Women Economists

Esther Duflo is a French–American economist. She is credited with co-founding the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, a global research center that works towards reducing poverty worldwide. In 2019, she shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Michael Kremer and Abhijit Banerjee for their efforts to reduce poverty.

Post-Keynesian economist Joan Robinson specialized in monetary economics and is remembered for her research and academic activities in India, China, and Korea. Initially a Cambridge lecturer, she later taught at Girton College and became the first woman to be made an honorary fellow of King's College.

Economist Janet Yellen has had an illustrious career as an academic and researcher, and has taught at Harvard University and other reputed institutes. After chairing the Federal Reserve for 4 years, she is now the United States Secretary of the Treasury. She is married to Nobel-winning economist George Akerlof.

Born to a scientist father, Yulia Navalnaya grew up to be an acclaimed economist. She met her husband, lawyer and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, while vacationing in Turkey. She has since been beside him through a number of tumultuous events, including his alleged poisoning by Russian officials.

Apart from being one of the heiresses of the affluent Rothschild banking family, Emma Georgina Rothschild is also a famous economic historian, a Harvard professor, and a former United Nations Foundation board member. She has also worked at MIT and Cambridge and is married to Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen.

Bulgarian environmental economist Kristalina Georgieva, the MD of IMF, believes developed nations should help low-income countries to prevent the Great Divergence. Her career boasts of a stint at the World Bank Group. She made it to the 2020 Time 100 and was named the European of the Year in 2010.

The queen consort of the Netherlands, Queen Máxima is the daughter of Argentine politician Jorge Zorreguieta. She initially worked in the sales departments of HSBC and Deutsche Bank. She apparently didn’t know she was meeting a prince when she met her future husband, King Willem-Alexander, at the Seville Spring Fair.

Award-winning economist and University College London professor Mariana Mazzucato was born to a physicist father in Italy. She has also held academic posts at institutes such as the University of Sussex. She is best known for her research on economic innovation and has penned books such as The Entrepreneurial State.

Hina Rabbani Khar is a Pakistani politician who became the first woman and the youngest person to serve as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan; she was in the office from 2011 to 2013. Prior to serving as the Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar also became the first female politician to present the national budget in 2009 while serving as the Minister of Finance of Pakistan.   

Turkish economist Tansu Çiller has been Turkey’s 22nd prime minister and the only woman to hold the post. The True Path Party politician has also been Turkey’s minister of state and of foreign affairs, and the deputy minister of the country. She also became Turkey’s youngest full professor.

The first woman to serve as the governor of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina has also been an economic advisor to Russian president Vladamir Putin. The daughter of a factory manager mother and a driver father, she made it to the Forbes Power Women 2020 list.

Sociologist Beatrice Webb is best remembered for coining the term collective bargaining. Along with her husband, Sidney Webb, whom she met at the Fabian Society, and others, Beatrice co-founded the London School of Economics. In spite of her lack of formal education, she was a prominent educator and an avid diarist.

Ester Boserup was a Danish economist best remembered for her work at the United Nations and other international organizations. She worked towards establishing equal rights for women in all spheres of life. In 1989, Ester Boserup was inducted into the US National Academy of Sciences.

Ingrida Šimonytė is a Lithuanian economist and politician. She is the current Prime Minister of Lithuania. An influential politician, Šimonytė also served as the Minister of Finance from 7 July 2009 to 13 December 2012. In 2019 and 2020, Ingrida Šimonytė was named Delfi Women of the Year.

Indonesia’s incumbent finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati also serves as the 1st Vice Heads of National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia Steering Committee. She has previously also been the managing director and COO of the World Bank Group. She is known for promoting gender equality.

Mercedes Aráoz is a Peruvian politician, professor, and economist. She is best known for her service as the Second Vice President of Peru from 2016 to 2020. She also served as the Prime Minister of Peru from 2017 to 2018. An important politician, Mercedes Aráoz also served as the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism from 2006 to 2009.

French economist Julia Cagé specializes in political economy, industrial organization and economic history.  An Assistant Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at Sciences Po Paris, she is also a research affiliate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Co-director of the "Evaluation of Democracy" research group of the Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Evaluation of Public Policies.  

English academic, economist, author and broadcaster Noreena Hertz serves as Economics Editor of ITV News, chief Europe correspondent of Sirius XM and Honorary Professor at the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity. She hosts the MegaHertz: London Calling show on Sirius XM Insight channel. She launched the Mayday for Nurses campaign and penned books like The Silent Takeover and Generation K.

Emily Greene Balch was an American sociologist, economist, and pacifist. She is best remembered for her work to deal with social issues like child labor, poverty, and immigration. She also worked towards reducing juvenile delinquency and uplifting poor immigrants. In 1946, Emily Greene Balch was honored with the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize.

Stefanie Stantcheva is a French economist currently working as a professor of economics at Harvard University. Her research mainly focuses on public finance, and she is a member of the French Council of Economic Analysis. She is an associate editor of the Journal of Political Economy and the American Economic Review. She received the Elaine Bennett Research Prize in 2020. 

Mari Elka Pangestu is an Indonesian economist and political figure. She is currently working for the World Bank where she is serving as the managing director of the institution's Development Policy and Partnerships. An important political leader, Mari Elka Pangestu also served as the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy from 2011 to 2014.

From being the chief economist of the Russian finance ministry to serving as the deputy prime minister for social policy, Tatyana Golikova has done it all. Known as Miss Budget in popular media, she specializes in labor economics. She was also named Madam Arbidol for her alleged association with Pharmstandard.

Serbian deputy prime minister and minister of energy, development, and environmental protection, Zorana Mihajlovic has had a 15-year career as an academician, teaching subjects such as accounting and business economy. She has also co-written several books on energy and sustainable development and has been Serbia’s minister of construction, transport, and infrastructure.