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Finally,
the career of business economics is increasingly recognized as one of the
routes to top management. In recent years, business economists have become
presidents or senior officers of banks, insurance companies, trade
associations, investment houses and industrial companies. Although not all
business economists are capable or even desirous of advancing to a top management position, it is clear that economics is a business function of
central importance and thus can be a pathway to the top. Indeed, economics
is the second most likely undergraduate major (after engineering) that
today's CEOs have. Interestingly, two NABE past presidents are currently presidents of federal reserve banks, one is president of a very large
national bank and another, Alan Greenspan, heads the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System.
If you
have inclinations toward government policy positions, never fear. Recently,
among the top seven industrialized countries, the key central bank governor
is an economist in Great Britain, Germany, Italy and the U.S. In France and
Italy, the Finance Minister also holds an economics degree. Looking at
twelve developing countries, all but one of the central bank governors
holds an economics degree. Among the finance ministers, all but three hold
economics degrees. Clearly, economics is a useful background for government
policy.
(CSUS Department of Economics staff and members do not assume responsibility for the

