Margaret O'Connell
Senior Economist
Washington, DC·margaret.oconnell@example.com·+1 202 555 0124·linkedin.com/in/margaretoconnell
Summary
Economist with 10 years in research and policy analysis on consumer credit, payments and the labour market. Builds forecasting models, publishes widely cited research and translates findings for executives and policymakers. Skilled at turning complex data into clear stories, and comfortable presenting to boards, regulators and the media.
Experience
Capitol Economic ResearchWashington, DC
Senior EconomistJun 2019 – Present
- Led a team of 5 economists producing forecasts of consumer spending used by 40 institutional clients.
- Built a nowcasting model from card-spending data that cut forecast error by 28%.
- Published 12 research papers, including 3 cited in Federal Reserve testimony.
- Presented outlook briefings to 30+ executive and policy audiences a year.
- Secured $1.5M in research grants for a 3-year study on household debt.
- Advised 3 executive teams on recession scenarios, informing credit-risk limits worth $2B.
Lakeshore Policy InstituteChicago, IL
EconomistJan 2016 – May 2019
- Analyzed payroll data for 2M workers to study wage growth across 50 metropolitan areas.
- Developed a regional employment model adopted by 3 state agencies.
- Wrote 25 policy briefs that informed state minimum-wage legislation.
- Advised a city task force on the economic impact of a $400M transit project.
- Presented testimony to 2 state legislative committees on labour market policy.
- Built a county-level unemployment forecast used by 5 workforce agencies to plan training budgets.
- Mentored 4 research assistants, 3 of whom went on to doctoral programs.
Federal Reserve Bank of ChicagoChicago, IL
Research AssistantJul 2013 – Aug 2015
- Prepared data and charts for 10 research papers on household finance.
- Automated data collection in Stata, saving the team 20 hours a month.
- Co-authored a working paper on credit card use that was later published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Projects
Consumer credit podcastJan 2021
Host
- Hosted a monthly podcast on household finance with 15,000 regular listeners.
Education
Ph.D., Economics
University of Chicago2010 – 2016
Skills
Economics: Forecasting, Econometrics, Consumer credit, Labour economics
Tools: Stata, R, Python, SQL, EViews