There are many ways to work as an economist, but they're not the ones you hear about in school

As a professor, I've met many economics majors who don't see themselves as being trained for a job in finance, a position at the Fed, or a PhD, but who still want to use their skills as an economist in a meaningful way. <br><br>I work as an expert economist for a big tech company and I am often asked how I ended up there. The truth is that there are many ways to work as an economist and that many of them aren't the ones you hear about in school. <br><br>So, I will share some thoughts on these job paths, as well as some of the things I did to get my job. <br><br>Finally, I conclude with a few observations that I think are relevant for senior students in economics who want to continue to work in economics, but don't want to continue in academia. <br><br>1. How I became an expert economist<br>Before working at Facebook, I was an assistant professor at Princeton, and before that I was a postdoc at Harvard. I have a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago and I graduated from Princeton College in 2013. <br><br>But I've known since I was in college that I didn't want to be a professor. As a result, I've always done everything I could to get my work out of academia and into the "real world" as much as possible. <br><br>I've done this in a few ways. Much of my work has been on topics relevant to businesses and policymakers. My work on the impacts of AI, for example, has been boosted by my connection to folks in Silicon Valley. <br><br>My work on kidney exchange has been boosted by my connections with the supply-side team at UNOS who administers the deceased donor kidney waiting list. <br><br>My work on cardiovascular disease was boosted by my connections with cardiologists who were interested in my work on supply-side interventions in medicine and wanted to collaborate.<br><br>In terms of building those connections, I think one of the reasons I was recruited as an expert economist at Facebook was because of the work I've done to be a public intellectual. <br><br>This means not just promoting my work on social media and to journalists, but also engaging with journalists, being available to provide quotes or insights, and being willing to take a stance on issues where I have relevant expertise. <br><br>Additionally, the field of tech economics is new but rapidly growing. I was one of the first academics to write about Facebook and Google in top journals (~ 2015), and this work has a lot more relevance in the current era than it did when I entered the academy. <br><br>Last, I think a final thing that has helped was that I was always clear to my academic mentors and colleagues that I didn't want to be a professor. <br><br>This means I never had to figure out what I wanted to do after I realized I didn't want to be a professor, and it also meant I didn't face skepticism from those who were uncomfortable with my desire not to be an academic.<br><br>2. Some of the ways to work as an economist outside of academia<br>In addition to the path I've taken (which is now called "tech economics" by some), here are several other paths to be an economist in the real world:<br><br>You can work as a staff economist for a company, either in a generalist position or in a specialist position. Many companies hire PhD economists as staff economists and these roles are often filled directly from PhD programs. <br><br>If you work as a staff economist, you'll be expected to be able to answer a wide array of questions, from market sizing to pricing strategy to regulatory strategy. <br><br>You don't need to do a PhD to be a staff economist, and it's certainly possible to leave a PhD program in economics early to work as a staff economist at a company. <br><br>You can be a consulting economist, either in a traditional consulting firm or in an economics consulting firm. Being a consulting economist is similar to being a staff economist, but you won't be confined to a single client or firm. <br><br>You'll travel and work with a wide array of organizations, from big tech firms to pharmaceutical companies. You'll answer similar questions to those you would answer as a staff economist: market sizing, pricing and revenue optimization, antitrust and trade regulation, etc. <br><br>You can work as an economic expert at a think tank or non-profit. Think tanks are often split along ideological lines, and there are far more right-leaning think tanks than left-leaning. <br><br>At a think tank, you'll be expected to be a generalist who can weigh in on a wide range of topics, from what the optimal corporate tax is and how to end homelessness to the best ways of reducing the budget deficit and controlling the opioid crisis. <br><br>As an academic, you'll specialize and have an extremely deep knowledge of a single area. <br><br>At a think tank, this depth isn't as important; instead, you'll be expected to be a jack-of-all-trades who can supply a wide array of information as quickly as possible. <br><br>You can work in industry (in other words, you can be the person taking all the advice from the consulting economists and company economists). <br><br>There are many industries that are really closely tied to economics, like finance and medicine. I'm sure there are many consulting economists at Oliver Wyman who have advice for companies on how to operate, but it's also possible to be the CEO of a pharmaceutical company or an asset manager at a hedge fund. <br><br>Working in industry means you won't be an economist per se, but your economics degree will help you take on leadership positions and make better decisions. <br><br>You can work in government (in other words, you can be the person taking the advice from the consulting economist and the economists at think tanks). <br><br>As before, this doesn't mean being an economist per se, but there are many government agencies that are closely tied to economics, such as the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Defense, the Department of Labor, etc. <br><br>Working in government means you won't be an economist per se, but your economics degree will help you take on leadership positions and make better decisions. <br><br>Finally, you can work as an "expert economist" at a tech firm. Partly this is a fancy way of saying "consulting economist" except that the domain is more limited. <br><br>It's also a way of saying "applied microeconomist", i.e. an applied microeconomist who is now working in industry. <br><br>Much of this work involves improving company decision-making, by generating data-driven insights tailored to specific questions. <br><br>I work as an expert economist at a big tech firm, and I'm often asked how I ended up there. The truth is that there are many ways to work as an economist and that many of them aren't the ones you hear about in school. <br><br>I'm one of many, many PhD economists at Facebook, and in many ways it's unconventional because I'm not trained as an industrial organization economist. <br><br>But Facebook is recruiting many more academic economists to come and work there, and the work I do is largely around improving business decision-making for the company. <br><br>This can involve partnering with product teams, marketing teams, and business teams to answer important questions they have and help them improve company decisions. <br><br>At Facebook, I focus on generating data-driven insights on big company priorities, and I've worked on a wide array of company questions in my time there. <br><br>Some of this work is "meta" and means thinking about how to improve business processes and decision-making across the company. <br><br>Other work is more specific, and I've worked on questions about how to improve growth and user acquisition, thinking about what we need to do to serve different user groups, and improving our product development processes. <br><br>I've learned a lot in the three years I've been at Facebook, and I'd be happy to discuss the path I took and what my day-to-day work is like.<br><br>These are just a few examples, and there are many many more ways to be an economist. But the most important thing is to find a way to be an economist that feels meaningful to you.<br><br>3. Final thoughts<br>As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I often talk to students about ways of working as an economist that aren't money, academia, government or the PhD path. <br><br>My observation is that many students who want to work as economists but don't want to be professors or work in finance are still largely focused on money, academia, government, or PhDs as their main paths to fulfilling this goal. <br><br>My strongest advice, then, is to be open to a wide range of paths. You might be surprised at what you enjoy the most and what you find most fulfilling. <br><br>I'd be happy to talk more about anything in this post: about the transition I've made from academia to industry, about the paths to becoming an expert economist that I describe, or about why it is so important to cultivate all of your skills and be open to different career paths. <br><br>And finally, I want to end with two observations. <br><br>First, the single biggest thing that has helped me in my transition from academia to the real world has been the genuine relationships I've cultivated along the way. <br><br>I've been fortunate to have a big network of supportive colleagues and mentors, and if you want to be an economist in the real world I would recommend building those relationships as much as you can. <br><br>Second, the biggest challenge of this path is that there is no traditional career advice to follow. But the biggest opportunity is that there is no traditional career advice to follow.