Riona Lesslar
Riona is an Assistant Economist at the Northern Ireland Civil Service where she reviews large government projects to ensure value for money. She studied Economics and Chinese at the University of Edinburgh and from there went on to study a Masters in Economics at Zhejiang University in China.
Why did you choose to study economics?
Like many other economists, I've always enjoyed math. When it was time to choose a subject for university, the 2008 financial crash had just happened, and I was curious about why it had such a huge impact on the world. During my gap year as an au pair in Switzerland, the family I worked for helped me understand the importance of economics and how it affects our lives. Their guidance, combined with my interest in math and the desire to understand the financial crisis, led me to choose economics as my field of study.
How would you describe economics?
For me, Economics is being able to rank and put a price on basically anything that anybody wants and this allows us to understand how resources are allocated.
If you had a time machine and could meet your 16-year-old self, what advice would you give them?
To think more seriously about what career I wanted to have rather than what subject I wanted to do at university.
What is your favourite part of economics?
My favourite part of Economics is how crucial it is in decision making and how so much of the world can be understood through it.
Is there anything you would do differently if you had the chance?
I think I would have studied Maths to a higher level because of how valuable it is in the application of economics.