Women in Economics: An Interview with Loretta Mester

“We are identified as women in the field, and yet, we really want to be known as good in the field regardless of whether we’re a woman or a man,” says Loretta Mester, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She talks with Maria Hasenstab, senior media relations specialist at the St. Louis Fed, about being a leader in the male-dominated field of economics. They also discuss Mester’s love of math, how she “lucked” into economics, the “publish or perish” mentality in the field, and her adjunct teaching experience at the Wharton School. “You can have a pretty good life and an interesting career by doing economics.”