Interview: Ellen McGrattan

Like many academic economists, Ellen McGrattan's gateway to the field was math. "I was a math major in undergrad at Boston College, but I didn't see myself pursuing math as a profession," she says. "I tried an economics class, and I was instantly hooked." The course opened her eyes to how the Greek letters in the equations she was familiar with could be used to shed light on real-world questions. She wanted to learn more about what life as a professional economist might be like, so she asked one of her professors to help her find a job as a research assistant during the summer after her junior year. He connected her with future Nobel-prize winning economist William Nordhaus of Yale University. At the time, Nordhaus was surveying professional macroeconomic forecasters to learn more about their methods and how they modeled the economy. In addition to learning how to ask survey questions to get good responses, McGrattan learned about a relatively new economic theory that piqued her interest: rational expectations.