A paper on which Ford School economics professor Justin Wolfers collaborated (with Pascaline Dupas, Alicia Sasser Modestino, Muriel Niederle, and a broader set of 97 economist collaborators known as the Seminar Dynamics Collective), “Gender and the Dynamics of Economics Seminars,” examines sexism in the profession. It is the "first systematic analysis of the culture of economics seminars," according to the authors. They plan to publish the working paper with the National Bureau of Economic Research and otherwise use it to promote change in "a field that has historically been unwelcoming to women."
The paper has received recognition in Inside Higher Education and The New York Times. IHE states, "Female economists probably didn’t need a quantitative study to know that they get asked more questions when presenting than their male counterparts. Indeed, many female academics are familiar with manterruptions... But numbers are a good thing -- especially to economists."
The Times notes, "The paper is the latest addition to a mounting body of evidence of gender discrimination in economics."
You can read the articles below:
- “For Women in Economics, the Hostility Is Out in the Open,” The New York Times, February 23, 2021
- "Gender and the Dynamics of Economics Seminars," Working Paper, February 17, 2021
- "Women in Economics, Interrupted", Inside Higher Education, February 9, 2021