Dual Masters: Completing a Master of Arts Economics and MBA with Cassandra Blackwell

During my undergrad, I found Economics a little bit later, as I think a lot of students do. Jumping into an undergrad, choosing a direction, and not really knowing if it’s exactly what they want to do.  That’s what happened to me.  I fell into Political Science and discovered Economics through taking electives.  I was only able to do Economics as a minor, but I still had questions about Economics following my undergraduate degree.

 I found that in Political Science it was more about what decisions were made that led to a specific scenario and not so much how those decisions were made.  When I started talking the causes of political events, economics was constantly popping up as a key factor. Those discussions didn’t really go deeper into what economic decisions meant, so that sparked curiosity – there’s no way it’s just “Economics” as a blank statement!

I love having the opportunity to ‘dive-in’ and follow various threads, which you get to do with Economics. It is so fun! You follow one thread to see if it is the core cause of a scenario, the end of a tunnel, or just the beginning on of a new area of research! Economics often goes somewhere else, and you keep following; it leads you down a lot of different rabbit holes. The constant uncovering is what I really like about the research of economics. I knew that I wanted to do my Master’s of Economics, just from an interest perspective.

When I graduated from my undergraduate degree, I was still left with questions about economics that I wanted to better understand, and my professors and uOttawa recommended the program at Carleton based on the high esteem of the professors and quality of research.

It was always in the back of my mind to pursue my MA Economics based on my interest, but I worked in project management after my undergraduate degree, which very much required business knowledge. As I was moving towards work in portfolio management and strategic decision-making, it was very obvious to me that there was a knowledge gap that I wanted to fill.

That said, I was really on the edge of going to pursue more education or not 2 years after I graduated from my undergraduate degree. when I eventually made the decision,  it came from hearing the stories of women who followed their interests and passions in my home community.

During COVID, my friend and I started a podcast that aimed to highlight the stories of women entrepreneurs and community leaders from our hometown of Kamloops BC, in the pursuit of inspiring other women to take leaps of faith and learn from their stories. In turn, I was the one who was inspired, as I saw that each of the women we interviewed talked about investing in their passions, and how by doing so, they were able to not only advance their personal careers, but build up the communities around them.

So that really inspired me to start looking at Master’s programs. I was hopeful that there was a university that could accommodate my two interests, but I didn’t know if both was an option anywhere.  So I started looking into different programs, – both MBA and MA Economics programs, and I came across the dual degree at Carleton! The dual program happened to be in a city I was already familiar with, and at a school that had already been recommended to me. It felt like the opportunity was a perfect fit.

I was really interested in financial economics during my undergrad. I was specifically researching financial crises like the Great Recession in 2008.  It was really interesting to me what happened in the states and why didn’t it happen in Canada. Studying Political Science only answered half of those questions.  I wanted to dig a little bit further.  Seeing that there was a financial Economics concentration at Carleton that would allow me to keep pursuing that research and addressing those questions, was what really attracted me to the program.

Now, I currently work in sustainable finance, so my interests have led me more into the environmental economics side.

Sustainable finance is the  financial activities that consider environment, social, and governance factors to promote long-term sustainable growth. For example, it refers to the investment into new green technology or investment in climate risk mitigation activities. The emphasis is around where the funds are going when we talk about sustainable finance. My research investigates whether funding is going to renewable areas, and asking questions such as, “Why are people making decisions not to invest there?” or “How do we change incentives to encourage people and financial institutions to invest in a green economy?”

There have been quite a few classes that have directly related to my work and my interests, which has been really nice!  I would say the financial economic courses have been the most interesting and very applicable because of completing finance studies in the MBA. I would say probably most useful for me so far has been the Economics of Public Policy course with Doctor Christopher Worswick.  It was a course about economic policy research for students not necessarily from an economics background, but it used an economic lens to look at current policy problems. Although the course is part of the Graduate Diploma in Economic Policy, I was able to take it as an elective, and it was incredibly useful for my work in economic policy research.  I was able to connect economic theories to the relevant policies that I was working on, which was really great.

