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  5. Discrimination in Economics and the Labor Market
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Discrimination in Economics and the Labor Market

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 3, 2025 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (PST)

Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Golden Gate 1&2
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Gordon Dahl, University of California-San Diego

Anonymity and Identity Online

Florian Ederer
,
Boston University
Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham
,
Yale University
Kyle Jensen
,
Yale University

Abstract

Economics Job Market Rumors (EJMR) is an online forum and clearing house for information about the academic job market for economists. It also includes content that is abusive, defamatory, racist, misogynistic, or otherwise “toxic.” Almost all of this content is created anonymously by contributors who receive a four-character username when posting on EJMR. Using only publicly available data we show that the statistical properties of the scheme by which these usernames were generated allows the IP addresses from which most posts were made to be determined with high probability. We recover 47,630 distinct IP addresses of EJMR posters and attribute them to 66.1% of the roughly 7 million posts made over the past 12 years. We geolocate posts and describe aggregated cross-sectional variation—particularly regarding toxic, misogynistic, and hate speech—across sub-forums, geographies, institutions, and IP addresses. Our analysis suggests that content on EJMR comes from all echelons of the economics profession, including, but not limited to, its elite institutions.

Are There Gender and Race/Ethnicity Differences in Promotion in Academic Economics?

Donna Ginther
,
University of Kansas
Shulamit Kahn
,
Boston University
Daria Milakhina
,
University of Kansas

Abstract

Using data from the 2009-2022 waves of Academic Analytics linked to information on journal publications in economics as well as multiple approaches to identifying race to examine gender, race and ethnicity differences in promotion to associate and full professor ranks for academic economists. These data allow us to identify economists working in non-economics departments, approximately one-third of the sample. The share of female and Asian economists has increased over the sample time period. However, the share of Black economists has remained stuck at a mere 3% of the sample. As we have documented previously, there is a significant and large gender gap in promotion to associate and full professor in economics departments as well as promotion to full professor in non-economics departments. This gap shows no improvement. However, there is no gender gap in promotion to associate professor in non-economics departments. We find very little evidence of race penalties in promotion, and no evidence of intersectional race and gender promotion penalties. However, statistical significance is difficult to obtain with such small numbers.

Taryn versus Taryn (she/her) versus Taryn (they/them): A Field Experiment on Pronoun Disclosure and Hiring Discrimination

Taryn Eames
,
University of Toronto

Abstract

Nonbinary people have a gender identity that falls outside the male-female binary. To investigate hiring discrimination against this group, thousands of randomly generated fictitious resumes were submitted to job postings in pairs where the treatment resume contained pronouns listed below the name and the control resume did not. Two treatments are considered: nonbinary "they/them” and binary "he/him” or "she/her” pronouns congruent with implied sex. Hence, discrimination is estimated against nonbinary and presumed cisgender applicants who disclose pronouns. Results show that disclosing "they/them" pronouns reduces positive employer response by 5.4 percentage points. There is also evidence that discrimination is larger (approximately double) in Republican than Democratic geographies. By comparison, results are inconclusive regarding discrimination against presumed cisgender applicants who disclose pronouns; if discrimination does exist, it is of lower magnitude than discrimination against nonbinary applicants who disclose pronouns.

Discussant(s)
Kate Bahn
,
Institute for Women's Policy Research
Trevon Logan
,
Ohio State University
Martha L. Olney
,
University of California-Berkeley
JEL Classifications
  • J7 - Labor Discrimination
  • J1 - Demographic Economics