Among Economists, Diversity Is in Short Supply
We need to remedy the underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in a profession too long dominated by White men.
Role models: Philip Jefferson, Lisa Cook, Adriana Kugler
Photographer: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
For as long as the numbers have been available — and perhaps since the dawn of the profession — the ranks of economists in the US have been overstocked with White males. The representation of women has improved somewhat over the past 20 years, but progress has been uneven and inadequate. In at least one important respect — representation of racial and ethnic minorities among new recipients of economics Ph.D.s — there’s been no progress.
That’s bad news. Get economic policy right, and growth is strong, inflation stays under control and everyone is better off. Get it wrong, and as the recent bout of runaway prices demonstrated, everyone is worse off. Economics is as much art as science. A profession that’s representative of the society it seeks to serve, and challenges groupthink by considering a full range of perspectives, would have a better chance of success.