What does your job consist of?
Menon analyzes economic issues and provides advice to companies, organizations and authorities. My job is to provide relevant and robust analyses as a basis for decision making to find the optimal use of scarce resources. I am currently working on green business development, and how to leverage Norwegian expertise in the maritime sector, process industry, hydropower and energy system to promote green restructuring not only in Norway, but internationally as well.
What do you like most about your job?
I enjoy being part of a team and working together to find solutions to problems that none of us individually would know quite how to solve. It is also exciting to present our work to others, and see our analyses used as knowledge foundation in political processes.
How do you make use of your education in your job?
I make use of it every day – the full range from microeconomic reasoning to econometric panel data analyses.
How is a typical day at work?
The days are varied. We work in a project based organization. Normally I have three or four projects that I alternate working on. The end product of a project is typically an analysis documented in a written report. The working day is about the different facets that are required to solve the analysis task we are facing.
Each project is carried out by a team consisting of 3-5 people. In the course of a day there will typically be a meeting in one or more of the projects where we discuss professional issues and how to resolve them. Once the analysis is completed it is presented to a larger audience, which is a satisfactory finale to the project.
How did you get the job?
When I wrote my master's thesis at NUPI, Leo Grünfeldt was my supervisor. He founded Menon with Erik Jakobsen and asked me if I wanted to be a part of the company. I worked for the Ministry of Finance at the time, but the offer seemed very exciting and I accepted. Today, Menon is a rather different workplace than when I started out. Now we are over 50 economists and it has been fun to build a strong academic environment.
What is your advice for students who want your type of job?
Although it doesn't necessarily feel that way when you're working on tough math equations, economics is in fact a very practical subject. I recommend that you spend your time trying to understand the core at the theory and method presented in the courses, and then challenge yourself on how to apply to issues discussed in the media. Those who master this combination fit in with us.
(This interview was originally conducted in Norwegian, and has been translated to English.)