Changing the Face of Economics: an Interview with Chinemelu Okafor

Chinemelu Okafor, Founder of Research In Color & Emerging Scholar at the Princeton University Politics Department

Research In Color (RIC) is an incorporated non-profit organization based in Princeton University that strives to improve the levels of diversity and inclusion in economics by increasing the number of graduate students of color in economic and economics-adjacent disciplines, and by amplifying meaningful economic and policy research that benefits communities of color. Founded by Chinemelu Okafor, a predoctoral research specialist and Emerging Scholar in the Politics Department at Princeton University, RIC aims to cultivate a more equitable economics profession while empowering students of color interested in the field as well as adjacent fields.

Victoria Agwam (BT): Outside of RIC, how do you describe yourself and your aspirational goals?

Chinemelu Okafor (CO): I think of myself as a charismatic, excitable, passionate, and confident Nigerian woman who has found joy in making others feel comfortable taking up space and recognizing the right to exist in a system that has so many structural barriers to entry and success. I see myself as a sort of that bridge for people to achieve any goal that they want in this life. I truly believe that with the right help, with somebody steering you in the right direction, that you can achieve so much in this life. As an African woman, I see a Ph.D. as an opportunity to inspire young African women and individuals from underrepresented communities to explore careers in academic or policy research, amplify their voices, and realize change on a macroeconomic scale. 

BT: What has inspired you to start RIC?

CO: I was inspired by my journey with mentorship within the field of economics to create RIC. It became apparent to me how difficult navigating the discipline was before I met my first mentor Tristan Reed, a Harvard-trained economist, during my time with the World Bank Group. Rahma Ahmed, RIC’s Vice President, and I worked at the International Finance Corporation together and we gained a very real understanding of how the discipline needed to change. Thus, the reality of how we took up space in the field fed into how we wanted to structure RIC and what we wanted others to get out of it. It’s unfortunate to say this, but at times, without a connection, underrepresented minorities aren't afforded as many opportunities to work with high-profile professors or to explore and develop their interests in economics. So, we wanted RIC to have relatively low barriers to entry. Through RIC, our mentees can expect to develop a relationship with seasoned economists and have the opportunity to figure out if economics is right for them. 

BT: Can you describe the time length between when you noticed the lack of diversity within the economics profession, felt displeased by it, chose to do something about it, and then finally created RIC? (Did this happen within a year or years?)

CO: I noticed it in undergrad; I was one of maybe one or two black women in every single economics class I took. Unfortunately, I had not realized the broader profession was also just as homogenous as my undergraduate experience until I got to the IFC (International Finance Corporation), where all the high ranking officials on our floor were White men. However, it wasn't until I got to Princeton that I had the drive to sort of just shake things up. 

BT: What has kept you passionate and excited about RIC’s work?

CO: Where I find endless passion is that I champion diversity, not just as a matter of taste or preference, but as a supporter of one of the most basic economic principles: utility maximization.  Earlier this week Rahma Ahmed, the RIC Vice President, and I had an interview with J-PAL, a global research center founded by economics Nobel winners Dr. Abhijit Banerjee and Dr. Esther Duflo. During the interview, Rahma cogently expressed that, “the field of economics isn’t going to be doing underrepresented minorities a favor by including them in their conversations and increasing their involvement. Instead, by investing in making the profession more equitable, economics as a field will bolster its own utility, the strength and validity of its findings, and the resulting conclusions it draws.” This is why I have been so passionate about what we are doing. The idea that diversity and equity will always matter in economics, much less any profession excites me - it’s like, we know the solution: a diverse profession, all we have to do is figure out how to make it happen.

Economics is a social science that is disproportionately represented in policymaking, so it stands to reason that there is power in this field reflecting the broader society that it so wishes to serve. There is strength in a field that understands where it's rational assumptions fail and where a diverse range of insights are appropriate to bolster the conclusions that it draws. And, there is beauty in a profession that interrogates the belief that structurally biased indicators of achievement, such as GRE score or GPA, are more important, and determinant of the utility of its constituents, than diversity in thought or background. I believe it is a fact that diversity will help economics and economic-adjacent professions. 

For a field so concerned with efficiency and utility maximization, it just doesn't seem to make sense that there wouldn't be a concerted effort on the part of university administrators and institutions to include diverse schools of thought or a diverse set of people with different backgrounds to help improve its output.

I also find joy in helping others achieve their goals. Being present in each of the lives of our mentees and providing them with an opportunity as wonderful as the one created by Research in Color consistently reignites the flame that drove me to initially create this foundation. We believe it is important to consider the type of mentorship that works and what underrepresented groups consider to be their most urgent needs. With this in mind, each mentor/mentee pair focuses on the work of the mentee. This is much different from top-down mentorship approaches often seen in academia where the work and needs of the mentor are of more importance than that of the mentee. But, through Research in Color you have the opportunity to explore your interests with your mentor rooting for you along the way.

BT: What are some of your goals for RIC within the next month, 6 months, and year?

CO: I believe it is important to base our program on solid findings and empirically assess the true impact of the Research in Color mentorship program. With this in mind, I hope that in a year, through our partnership with J-PAL, that we will be able to conduct a proper randomized evaluation of the mentorship program and test the impact of our program on the educational achievements of our mentees to explain not only why mentorship matters but also to evidence our belief that mentorship matters in order to achieve a discipline as diverse as the world it impacts.

A challenge that we’ve faced during this first year is that we have a relatively small team so implementing all of the useful suggestions and comments that we’ve been receiving has been difficult. I hope that in six months we will be able to grow our team to reach more individuals interested in pursuing a degree in economics or economics-adjacent fields and also amplify the work of our brilliant set of mentors. I’d like to personally shout-out RIC’s team of incredible Black women: Chinekwu Osakwe, Rahma Ahmed, Odichinma Akosionu, Dela Kpo, and Victoria Agwam who have made RIC’s first year incredible. 

In the next month, we hope to have successfully held our first Research in Color conference via Zoom where we have a fantastic line-up of individuals such as Professor. Lisa D. Cook of Michigan State University and Professor Trevon D.  Logan of Ohio State University, two powerful forces in economics who have been doing this sort of work on race and equity in the profession for a very long time, and panelists such as Dr. Kehinde Ajayi of the World Bank, Dr. Tomas Monarrez of the Urban Institute, Dr. Tristan Reed of the World Bank, Sarah Gault of J-PAL, and Professor Alexandre Mas of Princeton University, speak candidly about how to make the profession more equitable.

BT: What advice do you have for students of color looking to pursue a career in economics, or complete an economics degree program? 

CO: Firstly, there is an Igbo saying that goes, “E jiro ututu ama njo afia” which translates to “You don’t use the morning to determine how bad the market is”. This essentially means, though, one’s fate is not determined by a bad start. This is something I very much believe in. For students of color looking to pursue a career in economics or any field at all, one, it is okay to be stellar in every way, but it is also very okay not to be perfect, or to falter - your mistakes do not invalidate your knowledge or your potential contributions to the field, and you can still reach profound, and similar heights even with a rocky start. My path has been mercurial. It has not been linear by any means. There have been very low lows and very high highs, but I see that as a necessary step toward exactly who I’ve become today. I had the courage to continue while down and that has given me what I believe to be true confidence. Always remember - no matter what you’ve been told - it is very real and possible to have a shaky start and finish exceedingly strong. 

Secondly, I have this strong belief that you just have to believe that you belong in spaces. And I understand it is challenging to do this, and by no means do I wish to place all of the onus on students of color, but what I mean by this is that you just have to believe you belong in these spaces as if it is an undeniable fact--and for the record, it is. Just like it is a fact that we're on Earth, or that it is a fact that we’re having this interview, or it is a fact that I'm Black; you have to believe it is a fact that you deserve to be in a space that might not be reflective of society at large. This is something that I constantly coach myself on. I interrogate my imposter syndrome, I remind myself that no one can weaponize my accomplishments, and I believe, unequivocally, that my experiences are valid and that I have earned the right, as a Black woman, to exist in these spaces. Once you cultivate that mindset, you become an unshakable and an impenetrable force. So as a word to students looking to enter economics, you're certainly going to have adapt to the fact that the profession does not look like you or that people might try and qualify your achievements, but when you remember that it is an undeniable fact that you deserve to be present and be heard, then it will be nearly impossible to shake you. 

BT: Why do you feel mentorship is important for students of color looking to enter White-dominated fields?

CO: To start, I think it's unfortunate that we have to use mentorship to break into these homogeneous fields, but it is important because it can give the younger generation, who might otherwise be silenced, a way to amplify their voices and to be seen. Mentorship can help smooth the otherwise difficult road to a Ph.D., and with the right mentors on your side, it can help reaffirm why the profession needs you. Mentorship is not just about making the profession more diverse, it’s about formally ushering in the next generation of economists and policymakers. These are our future movers and shakers. Thus, it is imperative to let them know that they deserve to contribute to the conversations being had and that their worldly perspectives, their creativity, and their visions are what can help make economic models more realistic and economic thinking more impactful.

Further, the Research in Color Foundation wholeheartedly believes that the marginal benefit of including diverse perspectives in economics exceeds any marginal cost associated with creating such diversity. And mentorship can help create the diversity we wish to see in the profession. Through a one-on-one mentorship centered approach, we pride ourselves on knowing that small gains, at the grass-roots level, are powerful - we believe that if we’ve helped just one person gain clarity on their journey that we’ve done our job. As a result, through mentorship, along with other important initiatives, the profession should, in the long-run, approach an equilibrium where it produces the best economic and policy insights for the communities that it wishes to serve.