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Loretta Mester, president and chief executive officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, shared her story, proposed strategies for boosting diversity in economics, and encouraged women to keep pursuing economics.

Barbara Flowers, economic education coordinator at the St. Louis Fed, gave closing comments and invited participants to share why they study economics.

The event included a review of the research and data on women in economics, panels featuring women from various career fields who majored in economics, time to network and discuss career options, and unique perspectives from leaders in the field.

Panelists discussed a variety of issues related to women in economics. Gail Heyne Hafer, professor of economics at St. Louis Community College-Meramec, moderated.

Panelists from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis discussed “Career Opportunities in the Federal Reserve System.”

Amanda Bayer, professor of economics at Swarthmore College, and a leading researcher in the area of diversity in economics, presented “The Economics Profession’s Unique Problem with Diversity and Your Unique Opportunity.”

James Bullard, president and chief executive officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, gave welcoming remarks and introduced keynote speaker Loretta Mester, president and chief executive officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

The 2018 St. Louis Fed Professors Conference focused on effective teaching, and it also took on the elephant in the economics classroom – the lack of diversity in the profession.

The annual St. Louis Fed Professors Conference provides educators with a venue both to learn about innovative classroom instruction and to share their own ideas.

Supply and demand are among the most fundamental concepts in economics. An understanding of these topics helps explain the economic world in which we live. Understanding the behavior of sellers provides some insight into the concept of supply.