Public Economics and Inequality: Uncovering Our Social Nature

By Emmanuel Saez

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

This paper argues that the social nature of humans, absent from the standard economic model, is crucial for understanding our large modern social states and why concerns about inequality are so pervasive. A social solution arises when a situation is resol...

Confederate Streets and Black-White Labor Market Differentials

By Jhacova A. Williams

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Using a unique dataset, this paper examines the extent to which streets named after prominent Confederate generals are related to Black-White labor market differentials. Examining individual-level data shows that Blacks who reside in areas that have a rel...

The Capital Asset Pricing Model: Theory and Evidence

[Symposium: Fortieth Anniversary of CAPM]

By Eugene F. Fama and Kenneth R. French

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2004

The capital asset pricing model (CAPM) of William Sharpe (1964) and John Lintner (1965) marks the birth of asset pricing theory (resulting in a Nobel Prize for Sharpe in 1990). Before their breakthrough, there were no asset pricing models built from first...

Homefront: Black Veterans and Black Voters in the Civil Rights Era

By Thomas Koch, Trevon D. Logan, and John M. Parman

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

While the role of World War II veterans in the civil rights movement has been well documented, debate about the causal effect of military service remains. Combining detailed information on World War II enlistments and Civil Rights Commission data on voter...

On the Inequity of Predicting A While Hoping for B

By Sendhil Mullainathan and Ziad Obermeyer

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Algorithms trained to predict mismeasured proxy variables can reproduce and scale up racial bias. This mechanism of algorithmic bias is distinct from others in the literature and harder to detect. We show this using examples from health care, but the forc...

Adaptive Correspondence Experiments

By Hadar Avivi, Patrick Kline, Evan Rose, and Christopher Walters

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Correspondence experiments probe for discrimination by manipulating employer perceptions of applicant characteristics. We consider the gains from dynamically adapting the number and quality of fictitious applications each employer receives to their prior ...

Measuring Racial Discrimination in Algorithms

By David Arnold, Will Dobbie, and Peter Hull

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Algorithmic decision-making can lead to discrimination against legally protected groups, but measuring such discrimination is often hampered by a fundamental selection challenge. We develop new quasi-experimental tools to overcome this challenge and measu...

Diversity in Economics Seminars: Who Gives Invited Talks?

By Jennifer L. Doleac, Erin Hengel, and Elizabeth Pancotti

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Invited seminar talks are a primary way that economists get feedback on their work, disseminate their research, and build their professional networks. In this paper, we present descriptive evidence on who gave invited seminar talks in economics. We use a ...

Gendered Citations at Top Economic Journals

By Marlène Koffi

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

This paper investigates how women's works are perceived among their peers. I construct a dataset using bibliographic data from articles published in top journals in economics and granular information on the articles that cite them. I find that female-auth...

Confidence Men? Evidence on Confidence and Gender among Top Economists

By Heather Sarsons and Guo Xu

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Using data from economists working in top US universities, we find that women are less confident than men along three margins. When asked about their level of agreement on survey questions about the economy, women are less likely to provide a judgment tha...

Using Longitudinal Data to Explore the Gender Gap for Academic Economists

By Kelly Bedard, Maxine Lee, and Heather Royer

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

There are widespread gender inequities within the economics discipline. In this paper, we collect and analyze new longitudinal salary and personnel data from top economics departments at public institutions. A panel spanning 2005 to 2018 allows us to foll...

Gender Differences in Fields of Specialization and Placement Outcomes among PhDs in Economics

By Nicole Fortin, Thomas Lemieux, and Marit Rehavi

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

This paper investigates the impact of gender differences in field of specialization on gender disparities in job placement among recent economics PhD candidates. Women are underrepresented as assistant professors, especially at top-50 institutions, and ov...

Does Mentoring Increase the Collaboration Networks of Female Economists? An Evaluation of the CeMENT Randomized Trial

By Donna K. Ginther and Rina Na

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Previous research has shown that women in the treatment group of the CeMENT randomized controlled trial increased their publications and the likelihood that they were tenured in top-50 economics departments. This paper examines one potential mechanism, na...

Economic Policy and Prospects in Iraq

[Symposium: Middle East]

By Christopher Foote, William Block, Keith Crane, and Simon Gray

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2004

This paper describes the Coalition Provisional Authority's attempts to stabilize and reform Iraq's economy along market lines. It argues that while security concerns remain serious, Iraq's economy has not been crippled by violence. However, sustained econ...

Field Specializations among Beginning Economists: Are There Gender Differences?

By Eva Sierminska and Ronald L. Oaxaca

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

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 probab...

Microcommitments: The Effect of Small Commitments on Student Success

By Amanda J. Felkey, Eva Dziadula, Eric P. Chiang, and Jose Vazquez

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

We conducted a randomized control trial with nearly 1,000 students to test whether using a text-message-based tool that provides small commitments with social accountability helps students procrastinate less and maintain engagement with course material, y...

Identifying Students at Risk Using a New Math Skills Assessment

By George Orlov, Douglas McKee, Irene R. Foster, Daria Bottan, and Stephanie R. Thomas

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Math skills are critical for success in economics courses. However, instructors often lack information about the level and extent of their students' underpreparedness in mathematics. In this paper, we describe the development of two new assessments of mat...

Grade Sensitivity and the Economics Major at a Women's College

By Patrick J. McEwan, Sheridan Rogers, and Akila Weerapana

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

We use a regression discontinuity design to estimate the causal effect of letter grades in introductory courses on the probability of choosing an economics major at Wellesley College, a highly selective women's college. We find that women just above lette...

Minimum Grade Requirements for Economics Majors: Effects on Enrollments and Student Learning

By Stephen J. Schmidt

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

This paper studies one college's policy requiring minimum grades in core courses for completion of the economics major. The policy reduced majors by approximately 6 percent. Grades of C- and D (requiring students to retake the course) dropped substantiall...

Does Advisor Gender Affect Women's Persistence in Economics?

By Serena Canaan and Pierre Mouganie

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Women persist in the field of economics at significantly lower rates than men. We show that the gender of an academic advisor is an important determinant of female undergraduates' persistence in economics. We use data from a four-year college where first-...