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Economics of Gender in the Economics Profession

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 5, 2024 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (CST)

Grand Hyatt, Lone Star Ballroom Salon B
Hosted By: American Economic Association & Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession
  • Chair: Francisca Antman, University of Colorado-Boulder

What Did UWE Do for Economics

Tatyana Avilova
,
Bowdoin College
Claudia Goldin
,
Harvard University

Abstract

Economics is among the most popular undergraduate majors. However, even at the best research universities and liberal arts colleges men outnumber women by two to one, and overall there are about 2.5 males to every female economics major. The Undergraduate Women in Economics (UWE) Challenge was begun in 2015 for one year as a randomized controlled trial with 20 treatment and 68 control schools to evaluate the impact of deliberate efforts to recruit and retain female economics majors. Treatment schools received funding, guidance, and access to networking with other treatment schools to implement interventions such as providing better information about the application of economics, exposing students to role models, and updating course content and pedagogy. Using 2001-2021 data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) on graduating BAs, we find that UWE was effective in increasing the fraction of female BAs who majored in economics relative to men in liberal arts colleges. Large universities did not show an impact of the treatment, although those that implemented their own RCTs showed moderate success in encouraging more women to major in economics. We speculate on the reasons for differential treatment impact.

Moving in Academia: Who Moves and What Happens After?

Melany Gualavisi
,
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
Marieke Kleemans
,
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign
Rebecca Thornton
,
Baylor University

Abstract

TBD

Parenthood and Academic Career Trajectories

Anne Sophie Lassen
,
Copenhagen Business School
Ria Ivandic
,
University of Oxford

Abstract

Women continue to be underrepresented in the field of economics, particularly among permanent faculty. This paper asks how fertility impacts women's academic careers in economics by estimating child penalties for women and men economists' likelihood of staying in academia, receiving promotions, and publishing research papers. Our analysis relies on administrative data from Denmark covering individuals enrolling in Ph.D. programs in economics, allowing us to overcome survivorship bias. We link data on labor market outcomes, such as whether individuals work in academia, with information on fertility, and high-quality publication data. By studying the population entering Ph.D. programs, we focus on the early pipeline into the profession.
Our research provides three insights. First, we document that most of both men and women have children, and we find no evidence that those who remain in academia delay or reduce their fertility compared to those who leave. The arrival of children does not influence graduation rates, and parents are equally likely to publish as non-parents. Second, we show that the mothers publishing before parenthood are positively selected on prior academic performance compared to fathers and compared to other women. Third, our event study estimates show that parenthood persistently reduces women’s likelihood of staying in academia by 10 percentage points relative to men. While both new mothers and fathers leave universities, new mothers are more likely to leave the broader research sector. Among those who stay in academia, women are less likely to obtain tenured positions during the three years following parenthood. The gender gap in the number of publications is insignificant across specifications, and controlling for publications does not influence the gender gap in promotions.

Half Empty and Half Full? Women in Economics and the Rise in Gender-Related Research

Xuechao Qian
,
Stanford University
Francisca Antman
,
University of Colorado-Boulder
Kirk Doran
,
University of Notre Dame
Bruce Weinberg
,
Ohio State University

Abstract

This paper estimates the contributions of women to the evolution of research ideas and innovation in economics as well as the influence of supply and demand-side factors which contribute to their representation in the economics profession. We begin by linking the universe of doctoral dissertations from ProQuest which include author name, title, field, institution, and dissertation advisors, with indicators of dissertation research topics given by the Journal of Economic Literature codes found in the EconLit database. The resulting data set allows us to use naming algorithms to identify likely gender of the dissertation authors as well as their advisors and explore whether women authors are more likely to write on innovative topics and whether women advisors are more likely to advise dissertations in innovative areas. We also examine whether women authors (advisors) are more likely to write (advise) on topics of particular benefit or interest to women more broadly, thus marking an important contribution of women economists in specific study areas and quantifying the value of demographic diversity in the research realm. Finally, we link women economists by their field of research with data on the demand for economists by field and academic institution given by the Job Openings for Economists (JOE) database to quantify the extent to which field-specific demand constraints affect the representation of women as professional academic economists. Preliminary evidence suggests that women are significantly more likely than men to author dissertations on topics relating to women and gender as well as to write dissertations on topics related to inequality and discrimination. Similarly, women are significantly more likely than men to advise dissertations on these topics. This suggests that women are making important contributions to the study of women and inequality in the economics profession.

Discussant(s)
Danila Serra
,
Texas A&M University
Joyce Jacobsen
,
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Shulamit Kahn
,
Boston University
Shaianne Osterreich
,
Ithaca College
JEL Classifications
  • A1 - General Economics
  • I2 - Education and Research Institutions