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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

This study uses data from the 2009-2022 waves of Academic Analytics to examine gender and race/ethnicity differences in promotion to associate professor, full professor and named professor in economics. Academic Analytics is a company that provides data and analysis to higher education institutions including publications, grants, citations and awards to benchmark their faculty’s productivity. The sample includes annual data of all faculty provided by 323 higher education institutions in the US. We will use faculty who received PhDs from 2005-2012, that were observed as tenure-track assistant professors during that period. We will also follow individuals who were promoted to associate professor in 2010—2015 to determine whether they are promoted to full professor and named professor. Our research will determine whether research productivity is equally valued by gender and race/ethnicity in the academic promotion process.

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