By Laura Harvey
Economics has a diversity problem. This is not news; there has been substantial discussion across the discipline over the lack of representation of Women and BAME individuals across both academia and top private sector careers. It has sparked numerous initiatives tasked with highlighting and tackling the issues that exist in the field. Examples include the introduction of Women’s Mentoring Retreats, the Black Economists Network, and the Women in Economics campaign by CEPR and UBS. This blog introduces the Royal Economic Society’s approach to improving diversity: the Discover Economics campaign.
First, and most importantly, this isn’t an issue that can be simply side-lined. The consequences of insufficient diversity are substantial. It is arguably a symptom of direct or indirect forms of discrimination, which in itself is appalling. Yet it can also impair decision-making and policy recommendation. This is perhaps most evident when we look at the UK’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), a group which so elegantly characterises homogeneity. The MPC are an independent body, tasked with setting interest rates in the UK. The committee is made of 9 members who are predominately white men. The exception is the solitary female member: Silvana Tenreyro. The decisions made by this committee affect everyone in the country; they can have significant well-being effects for every household. Therefore, it is not unreasonable to expect that such a group, with such importance and influence on everyday lives, should represent the society for which they are making their decisions? This goes beyond a concern over equity. Evidence suggests that male and female economists think differently about policy (e.g. May et al. 2018). For example, male and female economists think differently on issues relating to labour markets, public policy and fairness; all of which can influence the general economic climate.
This understanding of decision-making undoubtedly extends my argument to a justification for equal representation across ALL professional bodies: Government committees, company boards and indeed any decision-making arena tasked with determining outcomes which have significant impacts on people. However, it goes beyond a complaint over a glass ceiling. The study of Economics, a discipline which generates vibrant career aspirations and feeds into these positions, arguably is contributing to the problem. Nationally, the majority of undergraduate students in Economics are male and privately educated. The majority have studied Economics at A-level (Crawford et al. 2018), even though to study at University such qualification is often not a requirement. This matters. The students of today are the researchers, policymakers and politicians of the future. To generate equality in opportunity, student cohorts therefore should also represent society as a whole.
What therefore is putting off some young people from studying economics? Perhaps the UCAS website offers an explanation in its description of economics?: “Understanding the world’s most powerful force: money”. Not only is this incorrect, it is perpetuating a false narrative of what economists actually do. The discipline is much more than money, a message that needs communicating more effectively to the wider public. Suppose the interdisciplinary nature of behavioural and experimental economics was discussed more? Suppose there was focus on the relevance to public policy, education, health or the environment? Such powerful messages could inspire these young people to become tomorrow’s economists.
It’s for these reasons that the Royal Economic Society’s Discover Economics is so important. With the target of attracting underrepresented groups into economics, the campaign has already gathered support from a huge range of influential groups such as the Bank of England, the Government Economic Service (GES) and the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). The campaign will tackle perception issues around what economics is. Over the three-year campaign, they will work with universities and employers to deliver a number of outreach activities and to promote routes into economics in order to attract the best and brightest students into the field. They will develop their online presence to demonstrate the diversity of careers and interests which Economics covers. It will become an invaluable source for prospective economists. They will be working to increase the visibility of role models who can relate to all young people, so that everyone can see himself or herself as a future economist.
For more information, check out their website and follow them on twitter. We all need to work together to improve diversity outcomes across Economics.
References:
Crawford, C, N M Davies and S Smith (2018), “Why do so few women study economics? Evidence from England”.
May, A M, D Kucera and M G McGarvey (2018), “Mind the Gap: Differing perspectives of men and women economists may affect policy outcomes”, Finance & Development 55(2).