« Back to Results

Panel: Gender Differences in the Economics Profession

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021 12:15 PM - 2:15 PM (EST)

Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Judith Chevalier, Yale University

Diversity in Economics Seminars: Who gives Invited Talks?

Jennifer Doleac
,
Texas A&M University
Erin Hengel
,
University of Liverpool
Elizabeth Pancotti
,
Employ America

Abstract

This paper describes the diversity of economics seminars. It summarizes both the type of research presented and the demographics and institutional background of the presenting economists. The analysis is based on a comprehensive database of over 15,000 seminars held between 2005-2018 in the economics departments of over 70 universities worldwide. It includes data on presenters' gender, race, nationality, current affiliation, PhD institution and experience in the profession; it also contains information on the subfield, publication outlet and citations of the papers they presented. We conclude by outlining several actionable steps departments can take to increase the diversity of their own seminar series.

Innovative Ideas and Gender Inequality

Marlène Koffi
,
University of Toronto

Abstract

This paper analyzes the recognition of women's innovative ideas. Bibliometric data from research in economics are used to investigate gender biases in citation patterns. Based on deep learning and machine learning techniques, one can (1) establish the similarities between papers (2) build a link between articles by identifying the papers citing, cited and that should be cited. This study finds that, on average, omitted papers are 20% more likely to be female-authored than male-authored. This omission bias is more prevalent when there are only males in the citing paper. Overall, to have the same level of citation as papers written by males, papers written by females need to be 20 percentiles upper in the distribution of the degree of innovativeness of the paper.

Confidence Men? Gender Differences in Confidence among Top Economists

Heather Sarsons
,
University of Chicago
Guo Xu
,
University of California-Berkeley

Abstract

We study heterogeneity in the confidence gap using data from economists working in top U.S. universities. We find that, consistent with prior literature, women are on average less confident than men. When asked about their level of agreement on survey questions about the economy, women are less likely to provide a judgment than their male counterparts. Conditional on providing a judgment, women are less likely to give “extreme” answers in which they strongly agree or disagree and are also less confident in the accuracy of their answer. However, we find that the confidence gap is entirely driven by women being less confident than men when asked questions outside their field of expertise. Within one's field of expertise, there is no confidence gender confidence gap.

A Longitudinal Look at Gender Gaps in the Salaries of Economists at United States Public Institutions

Kelly Bedard
,
University of California-Santa Barbara
Chang Hyung (Max) Lee
,
San Francisco State University
Heather N. Royer
,
University of California-Santa Barbara

Abstract

This paper investigates gender gaps in salaries among academic economists employed at public universities in the United States. Using newly-collected data from the top 50 economics programs, we are able to track career trajectories and document how differences in salary by gender evolve across one’s years in the profession. We examine how much of the gender gap is explained by differences in citations and top publications.
Discussant(s)
Patrick Bayer
,
Duke University
Donna Ginther
,
University of Kansas
Jonathan Guryan
,
Northwestern University
Jenna Stearns
,
University of California-Davis
JEL Classifications
  • A1 - General Economics
  • J1 - Demographic Economics