The Department of Economics is excited to announce the creation of a new undergraduate student group, the Michigan Journal of Economics (MJE), a student-run newspaper. MJE aims to foster a diverse and inclusive community within the economics department, hoping to break down the stereotype that economics majors are only interested in careers in finance and consulting. Rather, MJE intends to create a space for economics students to cultivate their knowledge in any economic topic no matter how broad or obscure.
The journal accepts writing which might fall under the broad topics of research, literature review, finance/business, domestic economics, and global economics. MJE accepts new staff writers in the fall and winter terms, but accepts outside submissions as well. This writing need not be scholarly, but certainly can be.
Founder, Editor-in-Chief, and President, Ben Iorio explains that MJE’s current primary focus is a successful launch, and developing the infrastructure for a club that will last while maintaining its flexibility for students. Long term goals for MJE include growing a following and creating social media pages, hosting speakers on economic topics and research, and holding career panels and development events.
Ben works alongside MJE’s Vice Presidents, Paul Cochran and Avin Katyal, and the Marketing and Design Chair Lucy Xu, all of whom share a passion for MJE’s mission. They believe MJE will create not only opportunity to discover and explore topics (and the intersections between different topics) they might not encounter in class or other clubs, but also provide space to actively develop critical thinking and concise communication skills that must be honed through practice beyond the scope of a classroom. Aiming to empower students, they also hope MJE will enrich members’ professional and social networks, serving to make classes and the major less intimidating through giving students agency over their work and interests.
As a group, the MJE board exemplifies the diversity of interest they hope to add to the department. Ben primarily explores monetary policy and domestic economic topics like wealth inequality, Paul focuses on research and data. Avin concentrates on the finance/business sphere, and Lucy is interested in business/design. As a founder/president, Ben says he is “really proud that my team reflects the range of interests that economics students can have,” and he is “really excited for this next semester and meeting even more students with their own specific interests in economics.”
This year, MJE is working on developing a professor speaker series so members can learn about the many professors within the department and their projects. For more information about MJE and how to get involved, please visit their website.
