In 9th grade, my high school curriculum required me to choose an additional subject besides Languages, Math, Science and Social Science, I picked Economics. This was in the 90s, around the time when the Indian Economy was opening up to foreign investments and international trade in the aftermath of the 1992 balance of payments crises and subsequent currency devaluations. I took to Economics as soon as I got exposed to it. My interest was fuelled further by the fact that I had good Economics teachers in school. Also, during those times, economic policy was talked about very often in the media and the news and I was growing up in a family where, after the age of 13, reading at least two newspapers daily (one of which was Economic Times) and having discussions about current affairs over dinner was a way of life.

I went to Sophia College, University of Mumbai for undergraduate studies in Economics and then went on to acquire graduate degrees in Economics from the Universities of Virginia and Nottingham.

The years spent in graduate school and immediately after are the formative years of one’s career as an Economist. The training is very rigorous which is good. I believe that a strong and broad foundation in graduate level Economic Theory and Econometric Methods is absolutely necessary. Once the methods and theories become second nature to you and come to you instinctively, it frees up your brain to focus on applying them creatively, which is essentially what an Economist’s job is (or should be in the ideal world!).

I’m trained as an empirical Applied Microeconomist with some understanding of Applied Econometrics. In the past I’ve consulted with the World Bank for a couple of summers. Now, I work in the area of Economics of Education and empirical evaluation of education at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. My work involves using economic and econometric models to evaluate educators and educational institutions and then communicating findings to educational policy makers. I also participate with colleagues in conducting research to develop better economic methods and models for educational evaluation.

What do I enjoy about being an Economist? Economics to me is not just a career but a unique way of thinking and looking at the world. When I walk down the street and see McDonalds and Burger King, across the street from each other, I think of duopolies and when I get credit card offers from 4 banks simultaneously, I think of oligopolistic competition. When I buy coupons online, I think of coupon clubs and when I see advertisements on Facebook, I think of the economic theory behind internet-advertising. When I go to a speed dating event, I think of search and matching models and when I see a working Mom with her child, I think of the shadow price of her time. When I see a couple arguing over who will cook dinner tonight, I think of household bargaining. When someone smells bad on the bus, I think of externalities. When I visit a National Park, I think of public goods. Every time my income changes, I spend half an hour on a Saturday morning trying to figure out what marginal tax rate I face and what my new budget constraint is. I usually laugh when a politician talks about how the US (and other developed countries) can get back jobs lost to outsourcing and automation. I nod vigorously when, on television, the American treasury secretary once again (for the nth time) tries to explain to the American senators that we cannot increase spending on all the programs simultaneously; CHOICES HAVE TO BE MADE BECAUSE RESOURCES ARE SCARCE!

This is what is fun about being an Economist! Did my career as an Economist turn out to be as I expected? I don’t know. Was it a difficult career choice? Yes. If I had to live life again, would I opt to be trained as an Economist once again? YES ABSOLUTELY!

-- Rachna Maheshwari (Works in the area of Economics of Education and empirical evaluation of education at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA)