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Gender Issues in Economics

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 5, 2018 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM

Marriott Philadelphia Downtown, Grand Ballroom Salon C
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Justin Wolfers, University of Michigan

Publishing while female

Erin Hengel
,
University of Liverpool

Abstract

I use readability scores to test if women are held to higher standards in academic peer review. I find: (i) female-authored papers are 1–6 percent better written than equivalent papers by men; (ii) the gap is almost two times higher in published articles than in earlier, draft versions of the same papers; (iii) women's writing gradually improves but men's does not—meaning the readability gap grows over authors' careers. Within a subjective expected utility framework, I exploit authors' decisions to show that tougher editorial standards and/or biased referee assignment are uniquely consistent with the observed pattern of choices. A conservative causal estimate derived from the model suggests senior female economists write at least 9 percent more clearly than they otherwise would. I then document evidence that higher standards affect behaviour and lower productivity. First, female-authored papers take half a year longer in peer review. Second, as women update beliefs about referees' standards, they increasingly meet those standards before peer review. Finally, I discuss channels that potentially motivate discrimination by referees and/or editors and present correlation evidence for one.

Gender Stereotyping in Academia: Evidence From Economics Job Market Rumors Forum

Alice H. Wu
,
University of California-Berkeley

Abstract

Stereotyping, the process of ascribing characteristics based on group membership, can exaggerate the contrast between in-group and out-group and foster an unwelcoming atmosphere. This paper examines the existence and extent of gender stereotyping on Economics Job Market Rumors, an anonymous online forum with academic and professional purposes. First, I use a Lasso Logistic model to directly capture the gender stereotyped language. Discussions about women tend to focus more on physical appearance or family information, whereas discussions about men are more on their academic or professional aspects. The topic analysis provides further evidence on this finding from a more aggregate perspective. In addition, I develop an econometric framework to study gender stereotyping in the dynamics of a conversation. I find that there is a significantly stronger deviation from an Academic/Professional focus when there is a prior mention of women; in contrast, the deviation from a Personal/Physical topic is stronger if the prior post is about men rather than women. Last, female economists tend to receive more attention online than their male counterparts, a pattern that further emphasizes the need to reduce stereotyping and maintain an inclusive environment.

Gender and Racial Diversity in Economics Textbooks

Betsey Stevenson
,
University of Michigan

Abstract

We examine the text of leading principles and intermediate economics textbooks to assess how gender and race are represented. Authors make decisions regarding pronouns, real-life examples, and fictionalized accounts that lead to texts being tilted toward a white male representation of economics. We first count the use of pronouns and show that male pronouns occur more than twice as often as female pronouns in many texts. We then examine the role that men and women play in various examples, to assess how often these examples are grounded in traditional gender stereotypes. Finally, we assess the names in the texts using established methods of assigning probabilistic race to various characters. This assignment is used both to consider the mix of racially diverse examples and to assess whether the examples involve racial stereotypes, such as white male businessmen and black male athletes.

What Can UWE Do for Economics?

Tatyana Avilova
,
Columbia University
Claudia Goldin
,
Harvard University

Abstract

Men outnumber women as undergraduate economics majors by three to one nationwide. Even at the best research universities and liberal arts colleges men outnumber women by two to one or more. The Undergraduate Women in Economics Challenge was begun in 2015 as an RCT with 20 treatment schools and at least 30 control schools to evaluate whether better course information, mentoring, encouragement, career counseling, and more relevant instructional content could move the needle. Although the RCT is still in the field, results from several within treatment-school randomized trials demonstrate that uncomplicated and inexpensive interventions can substantially increase the interest of women to major in economics.
Discussant(s)
John Leahy
,
University of Michigan
Shelly Lundberg
,
University of California-Santa Barbara
Rachel Kranton
,
Duke University
Martha Bailey
,
University of Michigan
JEL Classifications
  • A1 - General Economics