrolments has fallen 16% in the past five years – and among female students the fall was 21%. This pattern is repeated in other states.
At universities, our preliminary analysis of student enrolment data from Commonwealth Department of Education and Training suggests the share of females enrolled in economics courses fell from 43% in 2001 to 39% in 2015.
In other words, the economics profession’s “women problem” is now stymieing its ability to attract the next generation.
Why has economics fallen out of fashion with younger women?
Economics teacher at Burwood Girl’s High School, Leith Thompson, has received a scholarship from the Reserve Bank to study this question. She says a number of misconceptions about economics have contributed. “There is a perception that economics is about maths and theory, and that you only study economics if you want a career in finance.”
And teaching methods don’t always help. “Students are not necessarily taught how economics applies to the bigger picture societal issues they are interested in,” she says.
As economics enrolments fall, subjects with more obvious career paths such as Business Studies and Legal Studies have been growing strongly.
The Economic Society of Australia has recently established a Women in Economics Network to tackle these pipeline problems for economics. It aims to broaden people’s view of economists and create role models for the next generation of talented young women. So that just maybe, when your daughter pictures an economist, the first image that comes to her mind might be a woman.
Danielle Wood is a Fellow at the Grattan Institute and author for The Conversation. She can be contacted <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/danielle-wood-147710" target="_blank">here</a>.
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