What is the usefulness of studying economics? What are some examples of the career pathways that economics can open up for you?
We’ve gathered this collection of short videos, podcast interviews and articles of economists talking about their work and sharing their career experiences.
Economics ... Understand the world around you
Hear from Australian economists talking about the careers and the skills that economics has taught them, featuring Eliza Owen, Dr Andrew Charlton, Associate Professor Duygu Yengin, Dr Bethany Cooper, Dr Rachel Milte, Professor Gigi Foster, Guilia Specchia and Michelle Meyers.
Credits: This WEN video was curated by WEN Educational Advisor Leith Thompson and produced by Tess Waldron Productions.
Teachers and career advisors, we encourage you to share this video with your students. Subtitles are included.
Danielle Wood talks about her work on economic inequality and the government budget, and her motivation to study economics
Professor Gigi Foster talks about how economics can be applied in many everyday scenarios in life
Dr Alex Heath, who is Head of Economics at the Reserve Bank of Australia, talks about the job skills that will be in high demand in the future
Professor Stefanie Schurer describes how she is using economics to design policies that enable children to fully develop their capabilities
Dr Sonja Kassenboehmer explains how she studies mental health and wellbeing as an economic issue
Anthea Harris describes the analysis undertaken by environmental economists studying climate change
Professor Lisa Cameron explains how she uses ‘field studies’ to figure out how to improve living standards in poor communities
Professor Esther Duflo, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2019, talks about how economics can be used to tackle poverty
Professor Rachel Ong ViforJ illustrates how she is using economics to study housing affordability
Professor Lisa Farrell explains how she uses economics to study risky behaviours such as drinking, smoking and gambling
Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark describes how she is using economics to identify ways to help children overcome disadvantage
Dr Rigissa Megalokonomou shares her work analysing gender biases in the classroom
Kaixin Owyong demonstrates how economists look at various indicators to gain a picture of future economic conditions
Professor Gita Gopinath, who is now Chief Economic of the International Monetary Fund, explains how economists think about trade and the role of exchange rates in the economy (courtesy of Diversifying Economic Quality)
Nicki Hutley talks about the unemployment rate and policies to improve job opportunities
Cherelle Murphy shows how economists analyse the effects government budget on households
Ming Long explains “trickle down” economics and whether giving tax cuts to companies will help lift workers’ wages
Economic journalist Jessica Irvine offers a collective of articles which apply economics to everyday news events
Angela Jackson, Joanne Masters and Danielle Wood discuss government policy on the ABC The Drum
Karen Chester discusses the importance of jobs for personal wellbeing
Dr Leonora Risse explains how economists are looking at personality traits to understand the gender pay gap and gender bias in the workplace
Professor Abigail Payne and Professor Guyonne Kalb offer their advice for choosing a career path
A career in economics ... it’s much more than you think (courtesy of the American Economic Association)
Discover Economics provides resources about careers in economics (courtesy of the UK Royal Economic Society)
You may be inspired to know that Malala Yousafzi– an advocate for females’ right to education and the 2014 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize – completed a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) at Oxford University
This list will be continually added to and refreshed – please continue to check back for more inspiration!