I have to hand it to the professors, in terms of making courses relevant to what’s going on in Economics today. I think we are very lucky to be in Ottawa, in Canada’s capital, because a lot of the professors and students work in, or consult on, economic matters that are happening in real time. Not only do the professors share their analyses on situations, but they open up lectures for discussion on what is happening. Sometimes we’ll see our professor on the radio the next day or on TV talking about what we talked about in class! This is a great advantage of Carleton and our location. It has really helped me understand the concepts better and apply what we’re learning.

What networking opportunities or experiential learning have you leveraged through this program?

Within the program, I would say half are full time students and the other half are working professionals.  We have a lot of people that work for financial institutions or for various government departments, that are upskilling with the Master’s degree, but already work in economics. It’s really great to be able to network and collaborate with these students.

Additionally, the community in Ottawa, and Carleton specifically, promotes peer networking strongly. Carleton offers an internship program for MA Economics students, which leverages the schools extensive community connections to align students with incredible work opportunities. I currently work where I had my internship, and I am very thankful for the program in that regard!

They are incredibly complimentary. I didn’t realize it as much as at the beginning of the program as I do now, but sometimes Economics is intensely theoretical; it’s very abstract, talking about a representative firm that’s making perfectly efficient decisions. Whereas in the MBA, the focus was really on how to make those direct day-to-day decisions. 

I found Economics focuses on efficiency, finding the perfect equilibrium between societal and business factors. In the MBA we talked about how businesses are shifting to consider their social purpose to benefit all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and to do that, thinking holistically about efficiency and conducting cost-benefit analyses is crucial. In economics, we consider all actors in the economy and how they interact, and as we businesses shift to that perspective as well, thinking like an economist is more and more valuable.

Additionally, I concentrated in Financial Management in the MBA, so understanding the economics behind finance allows me to see financial decisions from another perspective, allowing me to make more efficient decisions.

Yes, definitely!  I use my Master’s of Economics probably every single day!. Working in sustainable finance with the government, Economic Policy Research is my job, so I get to use my skills from writing research papers and analyzing economic data that I gained from my degree. I recommend policy changes too, which is something that we practiced in class and now I get to do in my job!

Sustainable finance is growing! There is a growing amount of international organizations promoting sustainable finance, and there are national policy considerations regarding, and encouraging, sustainable finance. Canada has net-zero transition goals for 2050, and finance plays a significant role in achieving them. Canadian financial institutions are really starting to focus on sustainable finance, and a lot more research and analysis can be done by new and future MA Economics graduates!

I think the biggest benefit and knowledge gained from the master’s degree came from the opportunity to work with data. Almost every business is now focusing on leveraging data to make decisions, and not everyone has the background or experience to use data, clean data, or visualize data, which we get hands-on experience within the Economics program. Having that skill in your pocket is valuable, no matter what field you’re going into.

In general, the Master’s of Economics has opened up a lot of different doors for me career wise. Previously I was working in project management, but now I have a whole new range of opportunities. When I look at my career, because of my economics background, I can work in any field and for any firm that aims to leverage data and economic research to make efficient decisions for sustained growth. 

I wish I knew how intense it would be! Doing two degrees at once is not for the faint of heart, and that first semester is very intense. I would definitely tell my past self to go and have as much fun as possible before starting this program, because you’re about to spend most of your free time in the library for the next two years. The MBA runs 6-week long courses, while the Masters of Economics is 12 week-long courses, and that can be very difficult to manage when finals and midterms overlap!

Also, I wish I knew ahead of time that its difficult to understand Economics without help or without somebody working through the problems with you. In the Master’s of Economics you really need to sit down and work through problems with your colleagues. While that was difficult at times, this aspect of the program allowed me to network and build strong friendships!

And I wish I knew earlier to not be shy about asking questions! At first, I was nervous about going up to professors, knowing that they are all so incredibly busy.  However, the Economics department is incredibly supportive. I quicky realized how willing the professors and the administrators are to help, not just with questions about homework or the theories, but also with career advice. It was nice to have that support throughout the process and know that the department is rooting for us!