What it pays
Government survey numbers — not estimates, not ads.
Half of all Economists in the U.S. earn more than $124,720 a year — the middle 80% land between $67,360 and $238,060. About 17,790 people in the U.S. do this work. Figures are for the U.S. occupation group “Economists”. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, published 2025.) In India, Professionals earn about ₹38,298 a month on average — around ₹4.6 lakh a year (government PLFS survey via ILOSTAT, occupation-family figure).
$124,720typical pay / year
17,790people in this work
$238,060+top 10% earn
₹4.6 lakha year in India (family avg)
Think you get this job?Six quick questions on how it really works — with a hint and the reason behind every answer.
Test yourself →The work, task by task
These are the real jobs-to-be-done, not a wish list. Each task shows where we found it, and the prompt underneath is written for that exact task.
Analysing4
Forecast economic trends
+Produce a six‑quarter forecast of household demand for durable goods using micro-level consumption models,…
Forecast economic trends
+Produce a six‑quarter forecast of household demand for durable goods using micro-level consumption models, state assumptions, scenario ranges, and deliver model outputs and forecast charts to the forecasting committee on Thursday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelC++ESCOjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Evaluate policy impacts
+Estimate the causal effect of the minimum wage increase on employment using difference-in-differences on the…
Evaluate policy impacts
+Estimate the causal effect of the minimum wage increase on employment using difference-in-differences on the matched employer panel, produce robustness checks, and submit the technical appendix and policy memo to the research director by Monday.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS StatisticsMicrosoft Exceljob descriptionsO*NETWikipedia
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Analyze market activity and trends
+Analyse last quarter's market activity across retail groceries and online groceries, compute demand…
Analyze market activity and trends
+Analyse last quarter's market activity across retail groceries and online groceries, compute demand elasticities, price pass-through, and concentration ratios, produce a two-page memo with charts and recommend three pricing responses by Wednesday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft PowerPointjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Analyse statistical data
+Clean and analyse the household survey and transaction datasets, run descriptive stats, regression…
Analyse statistical data
+Clean and analyse the household survey and transaction datasets, run descriptive stats, regression diagnostics, and cluster analysis, export the cleaned dataset and a short methods appendix to share with the research team by Thursday noon.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS StatisticsMicrosoft ExcelESCOjob descriptions
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Learning1
Teach theories, principles, and methods of economics.
+Teach the graduate class on microeconomic theory next Tuesday, cover consumer choice, producer theory, and…
Teach theories, principles, and methods of economics.
+Teach the graduate class on microeconomic theory next Tuesday, cover consumer choice, producer theory, and game theory with one problem set and two in-class examples, circulate the syllabus and publish answer keys by Friday evening.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordMicrosoft PowerPointESCOjob descriptionsO*NET
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Keeping the record1
Write about economic policy
+Draft a 1,200-word brief evaluating the proposed labor market reform, summarise theory, present supporting…
Write about economic policy
+Draft a 1,200-word brief evaluating the proposed labor market reform, summarise theory, present supporting empirical evidence, quantify likely distributional effects, and send to Anna in policy for review on Monday morning.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordESCOWikipedia
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The daily work14
Advise on product feasibility
+Estimate whether the new streaming speaker can sustain a 25% markup given the current US urban demand, input…
Advise on product feasibility
+Estimate whether the new streaming speaker can sustain a 25% markup given the current US urban demand, input manufacturing cost schedule, projected price elasticity from last quarter’s survey, and a break-even horizon of 18 months — show the assumptions and confidence intervals.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelESCO
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Advise on tax policies
+Assess the distributional and efficiency effects of replacing the state sales tax with a 3% national turnover…
Advise on tax policies
+Assess the distributional and efficiency effects of replacing the state sales tax with a 3% national turnover tax using current income and consumption microdata, report estimated welfare changes by income decile, revenue neutrality adjustments, and likely behavioral responses.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS StatisticsESCO
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Study how societies allocate resources
+Estimate how households and firms trade off consumption, labor and saving using the latest national survey…
Study how societies allocate resources
+Estimate how households and firms trade off consumption, labor and saving using the latest national survey panels, specify the utility and production functions, run comparative statics, and produce tables of welfare-maximizing allocations by income decile for the report due Friday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft Exceljob descriptionsWikipedia
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Study international trade and global economics
+Assemble bilateral trade and tariff data, specify a gravity model with GDP and distance controls, estimate…
Study international trade and global economics
+Assemble bilateral trade and tariff data, specify a gravity model with GDP and distance controls, estimate coefficients with robust standard errors, produce counterfactuals showing welfare and trade volume changes under tariff removal, and draft a two-page policy brief for Monday's meeting.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS Statisticsjob descriptionsWikipedia
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Study economic and statistical data in area of specialization, such as finance, labor, or agriculture.
