The gender and racial diversity of the federal government’s economists
Past Event
The lack of diversity in the field of economics – in addition to the lack of progress relative to other STEM fields – is drawing increasing attention in the profession, but nearly all the focus has been on economists at academic institutions, and little attention has been devoted to the diversity of the economists employed by the federal government, including the Federal Reserve System.
On Monday, September 23, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy hosted a conversation on why diversity among economists matters and how to recruit and retain more women and underrepresented minorities.
The event opened with remarks from Janet Yellen, former Chair of the Federal Reserve and current distinguished scholar in residence at Brookings, followed by the debut of a new Hutchins Center report on the current state of diversity among Ph.D. economists employed by the federal government and the Federal Reserve. That was followed by a conversation among those leading efforts to promote diversity in the profession. The discussion explored what we know about diversity within economics, as compared to other STEM fields; highlight strides the Federal Reserve has made in this area and share lessons learned; and make note of what has been and what still may be done to diversity the pathways of underrepresented groups in economics. Panelists included Amanda Bayer of Swarthmore, Judith Chevalier of Yale, Kaye Husbands Fealing of Georgia Tech, Ellen Meade of the Federal Reserve Board, Zina Sutch of the Office of Personnel Management and Susan Collins of the University of Michigan.
Agenda
Introduction
Louise Sheiner
The Robert S. Kerr Senior Fellow - Economic Studies
Policy Director - The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy
Overview
Janet L. Yellen
United States Secretary of the Treasury - United States Department of the Treasury
Former Distinguished Fellow in Residence - Economic Studies
Presentation
David Wessel
Director - The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy
Senior Fellow - Economic Studies
Panel
Amanda Bayer
Professor of Economics - Swarthmore College
Judy Chevalier
Nonresident Senior Fellow - Economic Studies, Center on Regulation and Markets
Kaye Husbands Fealing
Professor and Chair - School of Public Policy, Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, Georgia Tech
Ellen Meade
Senior Adviser - Federal Reserve Board
Zina B. Sutch
Deputy Associate Director of Outreach, Diversity and Inclusion - Office of Personnel Management
Susan M. Collins
President - Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Former Nonresident Senior Fellow - Economic Studies
More Information
To subscribe or manage your subscriptions to our top event topic lists, please visit our event topics page.