WHEN people think of economics they think of business or finance, and they think of economists as men in grey suits.

Economics has an image problem which leads to lack of diversity in economists which has consequences for the business world and society.

Economists analyse human decisions in every part of our lives ranging from matching organ donors to patients to designing auctions at Google.

Economics play a key role in addressing social, global, technological and environmental

issues.

The misleading image of economics as just a “study of money” has led to a sustained decline in women in economics.

While around one-half of Year 12 economics students were female 25 years ago, only about one-third of economics students were female in 2016. At Australian universities, about one third of undergraduate economics students are women and less than 10 per cent of economics professors are women in the Group of 8 Universities.

Moreover, high school economics is offered mostly in private and boys’ schools which restricts the gender and socio-economic background of future economists.

But economic analysis is fundamental in the key decisions that affect business and public policy.

media_camera Associate Professor Duygu Yengin is Deputy Head of the School of Economics, University of Adelaide.

Lack of diversity of economists impacts business world in three main ways.

First, considering the experience of the wider economy leads to better decisions. About half of the customer base for most businesses are women. Tax and welfare policies, finance, marketing and sales, government, and business decisions affect women and men differently.

Female economists are more likely to analyse the effects of public and private sector decisions on women.

These analyses in turn will lead to more effective and profitable business and policy decisions.

Second, there is ample data supporting the business case of diversity. Research shows that having a range of perspectives often result in increased profitability and sales, higher level of creativity and innovation, and increased productivity. For instance, compared to individual decision makers, all-male teams make better business decisions 58 per cent of the time, while gender diverse teams do so 73 per cent of the time.

Diverse teams of economists likewise can come up with more creative solutions to deal with the changing demands of global economies.

Third, even though the models and methods economists use are gender-neutral, the types of questions they are interested in analysing are not. Having more female economists will lead to a wider range of economic issues to be addressed.

Besides being the ethical choice, closing the gender gap in economics benefits society even more directly.

Female economists give greater emphasis to protecting the environment, reduction of income inequality, improving labour standards and more equitable health policy.

Last couple of years have seen important steps to increase women’s participation in economics such as the launch of the Women in Economics Network (WEN) in 2017 and university-based activities such as the upcoming panel discussion on gender equity in economics at the University of Adelaide next Tuesday, October 9.

Associate Professor Duygu Yengin is Deputy Head of the School of Economics, University of Adelaide.