Engineers are vital in shaping the world’s infrastructure, but when it comes to shaping the policies that govern those systems, their voices are often missing from the table. In his latest op-ed for the National Academy of Engineering’s publication The Bridge, Columbia Electrical Engineering Professor Debasis Mitra, a member of the NAE, lays out a compelling case for why that must change.
Titled “Why Engineers Should Learn Economics,” the essay challenges the status quo: economists routinely influence public and private sector policy, while engineers—those who implement and are directly impacted by such decisions—often lack the economic knowledge and fluency to meaningfully participate in those discussions.
“While economists hold sway in policy-making,” Mitra writes, “engineers are in the unenviable position of being the policy-enablers without a major say in policy-making.”
Bridging the Disciplinary Divide
Mitra argues for integrating micro- and macroeconomics into engineering education—not just accounting principles, but models of social welfare, markets, fiscal policy, and investment. Understanding these fundamentals, he says, would empower engineers to both navigate and challenge the economic narratives that shape everything from globalization to infrastructure funding.
Drawing from historical case studies—from the Bell System’s systems integration to Boeing’s outsourcing reversals—Mitra illustrates how engineering expertise could have warned against economically driven decisions that disrupted critical feedback loops intrinsic to best engineering practices and reduced long-term innovation capacity.
Economics of Integration and Innovation
One key insight in the piece is how economic theory often overlooks the deep value of integration in engineering systems. Referencing the work of systems pioneer Hendrik Bode and Nobel economist Kenneth Arrow, Mitra shows how both fields—though speaking different languages—grapple with similar questions around learning-by-doing, feedback systems, and path dependence.
His analysis extends into present-day issues like semiconductor manufacturing and climate change, where he sees enormous potential for economists and engineers to collaborate more deeply.
“The scale of business and the need to address grand challenges, such as climate change, will undoubtedly become more global and complex,” Mitra notes. “Knowledge of economic fundamentals will be ever-increasingly essential.”
Educating the Next Generation
Mitra isn’t just calling for change—he’s building it. At Columbia, he teaches two graduate courses that combine engineering and economics:
- Internet Economics, Engineering, and the Implications for Society
- Future Energy: Economics, Systems, Policies
These interdisciplinary efforts are equipping future engineers with the vocabulary and critical thinking skills to not only build technologies—but to influence the systems and policies that determine their use.
About the Author:
Professor Debasis Mitra is a senior research scientist in Columbia’s Department of Electrical Engineering and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. His research spans computing and communications networks and systems, and now, the vital intersections of engineering and economics.
Read the full op-ed in The Bridge here.
