Consejos de Gregory Mankiw para los aspirantes a economistas

Estos señalamientos son muy útiles para que empiecen a ponerlos en práctica en la medida en que la situación se presente. Este tipo, en algunos años también será premio nobel.

Yo agregaría uno más:

-Nunca hay que dar por sentado lo que otro economista (profesor, analista, investigador, hacedor de política económica) diga, la economía no es profesar la fe y el pensamiento de otros economistas. No olvidar que en el centro del análisis están las personas y las sociedades, no las cosas.

Quizá, es mejor tratar de pensar y enfocar los fenómenos de la vida económica de manera diferente.

Greg Mankiw

• Sector: Educación
• Profesión: Professor of Economics, Harvard University
• Ubicación: Estados Unidos

Datos personales

I am a professor of economics at Harvard University, where I teach introductory economics (ec 10) among other courses. I use this blog to keep in touch with my current and former students. Teachers and students at other schools, as well as others interested in economic issues, are welcome to use this resource.

Advice for Aspiring Economists

A student from abroad emails the following question:

Do you have some hints for me, how to become a good economist?

Here is some advice for, say, an undergraduate considering a career as an economist.

1. Take as many math and statistics courses as you can stomach.

2. Choose your economics courses from professors who are passionate about the field and care about teaching. Ignore the particular topics covered when choosing courses. All parts of economics can be made interesting, or deadly dull, depending on the instructor.

3. Use your summers to experience economics from different perspectives. Spend one working as a research assistant for a professor, one working in a policy job in government, and one working in the private sector.

4. Read economics for fun in your spare time. To get you started,here is a list of recommended readings.

5. Follow economics news. The best weekly is The Economist. The best daily is the Wall Street Journal.

6. If you are at a research university, attend the economic research seminars at your school about once a week. You may not understand the discussions at first, because they may seem too technical, but you will pick up more than you know, and eventually you’ll be giving the seminar yourself.