Economics Alumni Update | Ryan Avent Relates Path to The Economist
Avent’s blog posts are followed by others who pay attention to the global economy, including Dow Jones’ Market Talk, which cited Avent’s June 18, 2010, remarks about the market that summer.
Quoting Market Talk: “The Economist’s Ryan Avent has a great comment in a recent blog post that really struck a chord when deciphering the market’s recent tone.
‘It’s difficult to see what news might kick off a big upward surge, but it’s easy to identify things that could send things down. As a result, few people will be making big bets on a surge while lots of people will be playing it cautious. Absent a real change in the economic picture, the market is set up bearish.’”
In September 2010, Avent brought his insight to undergraduate economics students at a meeting of the college’s Economics Society, a student organization based in the Department of Economics. His topic was the labor markets in the Great Recession, but he also addressed the nation’s current jobless recovery and what undergraduate students should do to prepare for their entry into the working world.
Avent’s path to the web pages of The Economist includes “some time studying at the London School of Economics (LSE) before taking my first job, in Washington, as an economic statistician for the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” he said in a brief resume provided to the economics department prior to his talk. At that first job, he was helping to assemble inflation indexes.
“I then went back to the LSE to complete a master’s degree in economic history,” he said. “After getting the master’s I returned to Washington and found work as an economic consultant at a firm providing expertise on legal cases with an economic component. As an example, I would provide analysis of firms in price-fixing or anti-trust cases, using a combination of research and statistical tools.”
It was while he was working as an economic consultant that Avent began writing “on the side” for a local news and culture website, “covering, of all things, the local music scene. I eventually became the editor in chief of that site and developed a taste for blogging, which led me to start my own economic policy blog. Through that blog I came to know other economics writers, and I eventually earned the opportunity to do some freelance blogging for The Economist,” Avent said.
“After two years of full-time freelancing, I joined the staff of The Economist as online economics editor. In that role, I edit the publication’s economics page, write Free Exchange (the economics blog), and manage a discussion forum of top academic economists,” he said.
Avent said he also covers “U.S. economic issues for the print edition. In this job I get to travel to conferences and do some radio and television appearances. I also have the opportunity to interact with leading figures in journalism and economics. It’s pretty great.”
In addition to his work for The Economist, Avent’s writing has been published in Condé Nast Portfolio, the Atlantic, the Guardian, and other publications. He also writes a blog posted at his personal website.
Related Links
- Free Exchange blog
- Ryan Avent’s Website
- The Economist
