The /r/economics mod team is opening Bureau Member flair for applications, and also introducing the new flair category "Quality Contributor"

Applying for Bureau Member status:

Bureau Members are users who consistently show graduate-level understanding of economics. We are looking for users who consistently show technical mastery of the subject matter and produce very high quality comments. While there is not a strict definition of acceptable credentials for the flair, we are setting the bar high (at the moment, we have roughly 40 Bureau Members for our 430K users). We are looking for people who are able to demonstrate a knowledge level that's somewhat equivalent to someone with a Master's degree in economics. That could mean a PhD student, a BA who has worked as a research analyst, or just someone who has made a heavy study of the field on their own.

If you are interested in Bureau Member flair, please submit to this thread 3-5 comments you've made that demonstrate a deep and broad understanding of economics and economic principles. These can be comments made in r/economics, or other relevant subreddits (such as /r/asksocialscience , /r/badeconomics, /r/askeconomics, etc.). You should also submit a 1-2 sentence primer on your economics background, so the mod team can contextualize these comments. We'll discuss applications in modmail, review user profiles, and will try our best to respond to all the applications.

For reference to see what past applications and discussions looked like, here's a link to the expired flair thread.

Applying for Quality Contributor status:

Quality Contributor flair is intended for users who produce high quality comments and are overall positive contributors to the community, but do not have quite as deep or technical a background as the Bureau Member flair requires. This flair is intended for users with roughly an undergraduate degree in economics - although it's less important that you actually have a degree, and more important that your comment history shows that level of understanding.

Quality Contributor flair applications will be judged by two principles - strong level of economics understanding, and adherence to the rules/positive involvement. As this flair is literally a signal for quality, the modteam expects both an understanding of economics and constructive participation in the community and in reddit at large. Users who frequently post in non-constructive ways (flame wars, in hate subreddits, insults, etc) will not qualify for QC flair.

If you are interested in Quality Contributor flair, please submit to this thread 3-5 comments you've made that demonstrate an understanding of economics and economic principles. These can be comments made in r/economics, or other relevant subreddits (such as /r/asksocialscience , /r/badeconomics, /r/askeconomics, etc.). You should also submit a 1-2 sentence primer on your economics background, so the mod team can contextualize these comments. We'll discuss applications in modmail, review user profiles, and will try our best to respond to all the applications.

Other Notes

• Users with Quality Contributor flair in /r/AskEconomics will be granted the same flair in /r/economics should they request it (and vice versa).
• All flairs decisions are managed at the mod team's discretion.