My name is Jodi Beggs, and I am in charge of this whole Economists Do It With Models thing. I am, in fact, an economist (as opposed to a model I suppose), and my overall goal is to present economics both in the media and in the classroom in a way that is informative, practical and, well, fun. In a perfect world I would be some sort of odd hybrid of Steve Levitt (see Freakonomics), Demetri Martin (see here) and Jon Stewart (hopefully you don’t need any clarification on that one). Stated another way, I want to trick people into learning stuff and entertain them in the process.
I am apparently good at being a student, though unfortunately that is not so much of a marketable skill. I am Ph.D. candidate in Business Economics at Harvard University, where I currently have a masters degree in Economics. (I swear I will finish my Ph.D. eventually, though I am not convinced that my advisor entirely believes me.) My primary research is on behavioral economics, incentives and consumer behavior, but I am also very interested in the analysis of public policy. (Studying incentives is really my true calling, as evidenced by this anecdote…and a tattoo to go along with the story.) In addition to research, I spend my academic year working for Ec10, which is the introductory undergraduate economics course at Harvard, and summers teaching midcareer masters degree students at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. I’ve even been known to teach an undergraduate economics tutorial entitled “Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll”, which those of you who read the site know is something that’s right up my alley. In my free time (ha!), I do a bit of freelance consulting and test prep tutoring.
As an undergraduate, I studied computer science and mathematics at MIT- apparently this is what happens to people who are good at math and don’t know what they want to do with their lives! I went to work as a management consultant after graduation and also finished up my masters degree in Computer Science at MIT. (Yes, I am one day going to wallpaper my living room with diplomas.) Despite having minored in economics, I didn’t go full-time in that direction until fall of 2003. Since then, I have truly developed a passion for the subject and really enjoy the opportunity to share that passion with others, especially those people who don’t generally trust economists.
My future goal is to be more of a writer and a teacher than a researcher, since my strength lies not so much in producing research but instead in explaining that research in a way that people actually want to pay attention to. I plan on writing a book about how managers can design the most appropriate incentives systems for their organizations, and I am looking for other writing opportunities in general interest publications to complement my blogging. Also, if the Daily Show calls and wants me to be its Senior Economic Correspondent, I probably wouldn’t turn down the opportunity.
On a less boring note, random other things about me: I am obsessed with the Red Sox. (Baseball is a total geek sport with all of the numbers and such.) I am the Marketing Coordinator for a Boston band called The Self-Proclaimed Rockstars. (In addition to them being adorable, they are my guinea pigs to help me learn about the industry.) I love karaoke and playing the piano, so it’s only a matter of time until you get songs about economics. I have a chihuahua named Gizmo that thinks he’s a tiger. I used to be a competitive figure skater. I will kick your ass at poker AND guitar hero. (I saw a t-shirt in Austin that said “I beat my boyfriend at Guitar Hero”, and I’m not sure why I didn’t get it.) I run marathons. (Slowly.) I wear more hats than the average person. (A student put in an evaluation once that I wore cute hats, and it became a thing.) I was a mathlete, and am proud of it. (I like winning stuff.) I probably don’t provide much competition to Megan McArdle for the title of “the world’s tallest female econoblogger.” I love fashion and own more pairs of shoes than any reasonable person should.
In the old version of my bio, here is where I had a picture that none of my friends liked. In honor of that picture, I am replacing it with some close second choices for a bio picture:
(More- or less, depending on how you look at it- reasonable pictures can be found on my Facebook Page.)
If you have suggestions for post topics or other interesting reading, I can be reached at econgirl at economistsdoitwithmodels dot com.
If you’re still curious, here are some links for you:
My CV (read, resume)
My (not very interesting) LinkedIn page, which gives info on my non-academic work experience
My public Facebook Page- if you become a fan you can get blog posts and other random entertaining items in your News Feed
My Facebook search listing, if you know me and want to be my friend (or even if you don’t and think you can handle a window into my online world)