Sandile Hlatshwayo: “These are historic times, and they need a historic response”

A personal journey of macroeconomic curiosity has led UC Berkeley alum Sandile Hlatshwayo Ph.D. ’17 to the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) as a senior economist. Hlatshwayo is covering the international portfolio during her year at CEA, which advises the president on trade, inflation, employment, supply chains, and other top economic issues. She is on a temporary leave from the International Monetary Fund, where she began working in 2017.

Hlatshwayo’s career trajectory began with an “econ origin story,” as she calls it, which stemmed from growing up in suburban Ohio and often visiting family in South Africa and Brooklyn, New York. She wondered why those three places were so different, why there was inequality within each community, and why immigrant groups often congregated around specific cities. Her interest in exploring those questions eventually led her west to Berkeley.

“I loved my time at Cal,” said Hlatshwayo. “Number one, you were getting this world-class education. And, number two, the people — professors, administrators, my fellow students — were thoughtful, cared about the policy impact of their work, and were incredibly generous with their time. It was a beautiful environment to study within.”

“I remember Sandile as one of the most original and energetic students I have advised,” said Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, UC Berkeley’s Edward G. and Nancy S. Jordan Professor of Economics. “I am not at all surprised by her success at the International Monetary Fund and now her recruitment by the Council of Economic Advisers, where I am sure she will have an impressive impact on national policy.”

When Hlatshwayo looks back at her time at Berkeley, she has fond memories of watching the sun set over the Bay as her cohort worked on problem sets late into the night and eating lots of Cheeseboard pizza, which she considers to be among the best in the country. Luckily for her, there is also a strong alumni network in Washington, D.C.

“You have quite a number of Cal economics grads here in D.C. — be it in academia, in government, at think tanks, or at international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank — and we lean on each other for both friendship and research advice,” said Hlatshwayo. “During the pandemic, an informal group of us, self-labeled as the ‘Regression Club,’ was meeting every other week to talk about research questions and share advice on how best to tackle them. Some of the work we discussed has made it into published, peer-reviewed journal articles since then.”

UC Berkeley’s Department of Economics has a strong connection to the Council of Economic Advisers. Professors Aaron Edlin and Jesse Rothstein also served as senior economists, as did Lisa D. Cook, an alum who is now a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Several others who have studied or taught at Berkeley, including Michael Boskin, Laura Tyson, Janet Yellen, and Christina Romer, were chairs of the Council, and one of Hlatshwayo’s advisers, Professor Maurice Obstfeld, was a member.

Hlatshwayo’s work at the International Monetary Fund included leveraging her strong foundations from Berkeley in modeling countries’ economic outlooks, forecasting risks associated with social unrest and corruption, and analyzing the impact of policy uncertainty on international trade. Following economic shocks from the pandemic to the war in Ukraine to supply chain disruptions, Hlatshwayo is able to draw upon her extensive research and policy experience to provide guidance at CEA around international risk and uncertainty.

She is also adept at explaining macroeconomic topics to a general audience, a feat she managed through the International Monetary Fund’s “Ask an Economist” series. Her communications skills come through when talking about some of the major policies implemented in recent years, such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“These types of policies match the moment and what's needed by the country to address the multitude of cross-cutting issues that we're grappling with,” said Hlatshwayo. “These are historic times, and they need a historic response.”

“I'm incredibly driven by altruism. If I'm working on something at 1 a.m., it's really important for that to be for the greater good.”

Hlatshwayo is a firm believer in paying it forward. Graduate school can feel financially out of reach for many, which limits who enters the top tier of many professions.

“As a grad student,” recalled Hlatshwayo, “I remember being thankful for every $500, $1,000, $2,000 that was helping cover my costs. The Bay Area is very expensive. The economics Ph.D. program is incredibly rigorous and demanding, and the idea of also having to think through how you're going to eat for the month is not something you want added on to that. And I know financial constraints can be more binding for folks coming from under-represented backgrounds than they are for others.”

To ease this financial burden, Hlatshwayo’s family provided a generous gift in 2020 to support Berkeley graduate students in economics. Hlatshwayo isn’t resting on her laurels now; she mentors early career professionals and is involved in programs that seek to diversify the pipeline into economics.

“I have incredible mentors and advisers who truly champion me — and it is impossible to overstate their role in my accomplishments,” said Hlatshwayo. “I try to be that to others through programs and organizations like the Ph.D. Excellence Initiative, the Sadie Collective, Research in Color Foundation, and the Committee on the Status of LGBTQ+ Individuals in the Economics Profession.”

Her desire to give back is, after all, what motivated her to enter public service after earning her doctorate.

“I'm incredibly driven by altruism,” explained Hlatshwayo. “If I'm working on something at 1 a.m., it's really important for that to be for the greater good. It goes back to the way I was raised and the wonderful people that I was raised by. There is a firm expectation that you need to always seek out opportunities to serve others in any way that you can.”

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