+Pull the sectoral output and employment series for agriculture and manufacturing, compute real productivity…
Study economic and statistical data in area of specialization, such as finance, labor, or agriculture.
+Pull the sectoral output and employment series for agriculture and manufacturing, compute real productivity growth and labor share trends, run panel regressions controlling for capital intensity, and export charts and a one-page memo summarizing implications for the finance team by Wednesday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft SQL ServerMicrosoft ExcelO*NET
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Review documents written by others.
+Read the draft literature review and methods section from Sara and Tom, annotate statistical assumptions and…
Review documents written by others.
+Read the draft literature review and methods section from Sara and Tom, annotate statistical assumptions and identification risks, flag any unclear data construction steps, and return an edited version with margin comments and a short checklist before Monday's lab meeting.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordO*NET
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Supervise research projects and students' study projects.
+Set up supervision slots for Priya and Miguel, review their project proposals for testable hypotheses and…
Supervise research projects and students' study projects.
+Set up supervision slots for Priya and Miguel, review their project proposals for testable hypotheses and feasible identification, give written feedback on required data and timeline, and schedule a milestone check in six weeks via calendar invite.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft WordO*NET
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Provide litigation support, such as writing reports for expert testimony or testifying as an expert witness.
+Prepare an expert report summarising the damages model, list data sources and estimation steps, run…
Provide litigation support, such as writing reports for expert testimony or testifying as an expert witness.
+Prepare an expert report summarising the damages model, list data sources and estimation steps, run sensitivity tests on key elasticities, produce exhibit tables with assumptions, and produce a sworn statement draft for the attorney by Thursday.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordIBM SPSS StatisticsO*NET
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Forecast production and consumption of renewable resources and supply, consumption, and depletion of non-renewable resources.
+Produce a ten-year forecast of renewable resource production and consumption and of non-renewable resource…
Forecast production and consumption of renewable resources and supply, consumption, and depletion of non-renewable resources.
+Produce a ten-year forecast of renewable resource production and consumption and of non-renewable resource supply, consumption and depletion rates for coal, oil, wind and solar using historical extraction and usage data, policy scenarios, and price elasticities; highlight key supply constraints and confidence intervals by year.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelO*NET
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Collect financial and socioeconomic data
+Assemble a cleaned dataset of firm-level and household financials, employment, income, prices and demographic…
Collect financial and socioeconomic data
+Assemble a cleaned dataset of firm-level and household financials, employment, income, prices and demographic indicators from national statistics, company filings and survey files for 2010–2025, merge into one panel, document sources and missing-data rules, and produce summary tables and codebook.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft AccessMicrosoft Exceljob descriptions
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Communicate findings via reports and presentations
+Draft a concise report and slide deck presenting methodology, key elasticity estimates, policy scenario…
Communicate findings via reports and presentations
+Draft a concise report and slide deck presenting methodology, key elasticity estimates, policy scenario impacts and recommendations for the regulatory team, with charts that compare baseline and shock scenarios and speaker notes for a 20‑minute presentation.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft Wordjob descriptions
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Participate in think tanks and publish research
+Prepare a research paper draft and a two-page policy brief summarising our model, data, and main estimates of…
Participate in think tanks and publish research
+Prepare a research paper draft and a two-page policy brief summarising our model, data, and main estimates of market failures for the upcoming think tank workshop, include full replication code, tables for peer review, and a cover email to the convenor.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft WordMicrosoft Exceljob descriptions
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Conduct financial statement analysis
+Analyse the last five years of company financial statements to compute profitability, leverage, liquidity and…
Conduct financial statement analysis
+Analyse the last five years of company financial statements to compute profitability, leverage, liquidity and working-capital ratios, flag firms with deteriorating trends, and produce an annotated table explaining drivers and a one‑page management memo.
The tools that do the workMicrosoft ExcelWikipedia
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Study trends
+Run trend analyses on consumer spending, productivity and price indices across sectors from 2015 to 2025,…
Study trends
+Run trend analyses on consumer spending, productivity and price indices across sectors from 2015 to 2025, decompose changes into cyclical and structural components, and produce charts with annotations on emerging risks and policy implications.
The tools that do the workIBM SPSS StatisticsMicrosoft PowerPointESCO
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Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses