Economics Career Development Office (ECDO)
7329 Sewell Social Sciences | econ.wisc.edu/careers
Economic Consulting Career Guide
About Economic Consulting
Economic consultants quantify financial damages and analyze economic, statistical, and accounting issues in
litigation to support the expert analysis of one or more PhD Economists. Economic consulting firms support
law firms by creating “expert reports” relating to specific cases in a wide-ranging number of industries and
topics including securities, intellectual property, energy markets and forecasting current or future liabilities.
Economic consulting differs from management consulting in that economic consultants tend to be more
quantitative through creating statistical methods, econometric analysis, and financial modeling. The job duties
of an entry-level research associate in economic consulting include reviewing and analyzing datasets, running
regressions, creating charts, and preparing memos. Economic Consultants widely use STATA and are
preferably familiar with research methods and other data analytics tools such as Python, R, or Matlab.
Building experience in statistical software, research methods and writing and comfort in discussing economic
concepts and research topics of interest are great ways to be competitive for roles in this field and areas you
should highlight in your resume and cover letter.
Is Economic Consulting the Right Career For You?
Watch this short “Day in the Life” video about Economic Consulting
Recommended Courses
**Completing the Math Emphasis is suggested versus the general Economics track**
Core Electives in the major
• Econ 410 Introductory Econometrics
• Econ 458 Industrial Structure and Competitive Strategy
• Econ 460 Economic Forecasting
• Econ 468 Industrial Organization and Imperfect Competition
• Econ 521 Game Theory and Economic Analysis
• Econ 522 Law and Economics
• Econ 570 Fundamentals of Data Analytics for Economists
• Econ 580 Honors Tutorial in Research Project Design (bonus if you do a thesis!)
Applied Electives in the major
• Econ 300 Introduction to Finance
• Econ 315 Data Visualization for Economists
Economics Career Development Office (ECDO)
7329 Sewell Social Sciences | econ.wisc.edu/careers
Suggested Courses Outside of the Department of Economics
• Math 320, 340 OR 341 Linear Algebra options (Note: Math 320 OR 340 are required for the Math
Emphasis track of the major)
• Computer Science 220 Data Science Programming I (Python)
• Statistics 240 Data Science Modeling 1
• Finance 325 Corporation Finance
• Statistics 405 Data Science Computing Project
Relevant Majors & Certificates
Majors:
● Data Science (L&S)
● Statistics (L&S)
● Mathematics (L&S)
● Computer Science (L&S)
● Finance (Business)
Certificates:
● Data Science (L&S)
● Statistics (L&S)
● Mathematics (L&S)
● Computer Science (L&S)
Relevant Student Organizations & Involvement
• Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (or other quantitative research experience)
• Equilibrium: Undergraduate Journal of Economics
• Federal Reserve Challenge
• Global Economic Forum
• Economics Student Association
Search https://win.wisc.edu/organizations for additional student organizations.
Sample Job Titles
• Associate Consultant or Consultant
• Economist
• Research Associate
• Associate Analyst or Analyst
• Summer Consultant (internships)
Job and Internship Search Resources
● Economic Consulting Firm Career pages (NOT an exhaustive list):
● Analysis Group
● Bates White Economics Consulting
● Brattle Group
● Charles River Associates
● Christensen Associates
● Compass Lexecon
● Cornerstone Research
● NERA Economic Consulting
● Handshake - Find internships and jobs, as well as info sessions and workshops on campus
● LinkedIn Alumni Directory – see UW Econ alumni working in economic consulting
● Indeed – Search for internships and jobs by job title, company name, city, state and more
● MyVisaJobs – Find U.S. employers who have historically sponsored international employees
Economics Career Development Office (ECDO)
7329 Sewell Social Sciences | econ.wisc.edu/careers
● LinkedIn – Create a professional social media profile to connect with peers, colleagues, and employers;
follow companies of interest to learn about job postings and news.
Recruitment Timelines: For internships or jobs starting in the summer, economic consulting firms tend to
recruit from September to January, and smaller firms may wait to recruit until January-March or as roles
become available.
Exploratory and Diversity Programs:
• Cornerstone Research offers a First-Year Foundations and Sophomore Summit virtual programs for US
students who self-identify as part of an underrepresented group.
• The Sadie Collective offers a variety of programs focused on the success of Black women in economics
and related fields (finance, policy, etc.) including an Exploring Career Pathways Conference and
Research Symposium.
• American Economic Association Summer Training Program offered 2 months of intensive training that
aims to broaden participation and increase diversity in the economics profession to ensure that more
traditionally underrepresented views and backgrounds contribute to scholarship in the field.
• Becker Friedman Institute Expanding Diversity in Economics Summer Institute (EDE) offers a 3-week
program to diversity the pool of student majoring in economics.
Gain Technical Skills
● DoIt Software Training for Students : Free workshops including Microsoft Excel, Python and more!
● LinkedIn Learning: Free access to online trainings approved by LinkedIn
● SSCC Training Classes: Free classes on various software including Stata and R
Additional Resources for Career Exploration
• Economic Career Development Office – Get career guidance, resume and cover letter reviews, and
interview tips
• Economic Consultancies – List of companies from London School of Economics
• Careers in Economic and Litigation Consulting – from UVA Department of Economics
• What is Economic Consulting? – with white papers and examples of cases from Analysis Group
Interview Prep for Economic Consulting
Many economic consulting firms do a combination of behavioral interview questions and case interviews. Be
prepared to explain what interests you about economic consulting, your experience with data analysis and
programming, and previous research projects or papers. Some firms may have a programming or coding
exercise as part of their interview process.
• Bates White Interview Resources and Example Case
• Cornerstone Research Case Examples
• Interviewing at Charles River Associates
