Do Men and Women-Economists Choose the Same Research Fields? Evidence from Top-50 Departments

41 Pages Posted: 5 Dec 2005

See all articles by Juan Jose Dolado

Juan Jose Dolado

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Florentino Felgueroso

Universidad de Oviedo - Facultad de Economicas; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Miguel Almunia

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 2005

Abstract

This paper describes the gender distribution of research fields chosen by the faculty members in the top fifty Economics departments, according to the rankings available on the Econphd.net website. We document that women are unevenly distributed across fields and test some behavioral implications from theories underlying such disparities. Our main findings are that the probability that a woman chooses a given field is positively related to the share of women in that field (path-dependence), and that the share of women in a field at a given department increases with the sizes of the department and field, while it decreases with their average quality. However, these patterns seem to be changing for younger female faculty members. Further, by using Ph.D. cohorts, we document how gender segregation across fields has evolved over the last four decades.

Keywords: men and women-economists, research fields, gender segregation

JEL Classification: A11, J16, J70

Suggested Citation

Dolado, Juan Jose and Felgueroso Fernández, Florentino José and Almunia Candela, Miguel, Do Men and Women-Economists Choose the Same Research Fields? Evidence from Top-50 Departments (November 2005). IZA Discussion Paper No. 1859, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=866886 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.866886

Juan Jose Dolado (Contact Author)

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Florentino José Felgueroso Fernández

Universidad de Oviedo - Facultad de Economicas ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Miguel Almunia Candela

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid ( email )

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Spain