Monash Business School econometrician joins global elite

22 October 2025

Professor Heather Anderson.

Monash Business School Emeritus Professor Heather Anderson, from the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, has joined the ranks of the world’s leading economists after being elected a Fellow of the Econometric Society.

Regarded as one of the highest distinctions in the discipline, the Fellowship honours scholars whose research has made a significant and enduring international impact.

Fewer than 1,300 people have been elected since the Society’s founding in 1930, and this year, just 25 new Fellows were chosen from universities and institutions worldwide.

The Econometric Society is the foremost international organisation for the advancement of economic theory through mathematics and statistics, publishing influential journals including Econometrica, Quantitative Economics and Theoretical Economics. Its Fellows include 86 Nobel Laureates and many of the field’s most influential thinkers.

Professor Anderson said she was honoured to join such esteemed company.

“It’s deeply gratifying to have my work recognised in this way,” Prof Anderson said. “To be elected by peers whose research I’ve long admired is a tremendous honour.”

While holding the Maureen Brunt Professorship of Economics and Econometrics at Monash Business School she made major contributions to applied econometrics, with research spanning macro-econometrics, financial econometrics and climate econometrics.

She has served as Replication Editor for the Journal of Applied Econometrics and as Associate Editor for the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics. She is also a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the International Association of Applied Econometrics, and has played an active role in supporting the Econometric Society’s work in Australia since her days as a graduate student.

Her research papers on multivariate cointegration, nonlinear time series and common factors that study the behaviour of interest rates and business cycles are widely cited and provide empirical examples that now appear in leading textbooks.

In recent years, Professor Anderson’s research has turned to climate econometrics, exploring how data-driven approaches can inform more effective policy.

“Much of my recent work looks at how we can use data to understand and predict the economic impacts of climate change,” she said. “While large simulation models used by physicists study physical aspects of climate change, my work adds the expertise of social scientists and observed time series analysists to develop tailored policies that aim to encourage sustainable economic growth with a stable energy supply that has lower carbon emission.”

Professor Anderson said the Fellowship also offered a platform to champion gender diversity in a field that has long been male-dominated.

“Econometrics has changed a lot since I was a graduate student, but there’s still work to do,” she said. “Visibility matters. When women see others succeeding at this level, it can help to attract and retain the next generation of talent.”

To learn more about the Econometric Society, visit econometricsociety.org.