It’s lonely at the top for women economists on Wall Street. Among the nearly two dozen financial institutions designated by the Federal Reserve as primary dealers and that employ a chief US economist or equivalent, only Morgan Stanley currently has a woman, Ellen Zentner, in that job. Eighteen months ago, at least three women held such roles.
Primary dealers have prestige among financial firms, because they help the Fed implement monetary policy. One reason for the gender disparity is that the pipeline of women aspiring to be a chief economist is smaller than that for men. But other issues—from bias to balancing family with the job’s grueling travel schedule—are also at play, according to women who are or have been economists at Wall Street firms.
The result is a shortfall of women in a position crucial to setting market expectations ahead of key economic reports, steering discourse on subjects such as inflation and the labor market, and ultimately shaping investors’ and the public’s views on the path of the US economy.
A bank’s chief US economist not only needs a deep understanding of the economy but must also play a high-profile role representing the institution with clients and polishing its image through media interviews and public-speaking engagements.
“You need different perspectives. You need different lived experiences,” says Dana Peterson, who’s now chief economist at the Conference Board after nearly two decades at Citigroup Inc. “You really need to understand what’s going on in the full population, and I think having women in these roles helps bring to light different aspects.”
One of the clearest obstacles to promoting more women to these roles is that not enough seek them out. In any given year more men than women earn master’s degrees in economics—a common credential for Wall Street economists. The share of women earning these degrees has held near 40% for the last two decades. But women with advanced degrees in economics often choose concentrations such as labor markets and education, rather than macroeconomics and finance.
The bank mergers of the 1990s, which resulted in job cuts within economics departments, also squeezed the talent pipeline. “It took out a generation of women who should have been, could have been, chief economist,” says Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG LLP. She’d held that role at Bank One Corp., one of the largest banks in the US before JPMorgan Chase & Co. acquired it in 2004. “They were just coming up in the ranks.”
Morgan Stanley’s Zentner pointed out in a 2018 podcast for the St. Louis Fed that attrition is higher among women as they move up the ranks. Zentner, who became chief US economist in 2015, declined to comment for this story. At the end of 2021, Michelle Meyer left her position as head of US economics at Bank of America Corp. for a similar position at Mastercard Economics Institute. Her role was filled by Michael Gapen, formerly chief US economist at Barclays Plc. Bank of America declined to comment on its hiring practices. And last month, Aneta Markowska, who was chief financial economist at Jefferies LLC and led its US economics team, left for the private investment firm Moore Capital Management. Jefferies declined to comment on whether it has filled the position.
At financial firms globally, women occupy key economic roles. Outside the US, for instance, Beata Caranci is chief economist for Canadian lender TD Bank Group. And at HSBC Holdings Plc, Janet Henry is the global chief economist. Women also hold other economics positions at Wall Street banks, including Wells Fargo & Co. and BNP Paribas SA.
Some of the women who spoke to Bloomberg News for this story pointed to the challenge of being treated differently than their male peers, whether by colleagues or clients. “When I would show up to do a speech with a banker, they would ask me if I was there to take notes,” says Swonk, recalling experiences from earlier in her career. “And then when they found out I was a speaker, the ways they would introduce me were just—I thought like I was supposed to stand up and do a strip tease. And it was horrible.”
The very nature of being a chief US economist at a big bank also keeps some women from reaching for it in the first place. The job is what the well-known economist Claudia Goldin calls “greedy” work, where the higher pay and broader responsibility often come with long hours and loss of weekends. Chief US economists at big banks may travel 10 weeks or more a year to attend client meetings, give speeches and attend conferences in the US, Europe and Asia.
While some banks have allowed their economists to maintain a hybrid schedule—making it easier to balance home responsibilities with travel—others are quickly moving back toward five days a week in the office. JPMorgan Chase & Co. in April told its managing directors, a rank that includes its chief US economist, Michael Feroli, that they must be in the office every weekday.
The lack of flexibility, while not unique to Wall Street economists, can be particularly challenging for women who must rely on child care, either because they’re single parents or their spouses can’t or won’t adjust their hours. Many women in the US, no matter their occupation, have found it hard to find child care that meets their needs.
Some banks have generous parental leave policies, yet balancing motherhood and work isn’t just a parental leave issue. “Children are not short-term capital goods,” says Goldin, an economics professor at Harvard University and author of Career and Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equity. “They last for a very long time. Parental leave lasts for a very short time.”
The economics profession as a whole has struggled under the shadow of discrimination and harassment. An American Economic Association survey of current and former members published in 2019 showed nearly half of women respondents said they’d been discriminated against or treated unfairly based on their sex. Only 4% of men said the same, though a third of male respondents said they’d witnessed discrimination against others based on their sex.
“Knowing what some of the younger women that I know have had to deal with,” says Swonk, “it sends chills down my spine that it hasn’t changed more.” The difference in treatment can also be as simple as perceiving women’s words and mannerisms differently than men’s. In the same St. Louis Fed podcast, Morgan Stanley’s Zentner said the word “aggressive” was viewed as a positive trait for male job candidates—equivalent to being a go-getter—while women candidates described as aggressive were viewed negatively.
Women economists indicated that solving such a complex problem likely requires a multifaceted approach, including encouraging more women to join—and stay in—financial economics and making sure they’re aware of the variety of positions available. “You have to make the profession attractive and then the job attractive,” says the Conference Board’s Peterson.
Veronica Clark, an economist at Citi, says she hadn’t really considered finance as a career path until a professor in her master’s program at New York University suggested she apply for an internship at the bank. She did, and she’s now been there for eight years. Swonk, Zentner and Peterson also mentioned the importance of mentorships.
Ultimately, elevating more women to chief US economist may require rethinking the role, such as by offering more flexibility through a hybrid work schedule, limiting travel where possible and allowing some virtual meetings and speaking engagements. “It’s so important for those of us who are in the profession to encourage the younger generations to come and bring their voices to this,” says Peterson.Read next: BlackRock Racial Audit Shows Struggles to Retain Black, Latinx Leaders
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