Field Specializations among Beginning Economists: Are There Gender Differences?
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 111,
May 2021
(pp. 86-91)
Abstract
We examine the process underlying field specialization among beginning economists. Our multivariate logit framework accommodates single- and dual-field specializations with correlated choices. Including field-specific relative salaries and expected probabilities of academic employment is a novel aspect of this research. After conditioning on personal, economic, and institutional variables, we find that women graduate students are less likely to specialize in labor/health, macro/finance, industrial organization, public economics, and development/growth/international fields and are more likely to specialize in agricultural/resource/environmental fields. The Duncan dissimilarity index suggests that 14 percent of either sex would have to change specialization in order to achieve complete parity.Citation
Sierminska, Eva, and Ronald L. Oaxaca. 2021. "Field Specializations among Beginning Economists: Are There Gender Differences?" AEA Papers and Proceedings, 111: 86-91. DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20211030Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- A14 Sociology of Economics
- J16 Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination