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PRME Gender Equality Working Group
Global Repository
“Economics”
Coordinator: Patricia M. Flynn, Trustee Professor of Economics & Management, Bentley University
Waltham, MA, USA pflynn@bentley.edu
CONTENTS
I. CASE STUDIES ...................................................................................................................................................................... 4
“Bank of London” ................................................................................................................................................................ 4
“Competing for Development (B4): International Lifeline Fund” .................................................................. 4
“Gone Rural”.......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
“Women’s World Bank is Creating New Futures” ................................................................................................. 5
II. COURSES & SYLLABI ....................................................................................................................................................... 6
“The Economics of Higher Education” ....................................................................................................................... 6
“The Economics of Social Interaction” ....................................................................................................................... 6
“Emerging Markets and the Multinational Firm” .................................................................................................. 6
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/emerging-markets-and-multinational-firm ... 6
“Gender Perspectives on Economic Analysis: Macroeconomics, Public Finance, Trade and
Investment” ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7
“Gender Perspectives on Economic Analysis: Microeconomics, Labor, Poverty and Social Policy” 7
“Macroeconomics and the Supply Side” .................................................................................................................... 8
“Markets and the Firm” .................................................................................................................................................... 8
“Social Sector Needs Assessment” ............................................................................................................................... 8
“Strategy and Organisational Performance: Economics” ................................................................................... 9
“Sustainable Business in Emerging Markets” ....................................................................................................... 10
“Work and Family” ........................................................................................................................................................... 10
III. TEXTS................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide ......................................... 11
The Political Economy of Inequality: Frontier Issues in Economic Thought ........................................... 11
Squaring Up: Policy Strategies to Raise Women’s Incomes in the United States .................................. 11
Who Benefits from Shared Capitalism? The Social Stratification of Wealth and Power in
Companies with Employee Ownership.................................................................................................................... 12
IV. BEST PRACTICES............................................................................................................................................................. 12
V. SEARCH ENGINES............................................................................................................................................................. 12
VI. PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC ASSOCIATIONS & SUBDIVISIONS ................................................................. 12
The African Women’s Economic Policy Network (AWEPON) (Uganda, East Africa) ........................... 12
The Canadian Women Economists Network ......................................................................................................... 13
Chinese Women Economists Network..................................................................................................................... 13
Committee for Women in Economics, The Economics Society of Australia (ST IVES, NSW,
Australia).............................................................................................................................................................................. 13
Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP), American Economic
Association (AEA) ............................................................................................................................................................. 13
The Royal Economics Society’s (RES) Women’s Committee (UK) ............................................................... 14
Standing Committee on Women in Economics (WinE), European Economic Association (EEA) ... 14
VII. OTHER RESOURCES AT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES OR OTHER ORGANIZATIONS ............... 14
VIII. DATA SOURCES............................................................................................................................................................ 14
IX. RELATED RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................................... 14
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Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina; Bansak,Cynthia & Raphael, Steven, 2007. "Gender Differences in the
Labor Market: Impact of IRCA." American Economic Review, 97(2): 412–416. ...................................... 14
Attanasio, Orazio; Low, Hamish & Sanchez-Marcos, Virginia, 2008. "Explaining Changes in Female
Labor Supply in a Life-Cycle Model." American Economic Review, 98(4): 1517–52. ............................ 14
Ballard, Charles, and Marianne Johnson. "Gender, expectations, and grades in introductory
microeconomics at a US university." Feminist Economics 11.1 (2005): 95-122. .................................. 15
Bansak, Cynthia & Starr, Martha, 2006. “Gender Differences in Predispositions towards
Economics” (May)............................................................................................................................................................. 15
Bartlett, Robin L., and Susan F. . "Balancing the economics curriculum: Content, method, and
pedagogy." The American Economic Review (1992): 559-564..................................................................... 15
Bartlett, Robin L. "Discovering diversity in introductory economics." The Journal of Economic
Perspectives 10.2 (1996): 141-153. ......................................................................................................................... 16
Bartlett, Robin. Introducing race and gender into economics. Routledge, 1997 ................................... 17
Bartlett, R. L., Ferber, M. A., & Green, C. A. (2009). The Committee on Economic Education: Its
Effect on the Introductory Course and Women in Economics. Forum For Social Economics, 38(23), 153-172. ......................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Benería, Lourdes. "Toward a greater integration of gender in economics." World development
23.11 (1995): 1839-1850.............................................................................................................................................. 17
Bergmann, Barbara R. "Women's roles in the economy: Teaching the issues." Journal of Economic
Education (1987): 393-407. ......................................................................................................................................... 18
Bertrand, Marianne; Goldin, Claudia & Katz, Lawrence F., 2010. "Dynamics of the Gender Gap for
Young Professionals in the Financial and Corporate Sectors." American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics, 2(3): 228–55.
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.3.228 .............................................................. 18
Blackaby, David, Booth, Alison L. & Frank, Jeff, 2002. “Outside Offers and the Gender Pay Gap:
Empirical Evidence from the UK,” (September). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 3549.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=342822 ........................................................................................................................... 19
Blau, Francine D., & Kahn, Lawrence M., 2000. "Gender Differences in Pay."Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 14(4): 75–99. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.14.4.75....... 19
Borg, M. O., & Stranahan, H. A. (2002). Personality Type and Student Performance in Upper-Level
Economics Courses: The Importance of Race and Gender. Journal Of Economic Education, 33(1), 314. ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 19
Carberry, Edward J., 2008. Who Benefits from Shared Capitalism? The Social Stratification of
Wealth and Power in Companies with Employee Ownership, University of Chicago Press.
http://caseplace.org/d.asp?d=3160......................................................................................................................... 20
Darity, William A., & Mason, Patrick L., 1998. "Evidence on Discrimination in Employment: Codes
of Color, Codes of Gender." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(2): 63–90. .......................................... 21
Dohmen, Thomas & Falk, Armin, 2011. "Performance Pay and Multidimensional Sorting:
Productivity, Preferences, and Gender,” American Economic Review, 101(2): 556–90. ..................... 21
Flynn, Patricia M. and Quinn, Michael A., 2010. “Economics: A Good Choice of Major for Future
CEOs,” The American Economist, 60, 58-72. ........................................................................................................... 22
Fortin, Nicole M. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2000. "Are Women's Wage Gains Men's Losses? A
Distributional Test." American Economic Review, 90(2): 456–460.
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.90.2.456............................................................. 27
Goldberg, Linda, & Tracy, Joseph, 2001. "Gender Differences in the Labor-Market Effects of the
Dollar." American Economic Review, 91(2): 400–405.
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.91.2.400............................................................. 27
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Hale, Galina & Regev, Tali, 2011. "Gender Ratios at Top PhD Programs in Economics" Federal
Reserve Bank, (August.) ................................................................................................................................................. 31
Heckman, James J., 1998. "Detecting Discrimination." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(2):
101–116................................................................................................................................................................................ 32
Hilmer, Christiana & Hilmer, Michael, 2007. "Women Helping Women, Men Helping Women?
Same Gender Mentoring, Initial Job Placements, and Early Career Publishing Success for
Economic PhDs," (May); AEA Papers and Proceedings; Vol. 97 No. 2; pp. 422 – 426............................ 32
Hotchkiss, Julie L., & Pitts, M. Melinda, 2007. "The Role of Labor Market Intermittency in
Explaining Gender Wage Differentials." American Economic Review, 97(2): 417–421. ...................... 34
Joy, Lois, 2000. "Do Colleges Shortchange Women? Gender Differences in the Transition from
College to Work." American Economic Review, 90(2): 471–475. .................................................................. 34
Kahn, Shulamit, 1995. "Women in the Economics Profession," Journal of Economic Perspectives;
Vol. 9, No. 4; pp. 193 – 205............................................................................................................................................ 34
Lückerath-Rovers, Mijntje, 2010. “ Women on Board and Firm Performance,” (April 9). ................ 35
McDowell, John; Singell, Larry, Jr.; & Stater, Mark, 2006. "Two to Tango? Gender Differences in
the Decisions to Publish and Coauthor, Economic Inquiry; Vol. 44, No, 1; pg. 153+. ............................ 37
Morehead Dworkin, Terry & Schipani, Cindy, 2003. “Gender Voice and Correlations with Peace,”
The Aspen Institute. ......................................................................................................................................................... 37
Neelakantan, Urvi, & Chang, Yunhee, 2010. "Gender Differences in Wealth at
Retirement." American Economic Review, 100(2): 362–67. ............................................................................ 37
Neymotin, Florence,2011. "Women in Economics: Making Connections and Forging
Ahead," Journal About Women in Higher Education,NASPA, 4(2), doi:10.2202/1940-7890.1122. 37
O'Neill, June, 2003. "The Gender Gap in Wages, circa 2000 ." American Economic Review, 93(2):
309–314................................................................................................................................................................................ 38
Rask, Kevin N. & Tiefenthaler, Jill, 2004. Too Few Women? - Or Too Many Men? The Gender
Imbalance in Undergraduate Economics (August). ............................................................................................ 39
Shurchkov, Olga, 2011. “Under Pressure: Gender Differences in Output Quality and Quantity
Under Competition and Time Constraints,” Wellesley College (January). ................................................ 42
U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration and Executive Office of
the President, Office of Management and Budget, 2011. "Women in America: Indicators of Social
and Economic Well-Being," March. ........................................................................................................................... 42
Waldfogel, Jane, 1998. "Understanding the "Family Gap" in Pay for Women with
Children." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(1): 137–156. ....................................................................... 44
Wei, Chi, (date). “Organizational Predictors of Women on Corporate Boards,” Tsinghua
University, Journal of Comparative Economics. .................................................................................................... 44
X. OTHER RESOURCES........................................................................................................................................................ 47
“Gender Equality Today,” The Gender Equality Project, 2011....................................................................... 47
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I. CASE STUDIES
“Bank of London”
http://caseplace.org/d.asp?d=3306
“Bank of London”, Richard Ivey School of Business. Authors:Wilson, J. &Seijts, Gerard, 2009.
The vice-president of the Bank of London was stunned to hear that the union representing clerical
workers was initiating a complaint of gender discrimination in starting salaries. The vice-president
had believed the Bank of London was actively promoting diversity and inclusion as a natural part of
its culture; additionally, the senior leadership team understood how vital diversity and inclusion
were to organizational effectiveness and growth. The vice-president was wondering what the
accusation of discrimination was costing the Bank of London, and how to manage perceptions both
inside and outside of the organization. To determine this, he wanted to understand if discrimination
had in fact occurred and analyzed the following factors between male and female job-holders:
beginning salary, time at current job, education and experience.
“Competing for Development (B4): International Lifeline Fund”
http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam?E=69263&R=M0862D-PDFENG&conversationId=121855
“Competing for Development (B4): International Lifeline Fund” Oanazei, Oana & Abdelnour, Samer,
Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation, 2008.
This a role play supplement to Competing for Development (A): Fuel Efficient Stoves for Darfur,
product # 908M61. The role plays feature additional background, motivations and decision
priorities from the key local and international players in Darfur's fuel efficient stove interventions,
including the Intermediate Technology Group, renamed to Practical Action in 2005 (ITDG/PA), the
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Aprovecho, the International Lifeline Fund, the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), and organizations representing local, female,
internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Learning Objective:
This case is ideally suited for core and elective courses on Corporations and Society, Non-profit
Management, International Development and Sustainable Value Creation. The case offers an
opportunity to simulate the complex collaborative and competitive dynamics in the classroom and
to surface synergies, tensions and trade-offs involved in the micro-strategizing and the grassroots
auctioning of sustainable development. Teaching Purpose 1. To introduce students to the complex
issues of managing sustainable development interventions under extreme conditions, offering a
rich simulation for mapping, anticipating and adjusting NGO strategies in post-crisis situations. 2.
To discuss both the practical challenges of sustainable development interventions by exploring the
different roles, motivations, capacities and actions of local and international NGOs and the ways in
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which the key protagonists adjust their interventions by collaborating or competing with different
organizations. 3. To challenge students to apply their knowledge on strategic alliances and
competitive dynamics to offer advice to NGOs fostering international development in developing
countries -- testing, extending and applying traditional models of competitive strategies under the
double constraint of resource scarcity and conflict. 4. To probe the synergies and trade-offs
between economic, environmental and social value creation, especially the micro-strategizing
involved in balancing the three priorities in specific interventions. 5. To illustrate the dilemmas
faced by non-profit organizations in selecting collaborators and in addressing competitors in
international development interventions; to apply strategic decision-making and a sustainable
value creation framework to scrutinize, adjust and validate complex, evolving models of
international development under extreme conditions.
Subjects Covered:
Economic development; Emerging markets; Nonprofit organizations; Simulations; Social services;
Sustainability
“Gone Rural”
“Gone Rural,” Harvard Business School, Author: Perold, Andre F., 2011.
Gone Rural employs 750 women in rural communities across Swaziland to produce handwoven
baskets and other hand-crafted items. The women are mostly grandmothers caring for children
orphaned as a result of the country's high AIDS-related death rate. The company has a strong social
mission to improve the economic situation of these women and wants to grow rapidly. It has been
very successful designing, making, and selling its products in the high-end global market place. It
now needs to raise significant external capital to build new facilities. This may be the first time in its
18-year history that the company brings in external profit-minded stakeholders.
“Women’s World Bank is Creating New Futures”
“Women's World Bank is Creating New Futures,” Case Western Reserve University,
Author: Weatherhead School of Management, 2007.
Women's World Banking's vision is to expand low-income women's economic participation by
giving them greater access to financial information and markets. In doing so they are enabling
women to not only keep their families fed but also engage in the community and develop a political
voice that could bring about great change worldwide.
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II. COURSES & SYLLABI
“The Economics of Higher Education”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/economics-higher-education
“The Economics of Higher Education”, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Instructor: Eric
Bettinger, 2011.
This course is devoted entirely to the economics, policy, and business of education. Students taking
this course apply management principles to the higher education industry. Relevant social impact
management topics include human capital theory in education; comparisons of higher education to
corporations; externalities, subsidies, and pricing in education; collective bargaining for teaching
assistants; affirmative action; academic labor markets; and access to higher education. Emphasis is
on theoretical frameworks, policy matters, the concept of higher education as a public good, and
stratification by gender, race, and social class. Readings include “Is Princeton Acting Like a Church
or Car Dealer?” “Equity and Excellence in American Education,” “Does Meritocracy Work?” and “At
Public Universities, Warnings of Privatization.”
“The Economics of Social Interaction”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/economics-social-interactions
“The Economics of Social Interaction,” University of Geneva. Instructor: Thierry Verdier, 2009.
So called "non-economic" aspects like social interactions, trust, solidarity, cultural and social norms
become increasingly acknowledged in various important economic and social policy areas like
crime, ethnic conflict, gender, the welfare state and economic development. This course applies the
tools of microeconomic analysis and other fields to such issues, emphasizing the role of endogenous
preferences, social norms, and social interactions.
“Emerging Markets and the Multinational Firm”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/emerging-markets-and-multinational-firm
“Emerging Markets and the Multinational Firm”, Loyola U. Chicago (GSB). Instructor: Cinar, 2011.
The purpose of this course is to understand the macro and micro foundations of the problems that
emerging countries face today. The course will start with a historical perspective on growth and
development and the structural transformation of economies as countries evolve over time. It will
examine the foundations of macroeconomic instability and balance of payments crisis. It will look
into the development of internal equity markets. It will compare and contrast the efficiency of
private versus public capital and also examine the role of the multinational firms in restructuring
these economies into the next century. The course content is a combination of growth theory, best
practices and creating win-win situations between the developed countries, markets and less
developed countries. Special emphasis is given to social, ethical and environmental
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impact/considerations of growth, investment and marketing in emerging markets. Pivotal to the
course is the evaluation of societal growth with income and gender equity considerations.
“Gender Perspectives on Economic Analysis: Macroeconomics, Public Finance, Trade and
Investment”
http://www.unprme.org/resourcedocs/Econ575GenderPerspectivesinEconomicAnalysisGrownS11.pdf
“Gender Perspectives on Economic Analysis: Macroeconomics, Public Finance, Trade and Investment,”
American University, Instructor: Caren Grown, 2011.
Although models in development, labor, and public sector economics have long been enriched
through taking explicit account of gender differences in behavior to formulate policy implications,
until recently, macroeconomic and international economic modeling largely ignored gender. Since
the mid-1990s, marked by the publication of a special issue of World Development, there has been
growing focus on the need to incorporate gender into macroeconomic modeling to improve
macroeconomic policy formulation.
This course introduces students to the growing body of studies and research on gender-aware
analyses in macroeconomics, public finance, and international economics and finance. Using
analytical models, empirical studies, case histories and ethnographic research, it hopes to enhance
understanding of feminist theories of economic growth, gender-aware macroeconomic models,
gender and recession/crisis; gender analysis of fiscal policy and the practice of gender budgets;
gender, trade and investment; gender and credit
“Gender Perspectives on Economic Analysis: Microeconomics, Labor, Poverty and Social
Policy”
http://www.unprme.org/resource-docs/Econ574Fall2010Syllabus.pdf
“Gender Perspectives on Economic Analysis: Microeconomics, Labor, Poverty and Social Policy,”
American University, Instructor: Maria Floro, 2010.
This course explores the gender dimensions of economic life by introducing students to the
rich body of studies and research on gender-aware analyses in microeconomics, labor, poverty,
and social policy. Using analytical models, empirical studies, case histories and ethnographic
research, it will enhance understanding of theories of the household and household bargaining;
conceptualization and measurement of the reproductive economy, care work and unpaid work;
male and female participation in labor markets; sex-differentiated ownership of and access to
assets and income; gender inequality and poverty; and related social policy issues.
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“Macroeconomics and the Supply Side”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/macroeconomics-and-supply-side
Macroeconomics and the Supply Side”, York University (Schulich), Instructor: D. Barrows, 2011.
Increasingly, governments are using fiscal, monetary and industrial policies to achieve major
national economic and social goals. This course emphasizes economic theory and quantitative
evidence to investigate the effects of government policies on Canada's international
competitiveness. Attention is given to corporate strategies which respond to government, social,
economic and environmental initiatives and changes in the global environment.
Class topics include: Economic prosperity and equality; The quantity and quality of life and the
evolution of world inequality; Cast, Gender and Schooling Choice in a Globalizing Economy; Social,
environmental and economic issues affecting national competitiveness.
Some of the readings include the following: “Agricultural Protection in Rich Countries: How did We
Get Here?" by Kimberley Ann Elliott, Center for Global Development and Institute for International
Economics, “The Rise of Offshoring: It’s Not Wine for Cloth Anymore?” Munshi, Kaivan and Mark
Rosenweig, “Traditional Institutions Meet the Modern World: Caste, Gender, and Schooling Choice
in a Globalizing Economy,” The American Economic Review, "The End of Poverty: Economic
Possibilities for Our Time", “A Global Family Portrait.”
“Markets and the Firm”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/markets-and-firm
"Markets and the Firm”, UC Davis Graduate School of Management, Instructor: Victor Stango, 2011.
Business & Society, Diversity/Gender/Culture, Environmental Management" - Examines the
decisions of consumers, business and government, and how these players interact. This course
covers a variety of topics in economics, including supply and demand, efficiency, pricing and game
theory. Also covered is the use and interpretation of economic data, and the rationale and effects of
government policies affecting business. Fundamental concepts such as marginal analysis,
opportunity cost, economies of scale and effects are applied to current examples, in particular in the
area of information technology.
“Social Sector Needs Assessment”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/social-sector-needs-assessment
“Social Sector Needs Assessment”, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Instructor: Nuket
Kardam, 2011.
This seminar introduces participants to a variety of tools and methodologies for participatory
needs assessment in the context of poverty. The goal of this course is to develop and apply the
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fundamental needs and assets assessment skills necessary for a career in international
development. The following topics will be covered:
1) An overview of Poverty, Participation, and Asset-Based Development (including the importance
of an Asset-Based approach in sustainable development; types of assets, including social capital)
2) An overview of participatory methods, tools, techniques and strategies applied in Asset Based
Development activities.
3) Managing, leading, and encouraging participatory identification of needs and assets: how
external facilitators interact with local participants and other stakeholder groups
4) Country and sector specific discussions of needs and assets identification: education, health,
democratization and governance, environment, gender equality, human rights are some sectors to
be examined.
“Strategy and Organisational Performance: Economics”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/strategy-and-organisational-performanceeconomics
“Strategy and Organisational Performance: Economics,” University of Glasglow Business School,
Instructor: Dr. Robert Mcaster, 2011.
The Economics module of Strategy and Organisational Performance aims to introduce students to
economic theories, concepts and techniques of analysis of relevance to business environments and
the structure of organisations. In doing so, students will be introduced to economic concepts and
differing economic schools of thought. The course provides participants with a working knowledge
of a range of economic issues, such as the potential causes of unemployment and inflation; the
economic influences on consumer and producer behaviour; whether large corporations provide a
blueprint for other organisations; should the market be relied upon to address environmental
issues. Of particular relevance is the portion of the course devoted to looking at the modern
corporation, and whether corporations provide a role model for public policy. In this part of the
course, participants explore the question of whether corporations can be socially responsible in an
economic context.
The course is a research-led module, run by the editor of the Review of Social Economy, which looks
at the many relationship between economics and social values. Among the subjects addressed in
the journal are income distribution, justice and equity, poverty, cooperation, human dignity, labour,
workplace organization, gender, need, the environment, economic institutions, economics
methodology and class.
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“Sustainable Business in Emerging Markets”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/sustainable-business-emerging-markets-travelcourse-india
“Sustainable Business in Emerging Markets”, Simmons School of Management. Instructor: Vipin Gupta,
2011, Travel Course.
This is a modular structured course addressing critical sustainability challenges – political,
economic, socio-cultural, technological, ecological, gender, and fair trade – facing emerging markets,
and approaches to address them. The course examines the most important “hot button”
sustainability issues that emerging markets face, and how corporations are taking up the
challenges. Special attention is given to the role of gender and women leadership in fostering
sustainable development. The course will focus on India, and on diversity within India, in the
broader context of emerging markets and global trends. Case studies exploring these issues are
discussed.
“Work and Family”
http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/work-and-family
“Work and Family”, Stanford Graduate School of Business. Instructor: Myra Strober, 2011.
This course examines personal, workplace, and societal questions that highly educated women and
men face in combining work and family. The course explores employee strategies for combining
work and family, as well as the strategies that managers can bring into play to help others balance
work and family. Topics include why work and family conflict and what can be done to lessen the
conflict, labor force participation, the determinants and effects of occupational segregation, possible
gender differences in leadership, family power dynamics and the gendered division of labor, the
economic value of caring labor mentorship and networks, and organizational and public policy
strategies for enhancing gender equity at the workplace and making work/life balance easier. Guest
speakers discuss these issues with respect to their own careers and lives as well as the roles their
organizations play.
This course continually explores the social impact of work/family and gender issues in the
workplace from both ethical and public policy perspectives. Extensive readings include “Family
Friendly for All Families: Workers and Caregivers Need Government Policies That Reflect Today’s
Realities,” “Time in Organizations: Constraints on and Possibilities for Gender Equity in the
Workplace,” and “What’s a Wife Worth.
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III. TEXTS
Kristof, Nicholas; WuDunn, Sheryl, Vintage, 2010, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into
Opportunity for Women Worldwide, The Political Economy of Inequality: Frontier Issues in
Economic Thought
http://www.caseplace.org/d.asp?d=1413
Through these stories, Kristof and WuDunn help us see that the key to economic progress lies in
unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that,
and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited
economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered
precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. Unleashing
that process globally is not only the right thing to do; it’s also the best strategy for fighting poverty.
Dougherty, Laurie; Gallagher, Kevin;Ackerman, Frank & Goodwin. Neva, Island Press, 2000, The
Political Economy of Inequality: Frontier Issues in Economic Thought, IBN 1559637978.
The Political Economy of Inequality offers an in-depth examination of the economic theory behind
the causes, consequences, and cures for inequality. The volume brings together disparate analyses
of inequality in economic and related fields, identifies areas where more work is most needed, and
lays the groundwork for an integrated understanding of the causes and consequences of inequality
in the United States and the world. Sections cover: the distribution of earnings; the distribution of
wealth; celebrity and CEO incomes; the effects of corporate power; poverty, inequality, and power;
household roles and family structure; skills, technology, and education; categorical inequalities,
such as those based on race, gender, or ethnicity; inequality on a global scale; the welfare state.
King, Mary C., University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2001, Squaring Up: Policy Strategies to
Raise Women’s Incomes in the United States, IBN 0472097474.
Squaring Up discusses the potential of ten different strategies to raise women's incomes. These
strategies fall into three categories: those intended to reduce the negative impact of childrearing on
women's incomes, those designed to raise the wages in the jobs where most working women are
concentrated, and those focused on moving women into better-paying positions. The chapters on
each policy strategy represent both a state-of-the-art assessment of the potential of each strategy to
raise American women's incomes and an introduction to the topic that includes information on
current programs and directs the reader to the most important literature on the topic. Squaring Up
is designed for courses in a wide range of disciplines, including public policy, political science,
economics, sociology, and women's studies. It is also intended for policy makers, opinion leaders,
activists, and the general public interested in women's issues.
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Arne L. Kalleberg, Russell Sage Foundation, 2011, Who Benefits from Shared Capitalism? The
Social Stratification of Wealth and Power in Companies with Employee Ownership, ISBN:
9780871544315, http://caseplace.org/d.asp?d=3160
This book examines changes in job quality in the United States since the mid-1970s, a period when
there have broad transformations in work organization and employment relations in the United
States. Changes in the contexts of work—in the work structures, institutions and the rules and
norms governing the employment relationship—beginning in the late 1970s led to changes in work
and job quality. Changes in demographic characteristics of the labor force such as gender,
education, immigration status, race and age affected the characteristics of jobs that people value as
well as the kinds of jobs they were able to obtain. The result of these changes has been a
polarization of jobs and employment relations with regard to aspects of job quality such as security
and stability, economic compensation, and control over work activities and time spent on the job.
Studying changes in job quality provides insights into theories of work organization and social
stratification, and how economic and social changes affect the working lives of individuals, their life
chances and those of their families.
IV. BEST PRACTICES
V. SEARCH ENGINES
VI. PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC ASSOCIATIONS & SUBDIVISIONS
The African Women’s Economic Policy Network (AWEPON) (Uganda, East Africa)
http://www.awepon.net/
The African Women’s Economic Policy Network (AWEPON) is a Pan- African faith-based non
Governmental Organization (NGO) with the regional secretariat legally registered in Uganda.
AWEPON owes its origin to the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) Women’s Desk that
initiated faith-based consultations on the impact of economic policies on women, leading to the
formation of a continental initiative in the name of AWEPON.
AWEPON was then launched as a network of Africa women’s CSO engaged in women’s rights and
gender equality, during the 1994 United Nation’s NGO regional preparatory conference that was
held in Dakar Senegal. It was during the aforesaid conference that various participants from
different organisations expressed commitment towards the formation of AWEPON. This was
particularly in response to a presentation by a group of women drawn from different countries and
organizations in Africa.
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The Canadian Women Economists Network
http://www.yorku.ca/cwen/
The Canadian Women Economists Network/Réseau de Femmes Économistes was founded in 1990
as an independent association of persons interested in promoting women economists and their
ideas. Over the past two decades, CWEN has been instrumental in promoting women's involvement
with and within the wider Canadian economics community.
Chinese Women Economists Network
http://www.cwe.org.cn/English/2011-06-22/176.html
The Chinese Women Economists Network Mission provides a communication platform for Chinese
women economists; Improve the presence of women in economic research; Encourage research of
women and gender issues, and to bring gender perspective to economic research and policy
analysis; Enhance communication and cooperation between Chinese women economists and
economists overseas.
Committee for Women in Economics, The Economics Society of Australia (ST IVES, NSW,
Australia)
http://www.ecosoc.org.au/cc/women-economics
The Committee for Women in Economics was formed at the 31st Australian Conference of
Economists, held in Adelaide, South Australia, in October 2002. The objective of the committee is to
address the representation of women within the economics profession in Australia. We intend to
meet this objective by: Monitoring the status of women in the economics profession, whether they
work in academia, the public or private sector, and to make this data widely available, Providing a
support network for all women economists but particularly for career entrants and early career
economists, Organising a meeting and contributed papers at the Annual Conference of Economists,
Identifying the underlying causes of the under-representation of women in economics, and to seek
to change or affect them
Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP), American Economic
Association (AEA)
http://www.aeaweb.org/committees/cswep/
CSWEP is a subcommittee of the American Economics Association (AEA) charged with addressing
the status of women in the economics profession. It publishes a three-times-a-year newsletter,
organizes sessions at the annual meetings of the AEA and the regional economics associations, runs
mentoring workshops, and publishes an annual report on the status of women in the economics
profession.
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The Royal Economics Society’s (RES) Women’s Committee (UK)
http://www.res.org.uk/view/womensComm.html
The Royal Economic Society's Women's Committee was established in May 1996 to promote the
role of women in the UK economics profession. Members of the committee are drawn from
academia, business and the civil service. The role of the committee includes a biennial investigation
into the position of women in economics, to seek to improve under-representation of women in
economics and to establish networks with particular concern for career entrants.
Standing Committee on Women in Economics (WinE), European Economic Association (EEA)
http://www.eeassoc.org/index.php?site=&page=173&trsz=1
The EEA Standing Committee on Women in Economics, fondly known as WinE, was established on
the requested of EEA President - Elect, Brigit Grodal, in 2003, and was created by the Executive
Committee and the Council of the EEA at the 20th EEA Congress held in Amsterdam, 2005.
Mission: The EEA Committee on Women in Economics' (WinE) objective is to support women in the
economics profession by facilitating the formation of networks, by circulating information on, or
relevant to, female economists, and by providing a forum for discussion of issues relevant to
women in academics.
VII. OTHER RESOURCES AT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES OR OTHER
ORGANIZATIONS
VIII. DATA SOURCES
IX. RELATED RESEARCH
Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina; Bansak,Cynthia & Raphael, Steven, 2007. "Gender Differences in the
Labor Market: Impact of IRCA." American Economic Review, 97(2): 412–416.
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.97.2.412
Attanasio, Orazio; Low, Hamish & Sanchez-Marcos, Virginia, 2008. "Explaining Changes in Female
Labor Supply in a Life-Cycle Model." American Economic Review, 98(4): 1517–52
This paper studies the life-cycle labor supply of three cohorts of American women, born in the
1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. We focus on the increase in labor supply of mothers between the 1940s
and 1950s cohorts. We construct a lifecycle model of female participation and savings, and calibrate
the model to match the behavior of the middle cohort. We investigate which changes in the
determinants of labor supply account for the increases in participation early in the life-cycle
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observed for the youngest cohort. A combination of a reduction in the cost of children alongside a
reduction in the wage-gender gap is needed. (JEL D91, J16, J22, J31)
Ballard, Charles, and Marianne Johnson. "Gender, expectations, and grades in introductory
microeconomics at a US university." Feminist Economics 11.1 (2005): 95-122.
Previous studies have documented a gender gap in the study of economics in Canada, the UK, and
the US. One important factor may be women’s low expectations about their ability to succeed in
economics courses. Women in our sample expect to do less well than men in an introductory
microeconomics course, even after controlling for variables relating to family background,
academic experience, and mathematics experience. These expectations are partly self-fulfilling,
since expected grades have an important and positive effect on class performance. We also find that
having taken an economics course in secondary school actually has a negative effect on
performance. We observe this negative effect for women and men, but it is more pronounced for
women. When we control for both expectations and secondary-school experience with economics,
the independent effect of gender is small and insignificant.
Bansak, Cynthia & Starr, Martha, 2006. “Gender Differences in Predispositions towards
Economics”
http://ssrn.com/abstract=908899 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.908899
Previous studies find that, upon entering the college class, women are less likely than men to be
interested in economics and more likely to expect it to be difficult, which contributes to their underrepresentation in the field. This paper investigates causes of gender differences in predispositions
towards economics, using survey data from a large state university. A key finding is that students
widely view economics as a business-oriented field that prioritizes math skills and emphasizes
making money - a combination that is a turn-off for women, but not so much for men. Our results
suggest that playing up the value of economics for social-welfare analysis, while playing down its
business applications, may be important for re-balancing predispositions at the outset of the
principles class.
Bartlett, Robin L., and Susan F, "Balancing the economics curriculum: Content, method, and
pedagogy." The American Economic Review (1992): 559-564.
For those concerned to produce a "diversity-friendly" economics curriculum, considerations of race
and gender balance lead to an examination of the interaction of the various components of
economics education. While work in this vein is rather new to economics, many other scholarly
professions have constructively responded to the challenges posed by the increasingly multicultural environment in which economics competes with other disciplines for adherents. Indeed, a
recent spate of scholarship suggests the need for such developments within economics (Marianne
Ferber, 1984; Feiner and Barbara A. Morgan, 1987). This paper is an attempt at defining the nature
and scope of problems confronting economics educators wishing to draw on the rich theoretic and
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empirical findings of the new scholarship on women and minorities.
The new scholarship refers to studies from various disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives
on the causes and consequences of the economic and social status of females and people of color
and seeks to explain the persistent marginalization of their experiences. Traditionally economists
have equated the new scholarship with re-search on race and gender differences in the labor
market. Although the latter is a subset of the former, the new scholarship on race, gender, and
economics cannot, for example, be reduced to debates over the extent of "imperfections" in labor
markets. Instead, the new scholarship on
Bartlett, Robin L. "Discovering diversity in introductory economics." The Journal of Economic
Perspectives 10.2 (1996): 141-153.
About one million students each year take a course in introductory economics, which means that a
great deal of diversity already exists in introductory economics courses. Even a seemingly
homogeneous group of students within a single class will come from a variety of socioeconomic
backgrounds and have varied abilities, skills and diverse interests. These students can serve as a
valuable source of information about the impact of race and gender on economic events. Their
personal stories can supplement the data from published sources. Incorporating race and gender
will provide more realism in describing and explaining economic life; it should also encourage a
more varied group of students to investigate economics courses.
Peggy McIntosh (1983, 1990) was one of the first to offer a model of how to integrate race and
gender into the content of any discipline, including economics. At the outset, economics, like any
other discipline, is universal in time and place. Considerations of race and gender are irrelevant
since the analysis applies to every human being. Many introductory economics textbooks and
courses operate at this first stage. Feiner and Morgan (1987) found that women were mentioned
less than 1 percent of the time in 21 leading introductory textbooks. When they were mentioned,
the texts tended to put them in special chapters on "women's issues" or "special topics" like
discrimination or poverty. In a reexamination of 16 of these texts, Feiner (1993) found that while
five textbooks had increased their coverage, three textbooks had decreased their coverage. Ferber
(1995) reviewed nine leading textbooks to find that the influx of married women into the labor
force-one of the most significant changes in the economy since World War II-was omitted from all
but one. Lisa Saunders (1995) examined the text of introductory textbooks and found that specific
economics topics and their treatment can invoke negative feel-ings from minorities.' She quotes an
author's explanation of the riots in Los Angeles: "Black resentment was certainly understandable,
but it was also perverse."2
In the second stage, notable women and people of color are showcased: Harriet Martineau,
Katharine Coman, Phyllis Wallace, Andrew Brimmer, Sir Arthur Lewis and Amartya Sen.3 This
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exercise will be more useful if specific articles by or about such people are included on the reading
list in an "Up Close and Personal" section.
In the third stage, race and gender become variables in the analysis, an approach dubbed "mix and
stir." The Statistical Abstract, the Economic Report of the President and the World Development
Report provide current and historical data for these exercises. Often analysts conclude from this
process that racial and gender differences lead to anomalous or deviant economic behavior; they
try to explain these observations
Bartlett, Robin. Introducing race and gender into economics. Routledge, 1997
Economics has tended to be a very male, middle class, white discipline. Introducing Race and
Gender into Economics is a ground-breaking book which generates ideas for integrating race and
gender issues into introductory economics courses.
Each section gives an overview of how to modify standard courses, including macroeconomics,
methodology, microeconomics as well as race and gender-sensitive issues. This up-to-date work
will be of increasing importance to all teachers of introductory economics
Bartlett, R. L., Ferber, M. A., & Green, C. A. (2009). The Committee on Economic Education: Its
Effect on the Introductory Course and Women in Economics. Forum For Social Economics, 38(23), 153-172.
The percentage of women economics majors has stagnated for decades. This is creating a
bottleneck in the pipeline of female economists. The Committee on Economic Education (CEE) of
the American Economic Association (AEA) is charged with fostering economic understanding and
effective teaching. An examination of its structure, membership and activities over the past 35
years, however, suggests that it has narrowed the scope of economic ideas presented in
introductory economics and has not convinced instructors of the benefits of a more active learning
environment. The task of engaging students in the search for greater knowledge has largely been
left to heterodox "visionaries," members of the profession who have tried to find ways to make
economics courses more interesting and inviting to all students, and especially to underrepresented groups. We conclude that the CEE's membership and structure contribute to the small
percentage of the increasingly female undergraduate population who major in economics.
Benería, Lourdes. "Toward a greater integration of gender in economics." World development
23.11 (1995): 1839-1850.
This paper argues that feminist analysis is finally making an impact in the field of economics. It
begins with an historical overview of the alternative theoretical approaches that have discussed
women's issues, particularly since the 1950s and 1960s, and it argues that, during the 1980s and
1990s, these approaches have tended to converge, at least partially, through the use of gender as a
central category of analysis. The influence of postmodernism and the development of feminist
theory have laid the basis for the task of transforming economics and engendering theory and
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policy. At the same time, feminist analysis has shifted from its main concentration on
microeconomics to the discussion of macroeconomics. More specifically, the paper discusses two
areas in which progress toward engendering economic analysis has been made since the late
1970s: (a) the visibility of women's work and its inclusion in labor force and national accounting
statistics, an (b) macroeconomic issues, with
Bergmann, Barbara R. "Women's roles in the economy: Teaching the issues." Journal of
Economic Education (1987): 393-407.
The ongoing revolution in sex roles has created some new issues and some lively controversies that
deserve a place in the economics curriculum. Both female and male students will find them
interesting and important. Students recognize that these issues have affected their parents' lives
and will affect their own—their career prospects, their chances to enjoy affluence, and their
everyday domestic arrangements.
Some sex-role issues might well be fitted into the elementary economics course. Others would go
well in a course in labor economics, or in a course on poverty and discrimination. A number of
departments of economics, such as my own, offer a course entirely devoted to sex-role issues. Many
of these issues are dealt with in sociology and women's studies courses, but economists have the
advantage of dealing with them in a more rigorous fashion.
In this review, I have organized the topics under three major headings: (1) women and the labor
market, (2) the economics of family life, and (3) public policy issues directly affecting women. In
recent years, a great deal of this material has been covered in books and articles, some of which are
suitable for use as texts or supplementary readings for undergraduates. In particular, two books
recently published deal at length with these issues: The Economics of Women, Men, and Work by
Francine Blau and Marianne Ferber (1986) and The Economic Emergence of Women (1986), my
own book. Both are suitable for use in undergraduate courses. The Blau/Ferber book makes more
overt use of the technical apparatus of economics; the Bergmann book devotes more space to policy
issues and controversies. Both books were written from a point of view favoring greater equality
and less specialization by sex in economic roles than currently exist.
An earlier book by Gary Becker (1981), A Treatise on the Family, was written from a contrasting
point of view. Becker explained role differentiation by sex in terms of a rational response by men
and women to exogenously given differences in their situations. By implication, Becker's sexrole
system is in no need of reform. The Becker book is highly mathematical, and is suitable for use only
at the graduate level.
Bertrand, Marianne; Goldin, Claudia & Katz, Lawrence F., 2010. "Dynamics of the Gender Gap for
Young Professionals in the Financial and Corporate Sectors." American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics, 2(3): 228–55.
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/app.2.3.228
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The careers of MBAs from a top US business school are studied to understand how career dynamics
differ by gender. Although male and female MBAs have nearly identical earnings at the outset of
their careers, their earnings soon diverge, with the male earnings advantage reaching almost 60 log
points a decade after MBA completion. Three proximate factors account for the large and rising
gender gap in earnings: differences in training prior to MBA graduation, differences in career
interruptions, and differences in weekly hours. The greater career discontinuity and shorter work
hours for female MBAs are largely associated with motherhood.
Blackaby, David, Booth, Alison L. & Frank, Jeff, 2002. “Outside Offers and the Gender Pay Gap:
Empirical Evidence from the UK,” (September). CEPR Discussion Paper No. 3549.
http://ssrn.com/abstract=342822
Using a unique data source on academic economist labour market experiences, we explore gender,
pay and promotions. In addition to earnings and productivity measures, we have information on
outside offers and perceptions of discrimination. In contrast to the existing literature, we find both
a gender promotions gap and a within-rank gender pay gap. A driving factor may be the role of
outside offers: men receive more outside offers than women of comparable characteristics, and gain
higher pay increases in response to outside offers. This may arise due to discrimination, and we
find that perceptions of discrimination and also outside job applications correlate with an
individual receiving earnings below that expected, given their characteristics.
Blau, Francine D., & Kahn, Lawrence M., 2000. "Gender Differences in Pay."Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 14(4): 75–99.
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.14.4.75
We consider the gender pay gap in the United States. Both gender-specific factors, including gender
differences in qualifications and discrimination, and overall wage structure, the rewards for skills
and employment in particular sectors, importantly influence the gender pay gap. Declining gender
differentials in the U.S., and the more rapid closing of the gender pay gap in the U.S. than elsewhere,
appear to be primarily due to gender-specific factors. However, the relatively large gender pay gap
in the U.S. compared to a number of other advanced countries seems primarily attributable to the
very high level of U.S. wage inequality.
Borg, M. O., & Stranahan, H. A. (2002). Personality Type and Student Performance in UpperLevel Economics Courses: The Importance of Race and Gender. Journal Of Economic Education,
33(1), 3-14.
The authors demonstrate that personality type is an important explanatory variable in student
performance in economics courses at the upper level, just as it was at the principles level. Similar to
the results for principles students, they find that introverted students make better grades in their
upper-level economics classes than identical students who are extroverts. They also find that
student with SJ temperaments make significantly better grades in upper-level economics than
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identical students with SP temperaments. They find that certain personality types combine with
certain race and gender effects to produce students who outperform other students. Adding a
different dimension to the literature on minority educational attainment, their results suggest that
African Americans do not perform more
Burnett, Nancy J. "Gender economics courses in liberal arts colleges." The Journal of Economic
Education 28.4 (1997): 369-376.
Gender has become a "hot" research topic in recent years and has begun making its way into the
classroom (Conrad 1992). Interest in gender issues has spread, but only a small proportion of
economics departments beyond the few top national liberal arts colleges include courses in gender
economics.
This article presents a simultaneous probit model of gender-related economics courses as well as
women's studies programs in the undergraduate, liberal arts curriculum. Liberal arts colleges are
often perceived to be in the forefront of undergraduate pedagogy. I restricted the study to these
colleges to avoid, as much as possible, the complications created by graduate programs. Liberal arts
colleges are generally private and not subject to state mandates.
Carberry, Edward J., 2008. Who Benefits from Shared Capitalism? The Social Stratification of
Wealth and Power in Companies with Employee Ownership, University of Chicago Press.
This paper analyzes social stratification in patterns of access to shared capitalism programs, the
value of shared capitalist plan assets, and access to workplace power and authority in a sample of
over 40,000 employees in 14 companies with various forms of shared capitalism in the United
States. The results reveal substantial disparities between the outcomes of women and men,
nonwhite and whites, and employees with and without disabilities in terms of access to shared
capitalism and the financial value provided by this participation. Although many of these effects
appear to stem from existing mechanisms of occupational segregation, women and African
Americans have lower plan values, even accounting for differences in education, occupation, and
salary.
Conrad, Cecilia A. "Evaluating undergraduate courses on women in the economy." The
American Economic Review (1992): 565-569.
This paper critically evaluates the scope and content of undergraduate courses on the economic
status of women. It responds to critics who question whether these courses are too
interdisciplinary,to o laden with ideology, and too "soft" to qualify as economics courses. It details
the content of existing courses and investigates how well they meet the following objectives: (1) to
familiarize students with the economists' "toolbox" (supply and demand curves, the concept of
constrained optimization, etc.); (2) to expose students to topics of empirical importance in
understanding the status of women and to topics that pose particular challenges to economic
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orthodoxy; (3) to investigate how considerations of gender may lead to a restructuring of research
questions and economic models; and (4) to stimulate and nurture constructive debate on the
determinants of the economic status of women by demanding that assertions be backed by analysis
and facts.
Darity, William A., & Mason, Patrick L., 1998. "Evidence on Discrimination in Employment:
Codes of Color, Codes of Gender." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(2): 63–90.
There is substantial racial and gender disparity in the American economy. As we will demonstrate,
discriminatory treatment within the labor market is a major cause of this inequality. Yet, there
appear to have been particular periods in which racial minorities, and then women, experienced
substantial reductions in economic disparity and discrimination. Some questions remain: Why did
the movement toward racial equality stagnate after the mid-1970s? What factors are most
responsible for the remaining gender inequality? What is the role of the competitive process in
elimination or reproduction of discrimination in employment? How successful has the passage of
federal antidiscrimination legislation in the 1960s been in producing an equal opportunity
environment where job applicants are now evaluated on their qualifications? To give away the
answer at the outset, discrimination by race has diminished somewhat, and discrimination by
gender has diminished substantially; neither employment discrimination by race or by gender is
close to ending. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent related legislation has purged
American society of the most overt forms of discrimination, while discriminatory practices have
continued in more covert and subtle forms. Furthermore, racial discrimination is masked and
rationalized by widely-held presumptions of black inferiority.
Davies, P., Mangan, J., & Telhaj, S. (2005). Bold, reckless and adaptable? Explaining gender
differences in economic thinking and attitudes. British Educational Research Journal, 31(1), 2948. doi:10.1080/0141192052000310010
In the first half of this paper we develop a perspective on the role of ‘boldness’ in explaining gender
differences in thinking and attitudes. We apply this analysis to evidence from Australia, the USA and
the UK in relation to economics at school and university levels. In the second half we present the
results of a study of over 1000 15–17-year-olds in UK secondary schools. On the basis of the gender
differences revealed in these data and our preceding analysis we offer some implications for
learning and teaching.
Dohmen, Thomas & Falk, Armin, 2011. "Performance Pay and Multidimensional Sorting:
Productivity, Preferences, and Gender,” American Economic Review, 101(2): 556–90.
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This paper studies the impact of incentives on worker self-selection in a controlled laboratory
experiment. Subjects face the choice between a fixed and a variable payment scheme. Depending on
the treatment, the variable payment is a piece rate, a tournament, or a revenue-sharing scheme. We
find that output is higher in the variable-payment schemes compared to the fixed-payment scheme.
This difference is largely driven by productivity sorting. In addition, different incentive schemes
systematically attract individuals with different attitudes, such as willingness to take risks and
relative self-assessment as well as gender, which underlines the importance of multidimensional
sorting. (JEL C91, D81, D82, J16, J31)
Flynn, Patricia M. and Quinn, Michael A., 2010. “Economics: A Good Choice of Major for Future
CEOs,” The American Economist, 60, 58-72.
Economics is often suggested that Economics is a good major for individuals interested in becoming
business leaders. Despite this widespread assertion, little research has been conducted on this
topic. Using the Standard and Poor (S&P) 500 companies, this article examines the validity of such a
claim. We find evidence that Economics is a good choice of major for those aspiring to become a
CEO. Economics ranked third with 9% of the CEOs of the S&P 500 companies in 2004 being
undergraduate Economics majors, behind Business Administration and Engineering majors, each of
which accounted for 20% of the CEOs. When adjusting for size of the pool of graduates, those with
undergraduate degrees in Economics are shown to have had a greater likelihood of becoming an
S&P 500 CEO than any other major. That is, the share of graduates who were Economics majors
who were CEOs in 2004 was greater than that for any other major, including Business
Administration and Engineering. The findings also show that a higher percentage of CEOs who were
Economics majors subsequently completed a graduate degree - often an MBA - than did their
counterparts with Business Administration and Engineering degrees. The paper demonstrates that
while women now comprise over half of all bachelors and masters degrees awarded, they remain a
minority in terms of undergraduate degrees awarded in Economics and in MBA degrees conferred.
Economics programs may try to appeal to more women students as a stepping stone to becoming a
CEO, especially as women continue to account for less than 2 percent of the S&P 500 CEOs
Evans, M. O. (1992). An Estimate of Race and Gender Role-Model Effects in Teaching High
School. Journal Of Economic Education, 23(3), 209-217.
The surest way to become a displaced worker is to be deficient in basic skills; unfortunately,
minorities have persistent deficits in educational achievement. Although many well-paying jobs
exist in science and engineering, most women and minorities lack the skills to participate fully in
these opportunities. Demographic trends have put these problems on the front page. The
educational community's response has included (1) pursuing affirmative action, (2) encouraging
minorities who attend or will attend college to major in education, and (3) encouraging women and
minorities majoring in science and mathematics to go into education. These strategies presume a
role-model effect by which teacher accomplishments serve as a bootstrap to succeeding
generations of students who share a common history with the teacher.
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A computer search of the U.S. Department of Education's Educational Resources Information Center
(ERIC) database (1980 to 1990) turned up dozens of entries recommending increases in race and
gender role models as a strategy for narrowing educational achievement deficits. Yet, I found only
one entry that empirically measured the effect of gender role models on student achievement
(Humrich 1988) and none that measured the effect of racial or cultural role models.
This article reports on an effort to estimate race and gender role-model effects in high school
economics courses. Briefly, no evidence of a gender role-model effect was found, but classroom role
models increased the achievement of African-American students by nearly 19 percent, if their
mothers did not have a college education.
Feiner, Susan F., and Barbara A. Morgan. "Women and minorities in introductory economics
textbooks: 1974 to 1984." Journal of Economic Education (1987): 376-392.
The last decade has seen a growing awareness of the need for, and desirability of, "balancing"
curricular materials to improve the treatment of issues relating to race and gender.' Indeed,
questions of "balance" in the curriculum have been raised at every educational level and in all
disciplines.- Currently, however, economics stands out as one of the few subjects represented in the
college curriculum in which the relevant professional organization has neither adopted a position
on the importance of race and gender balance nor initiated or funded "balancing" projects.^ The
silence in our profession might suggest to some that the economics curriculum is unbiased with
respect to race and sex. Recently, though, a spate of articles have appeared that question the
"innocence" of the economics curriculum and raise the possibility that the treatment of minorities
and women, at least in introductory economics textbooks, could be more positive (Ferber 1984;
Cherry 1985; Feiner and Morgan 1985; Feiner, Roberts, and Morgan 1985)! In this paper, we assess
this claim by evaluating first the quantity, and then the quality, of the treatment of issues relating to
race and gender in introductory economics textbooks.
Feiner, Susan F. "Introductory economics textbooks and the treatment of issues relating to
women and minorities, 1984 and 1991." Journal of Economic Education (1993): 145-162.
In their study of the treatment accorded topics relating to race and gender in introductory
economics textbooks, Feiner and Morgan (1987) examined all editions of 21 introductory
economics textbooks that appeared over the ten-year period from 1974 to 1984 and assessed both
the quantity and quality of coverage of issues concerning the economic statues of women and
minorities. Although the research findings were not overly encouraging, there were indications that
introductory economics textbooks had improved the coverage of these issues during the period
studied, and that such progress was likely to continue. At present, issues relating to race, gender,
and the economy are becoming increasingly important in both theoretical and policy work, and
consequently, teachers' attention to these issues is critical. In the current study, I reexamined 16 of
the 21 introductory economics books from the original 1974 to 1984 sample set and analyzed them
in terms of their treatment of these issues.'
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Ferber, M. A., Birnbaum, B. G., & Green, C. A. (1983). Gender Differences in Economic
Knowledge: A Reevaluation of the Evidence. Journal Of Economic Education, 14(2), 24-37
Research in the area of economics education has concerned itself to a great extent with evaluating
the effects of various teaching methods on student performance, generally measured in terms of
nationally normed objective multiple choice tests. Most of the studies used gender as a control
variable in multiple regressions and examined the effect of gender upon student knowledge as a byproduct of other objectives.
Siegfried in a 1979 article in the Journal of Economic Education provides a brief review of the
literature examining male-female differences both in understanding and in learning economics.
Level of understanding is defined as the stock of knowledge at a point in time, while learning is the
increase in understanding or How of knowledge over time. Siegfried concludes that about twothirds of the studies relating to the level of understanding which took gender into account found
statistically significant higher levels of understanding for men than for women, and that these
tended to be the studies with larger sample size, using generally superior methods.' With regard to
learning, on the other hand, Siegfried's opinion is that the weight of the evidence indicates that
there is no difference between men and women. About one-third of the studies found a statistically
significant difference in favor of men, and in the rest no significant difference was discovered. There
were carefully researched studies with large sample sizes in each group.
Only one of the articles reviewed, MacDowell, Senn, and Soper (1977), discusses a variety of
possible reasons for this phenomenon. Several cultural hypotheses are suggested: from women's
fear of rejection by potential mates if they do well in economics and lesser motivation to prepare
for prestigious occupations, to the notion that upper middle class values suggest learning
economics is a primarily male activity. It is also suggested that teacher attitudes favor men, and that
the tendency to teach introductory economics in large classes penalizes the dependency of women
who would do relatively better with more individual attention. Two biological hypotheses are
mentioned as well. Both essentially suggest that there is a gender-linked inheritance of spatial and
numerical abilities, though one hypothesis takes the view that this is mediated by the more rapid
maturation rate of girls, presumably associated with higher verbal but lower spatial and numerical
abilities.
However, the authors do not suggest research that might be done to test these hypotheses. Nor, for
the most part, do they review existing evidence for any light it might shed.' Most of the studies cited
by Siegfried, as well as Siegfried himself, fail to raise two fundamental questions about possible
male-female differences which would help to put these issues into proper perspective. To the extent
that the gender differences are statistically significant, arc they also large enough to matter, and, if
so, for what purposes would the differences matter?
The first section of this article is concerned with the reasons why differences in performance
between men and women might matter for practical purposes and what conclusions might be
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reached on the basis of our evidence on the extent of such differences. It is difficult to see why
anyone should really care whether the superiority of men in knowledge of economics is fact or
artifact, is statistically significant, or is large or small, unless they have some ideas about the
implications of such conclusions. The second section of this article reports the findings of a
relatively small pilot project which addresses the question whether the gender differences found in
many studies may, in part, be a result of the test instruments used.
Ferber, M. A. (1984). Suggestions for Improving the Classroom Climate for Women in the
Introductory Economics Course: A Review Article. Journal Of Economic Education, 15(2), 160168.
Sex and Gender in the Social Sciences: Reassessing the Introductory Course was produced by a
group of scholars under the auspices of the Women's Educational Equity Program and brought
together by the Curriculum Analysis Project for the Social Sciences at Utah State University.' The
group consisted of representatives from a variety of disciplines throughout the country, including a
large board of reviewers. Their aim was the development of materials to help teachers of
introductory courses in economics, psychology, and sociology to incorporate into their course
content and teaching practices more of the existing knowledge about women. This work resulted in
three volumes, each of which has a section geared specifically toward curriculum content^ in one of
the three fields. All share the same section on classroom interaction patterns reported on in this
review.
There are at least two reasons for special concern with improving the classroom climate for women
in economics courses. The first is that the rep-resentation of women among economics majors
continues to be low at all educational levels compared to most other disciplines. While the
proportion of B.A.'s and M.A.'s earned by women in all fields now approaches onehalf, it is only 30
percent and 21 percent, respectively, in economics. Similarly, women now earn about 30 percent of
all Ph.D.'s but only about 15 percent in economics.
The representation of women varies a good deal by field. In engineering and the physical sciences, it
is lower than in economics. In business as well as computer and information sciences, it is about the
same. In such fields as the biological sciences and the other social sciences, not to mention the
humanities and such fields as education and library science, it is substantially higher. This is true
even of mathematics, except at the Ph.D. level.' (Data are shown in the Appendix.)
A second reason for concern by economists is that research on malefemale differences in
understanding economics has shown that women do not perform as well as men. "This is all the
more disturbing because it tends to hold even when test scores and grade point averages are taken
into account (see McConnell and Sosin, in press).
Sex and Gender in the Social Sciences (henceforth SGSS) was designed to make the scholarship now
available on women and women's issues more easily accessible for classroom use—especially at
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the introductory level—by faculty who have little time for keeping up with these developments.
The premise on which this volume is explicitly based is that college instructors are professionals
who neither desire nor intend to be partial or prejudiced, but nevertheless contribute to the
problem as a result of a lack of awareness, ingrained habits, or because of misinformation. The
present article is not a review in the normal sense, but rather is intended to bring the existence of
this volume to the attention of instructors and to provide them with some information on what
SGSS contains. The first part briefly summarizes evidence that women students appear to be at
some disadvantage, particularly in traditionally male disciplines, and presents some suggestions for
mitigating this problem. The second part provides illustrations of how more information about
women and about issues of special concern to women can be integrated into economics courses.
Ferber, Marianne A., and Julie A. Nelson, eds. Beyond economic man: Feminist theory and
economics. University of Chicago Press, 1993.
This is the first book to examine the central tenets of economics from a feminist point of view. In
these original essays, the authors suggest that the discipline of economics could be improved by
freeing itself from masculine biases.
Beyond Economic Man raises questions about the discipline not because economics is too objective
but because it is not objective enough. The contributors—nine economists, a sociologist, and a
philosopher—discuss the extent to which gender has influenced both the range of subjects
economists have studied and the way in which scholars have conducted their studies. They
investigate, for example, how masculine concerns underlie economists' concentration on market as
opposed to household activities and their emphasis on individual choice to the exclusion of social
constraints on choice. This focus on masculine interests, the contributors contend, has biased the
definition and boundaries of the discipline, its central assumptions, and its preferred rhetoric and
methods. However, the aim of this book is not to reject current economic practices, but to broaden
them, permitting a fuller understanding of economic phenomena.
These essays examine current economic practices in the light of a feminist understanding of gender
differences as socially constructed rather than based on essential male and female characteristics.
The authors use this concept of gender, along with feminist readings of rhetoric and the history of
science, as well as postmodernist theory and personal experience as economists, to analyze the
boundaries, assumptions, and methods of neoclassical, socialist, and institutionalist economics.
Freedman, Ora. "Sex, Class, and History: An Experiment in Teaching Economics in an
Interdisciplinary Setting." The Journal of Economic Education 39.3 (2008): 251-259.
The author reports on various aspects of teaching economics in an interdisciplinary, team-taught
course, including reflections on a unique experiment in teaching economics to nonmajors. By the
incorporation of selected topics of gender economics into the interdisciplinary course about the
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changing economic statuses of women throughout history, the students are introduced to the
fundamentals of economic thinking and encouraged to become economically literate. Faced with
the constraints of no prerequisites and the presence of two instructors at all classes, the author
implements pedagogical models of teaching adopted from the education field to achieve a desirable
level of comprehension and integration. The author outlines the course design, the challenges, and
suggestions about how to improve the course.
Fortin, Nicole M. & Lemieux, Thomas, 2000. "Are Women's Wage Gains Men's Losses? A
Distributional Test." American Economic Review, 90(2): 456–460.
Goldberg, Linda, & Tracy, Joseph, 2001. "Gender Differences in the Labor-Market Effects of the
Dollar." American Economic Review, 91(2): 400–405.
Gratton-Lavoie, C., & Stanley, D. (2009). Teaching and Learning Principles of Microeconomics
Online: An Empirical Assessment. Journal Of Economic Education, 40(1), 3-25.
How do students enrolled in online courses perform relative to those who choose a more
traditional classroom environment? What student characteristics help explain differences in
student academic achievement in the two modes of instruction? What factors affect the students'
choice of instruction mode? The authors address these questions in relation to the teaching of
introductory economics courses. They find that the two groups of students are significantly
different in age, gender composition, marital status and number of children, GPA, previous
economics exposure, planned major, and other important characteristics. The raw data suggested a
higher mean score for the online class sections. But after considering course selection bias, the
findings indicated that age and GPA positively affect students' performance in the course, whereas
the online teaching mode has a narrowly insignificant, or even negative, effect. Semester effects are
most important for the online subsample, and male students enjoy a premium in the traditional
classroom setting.
Gray, T. (1992). Women in Labor Economics Textbooks. Journal Of Economic Education, 23(4),
362-373.
Economists rely heavily on textbooks to teach every aspect of economics, including sexual
inequality. Whenever textbooks deal with gender in a systematic and sustained way, they better
inform students about sexual inequality. When they highlight both sides of controversial issues,
such as wage discrimination and comparable worth, they better engage students. Fair and
comprehensive textbooks then yield better informed and more engaged students.
Unfortunately, textbooks may sometimes fall short of this ideal. In principles of economics
textbooks, one study (Feiner and Morgan 1987, 378) found little discussion of women: textbooks
mentioned women on only I percent of the pages. Silence speaks louder than words: principles
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students can only conclude that equity issues are tangential to economics (Feiner and Roberts
1990, 168). In labor economics, equity issues have special prominence so labor economics
textbooks deal more thoroughly with women. This article critically analyzes the content of nine
current labor economics textbooks, which may help teachers evaluate and supplement them.' To
what extent do labor textbooks include women, present both sides of controversial issues, and
avoid unwarranted inferences about women?
Greene, B. (1997). Verbal Abilities, Gender, and the Introductory Economics Course: A New
Look at an Old
A common assumption in the literature on learning economics is that female college students
possess greater verbal abilities than male students. First mentioned by MacDowell. Senn, and Soper
(1977) and repeated in studies by Siegfried (1979). Lumsden and Scott (1987), Heath (1989), and
Anderson. Benjamin, and Fuss (1994), this assumption has been raised in connection with evidence
of a gender gap in learning economics. It seems especially relevant to findings that female
economics students score lower than males on multiple-choice tests but not on essay tests.'
The assumption that women entering college have an advantage over men in verbal cognitive skills
is no longer supported by the data. Originating in research by psychologists (Wechsler 1955;
Maccoby and Jacklin 1974). the assumption has been contradicted in more recent studies (Feingold
1988; Burton, Lewis, and Robertson 1988). In a longitudinal study of high school students" scores
on the Differential Aptitude Test (DAT) and of college-bound seniors on the Scholastic Aptitude
Test (SAT), Feingold (1988) found no significant differences in verbal reasoning scores between
male and female high school seniors.- Such evidence is consistent with the reversal, beginning in
the early i970.s, of the traditional female advantage in verbal SAT scores (U.S. Department of
Education 1993). Since the mid-1980s, college-bound women's average score on the verbal SAT bas
been 2 to 3 percentage points lower than men's average score.
The presumed difference in verbal skills is also somewhat difficult to square with the apparent
gender effect in learning economics. It seems quite obvious that a discipline that emphasizes
complex systems of causality, pervasive qualification of conclusions, and precise measurement of
behavioral propensities and technical possibilities will be difficult for a student whose vocabulary
or ability to grasp complex patterns of discourse is limited. However, if strong verbal skills are
particularly important to understanding economic arguments and if women possess greater verbal
abilities on average, then women should have an advantage in learning economics, ceteris paribus.
Economists have done relatively little to measure the contributions of different aptitudes to success
in learning economics. In one of the few studies to separate the effects of verbal and quantitative
aptitude on economics test .scores. Siegfried and Strand (1977) found the verbal SAT score to be a
more significant predictor Benjamin Greene is cm associate pnyfessor of economics at Salisbury
State University. Winter 1997 . ' 13 of the final exam score in economics than the math SAT score.
However, in a more recent study. Anderson et al. (1994) suggested that quantitative skills
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contribute more to the learning of economics than do verbal skills. After examining the impact of
numerous dimensions of high school background on performance in the introductory college
economics course, they found that taking calculus during the senior year made a larger and
statistically more significant contribution to the college economics grade than did achieving a
relatively high grade in senior English.
Research in cognition and learning has been complicated by disagreement over the potential impact
of the test format (multiple choice versus constructed response^), an issue of some relevance to
this study. Bennett (1993) provided an overview of key issues and recent empirical evidence.
Critics of multiple-choice exams assert that such a format biases assessment by involving peculiar
aptitudes (e.g.. guessing, recognition) and by restricting the nature of interaction between skill and
context. (One could also argue that the multiple-choice format tends to involve an arbitrary
weighting of the importance of skills assessed by different types of questions.) Others defend
multiple-choice items as being compatible with complex problem-solving processes and as
permitting skill and context to interact extensively rather than intensively. In addition, constructedresponse formats, which vary from fill-in-the-blank to original research projects, can be difficult to
assess when evaluation of many different skills must be merged into a single score and because the
proportions in which different skills are used varies across domains and formats as well as across
questions within the same format. Assessment via constructed-response questions is also argued to
be open to distortion resulting from both variance in scoring by different judges and the potential
exercise of choices by examinees that are unrelated to the skills being assessed (e.g. risk taking).
Why then do male economics students score higher than women on objective exams but not on
essay exams? Should the opposite gender gaps on essay and multiple-choice exams discovered by
Lumsden and .Scott (1987) and others cast suspicion on the unbiasedness of the multiple-choice
test format?'' Such a conclusion is arbitrary without a clear theoretical justification. Childs (1988)
suggested the following potential sources of gender bias in testing: (1) appearance of genderoffensive references, (2) references to objects not equally familiar to both genders,** and (3)
unequal representation of both genders within the test items in either quantitative or qualitative
terms. Cognitive scientists would certainly add to that list the disproportionate use of cognitive
skills known to be unequally developed in men and women. In the absence of such specific biasing
factors, one could just as easily conclude that the essay format is biased against male examinees
(perhaps because their handwriting tends to be less legible or their writing style less organized or
fluent).
Little solid empirical evidence supports the argument that multiple-choice tests are gender biased.
In his review of research on test-format effects, Bennett (1993) described the empirical evidence as
"equivocal." citing three reviews of the research on format effects whose authors found evidence of
format effects to be "nonexistent." "unclear," or "insufficient."''
Whereas differences in mean scores for different subgroups do not demonstrate bias in a particular
test format, a consistent link between the order of subgroup means and question format would
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seem to make the existence of some format bias inescapable. Is it possible that the essay format is
inclined to produce a gender bias in scores?
The reliability of essay exams as a measure of domain-specific knowledge is open to question on
both theoretical and empirical grounds. Depending on a grader's perspective, a "good essay" may
mean an essay that exhibits good grammar, word usage, and organization or it may mean an essay
that presents a complete and accurate answer. Form and substance can be both complements and
substitutes in essay writing. Obviously, some level of vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical skill is
necessary to convey substance in an unambiguous manner. Beyond that, however, there is risk that
an essay writer who expresses what he/she knows very well may receive points for form (even
from an experienced grader) that will not be awarded to an equally complete but less-fluent
answer. After rescoring essay items on AP history exams (which showed no gender difference when
graded holistically) into composition quality, historical content, responsiveness to question, factual
errors, handwriting, neatness, and number of words, Breland (1991) found composition quality and
number of words to be significant predictors of the original essay scores. After fmding that
adjustment for composition quality reduced gender-related discrepancies in multiple-choice and
essay exams. Breland concluded that women's weaker knowledge of history (indicated in their
multiple-choice scores) was being offset on the essay by points for composition.
Even this limited review of the research suggests that care must be exercised in drawing inferences
about the relationship between verbal ability and learning. Cognitive scientists and others define
verbal ability as a multidimensional phenomenon whose components include low-level skills such
as spelling and highlevel skills such as analogies and comprehension of complex discourse
(Maccoby and Jacklin 1974; Halpern 1986). Discussion of verbal skills in the literature on learning
economics has been limited to the ability to write essays, a task that women may perform better
than men based on such abilities as organization, spelling, or grammar. Such a limited perspective
may fail to focus on those verbal skills that are most relevant to the actual teaming of economics.
Whereas essay writing involves the use of certain verbal skills in certain proportions to express
what one knows or thinks, learning economics involves a different mix of verbal skills to
comprehend what the lecturer or textbook authors mean when they express economic ideas. A
student may not grasp all of an economic argument and yet be quite able to express clearly that
portion that was understood.
Economic educators interested in understanding why their students, male or female, learn less than
expected might look more directly at fundamental cognitive skills. For example, how much of
economic discourse do students really understand? In this article, I present evidence from reading
comprehension diagnostics conducted in my introductory macroeconomics classes over a four-year
period that indicates that female students are not better than men at grasping ideas and
information contained in passages of economic discourse.
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Hale, Galina & Regev, Tali, 2011. "Gender Ratios at Top PhD Programs in Economics" Federal
Reserve Bank,
http://www.aeaweb.org/committees/cswep/resources.php
Analyzing university faculty and graduate student data for the top-ten U.S. economics departments
between 1987 and 2007, we find that there are persistent differences in gender composition for
both faculty and graduate students across institutions and that the share of female faculty and the
share of women in the entering PhD class are positively correlated. We find, using instrumental
variables analysis, robust evidence that this correlation is driven by the causal effect of the female
faculty share on the gender composition of the entering PhD class. This result provides an
explanation for persistent underrepresentation of women in economics, as well as for persistent
segregation of women across academic fields.
Heath, J. A. (1989). An Econometric Model of the Role of Gender in Economic Education.
American Economic Review, 79(2), 226.
The existing empirical evidence on the role of gender in economic education has resulted in a
variety of findings. Two-thirds of the studies that examined students’ level of understanding, or
stock of knowledge, report significant gender differences, with men outperforming women on
measures of economic knowledge (John Siegfried, 1979). These gender effects do not appear in
analyses of economic learning or knowledge using elementary (Donal Davison and John Kilgore,
1971; William Walstad, 1979) or junior high students (Michael MacDowell et al., 1984). However
the evidence suggests that by the time students reach high school, significant gender differences
exist in both the learning and understanding of economic knowledge (Robert Highsmith, 1974;
Daniel Thornton and George Vredeveld, 1977; M. E. Moyer and D.W. Paden, 1968).
The existing literature suggests that men demonstrate a higher level of economic understanding
than women, but that this difference appears during adolescence. (An exception is a study by
Michael Watts, 1987, in which gender differences appeared as early as the fifth grade among some
students.) Beyond the high school years, men still exhibit a higher level of knowledge than women,
but the knowledge appears to accumulate at equivalent rates. Thus, the high school years are
crucial in the establishment of these observed gender differences, differences that persist well into
college. The explanation that is typically advanced for the origination of these gender differences is
a cultural milieu that discourages girls from engaging in analytical thought or taking an interest in
the business world, a stereotype that would be particularly strong during adolescence (Siegfried
and Stephen Strand, 1977). However, there is some evidence that gender differences in tests of
economic knowledge are more pronounced when student performance is tested by means of a
multiple-choice instrument. Female students may, in fact, outperform their male counterparts
when performance is measured by essay questions, a result explained by females’ higher verbal
skills and males’ higher spatial and quantitative skills (Keith Lumsden and Alex Scott, 1987).
As discussed above, previous studies of the gender differences on most performance tests have
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generally found that males score higher than females. However, these studies may actually be
overestimating the level of understanding of the population of all women students, thereby causing
a serious downward bias in estimates of gender differences. If participation in an economics course
is voluntary, students who take the course have selected themselves into it, making it possible that
they differ from students who did not choose to take the course. Results based on these
nonrandom samples are likely to be biased when applied to the general population.
Further, while both men and women students self-select themselves into elective economics
courses, the effects of self-selection are likely to be particularly strong for women. If the
sociocultural theory of gender differences in learning is correct, one would expect only the most
analytical women students to select the class. Therefore, because electing to take an economics
class is contrary to sexual stereotypes, the issue of self-selection probably does not apply equally to
men and women, and to the extent that the samples used in previous studies have been selfselected, any reported gender differences are likely to be an underestimate of the true difference.
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze gender differences in economic knowledge,
correcting for sample self-selectivity bias.
Heckman, James J., 1998. "Detecting Discrimination." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(2):
101–116. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/jep.12.2.101
The evidence on discrimination produced from the audit method is examined. Audits survey the
average firm and not the marginal firm which determines the level of market discrimination. Taken
on its own terms, there is little evidence of labor market discrimination from audit methods. The
validity of audit methods is critically dependent on unverified assumptions about equality across
race/gender groups of the distributions of unobserved (by audit designers) productivity
components acted on by firms and about the way labor markets work. Audits can find
discrimination when none exists and can disguise it when it does.
Hilmer, Christiana & Hilmer, Michael, 2007. "Women Helping Women, Men Helping Women?
Same Gender Mentoring, Initial Job Placements, and Early Career Publishing Success for
Economic PhDs," (May); AEA Papers and Proceedings; Vol. 97 No. 2; pp. 422 – 426.
Women have been traditionally underrepresented within the ranks of academic economists. As
such, the graduate education and early career success of female economists is an important concern
for members of the profession. Within the sciences, a commonly proposed method for fostering the
growth of female scholars is the pairing of female PhD students with female dissertation advisors.
Hopkins, Barbara and Duggan, Lynn, (2011), A Feminist Comparative Economic Systems,
Feminist Economics, 17, issue 3, p. 35-69.
This study proposes that feminist research be integrated into the field of comparative economic
systems (CES) and that CES return to its traditional institutionalist methodologies to facilitate more
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complete analyses of economic systems and feminist alternatives to these systems and institutions.
The study describes the evolution of CES, drawing attention to an increasing reliance on
econometric modeling that reflects a shift in focus away from systems. An inventory of research on
women and gender that has appeared in CES journals and textbooks finds little on topics other than
formal labor markets in transition economies. The study contrasts this literature on women and
gender in transition economies to research on this topic by women from transition economies, a
literature that CES journal authors do not reference. It concludes by proposing a feminist economics
approach that focuses on gender-differentiated impacts of economic systems, analyses of
households, and equity as a measure of progress.
Horvath, J., Beaudin, B. Q., & Wright, S. P. (1992). Persisting in the Introductory Economics
Course: An Exploration of Gender Differences. Journal Of Economic Education, 23(2), 101-108.
Inquiry into identifying gender differences in performance in economics courses has a long history.
Siegfried (1979) provides a survey of work done in this area. More recent efforts have come from
Jackstadt and Gootaert (1980), Buckles and Freeman (1983), and Heath (1989), all of whom
investigated gender differences in economic understanding and learning at the precollege level.
Investigations of gender differences in economic performance at the college level have been done
by Halperin and Abrams (1978), Lumsden and Scott (1981), and Ferber, Birnbaum, and Green
(1983).
Although the results of these studies differ, mainly because of methodological differences, most
concluded that significant gender differences exist in economic understanding and learning, with
males outperforming females (Siegfried 1979; Heath 1989). Ferber et al. (1983) argued that
although gender differences do exist, they are overstated in gender studies. They suggested that,
although statistically significant, the differences might be of limited practical relevance. Heath
(1989) argued that the opposite is true. She noted that cultural biases have the effect of limiting
female participation in economics to those women who are more likely to act counter to gen-der
stereotyping. As a result, the females in gender studies are not representative of women generally
and, therefore, gender differences in these studies tend to be understated.
Of those studies that examined gender differences in economic performance, a few discussed
gender differences in participation in economics courses (Tuckman 1975; Allison 1976; Heath
1989). In those studies, the authors found that female participation in economics was below that of
males. The analyses of lower female participation rates were, however, a by-product of the broader
research question concerning gender differences in economic understanding and learning. In this
study, we focused on gender differences in participation in economics courses. Specifically, we
examined gender differences in measures of academic aptitude and achievement that predict
persistence in the college introductory economics course. Students who persisted were defined as
those who enrolled in the second introductory economics course after completing the first course
in the sequence.
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Hotchkiss, Julie L., & Pitts, M. Melinda, 2007. "The Role of Labor Market Intermittency in
Explaining Gender Wage Differentials." American Economic Review, 97(2): 417–421.
Jackstadt, S. L., & Grootaert, C. (1980). Gender, Gender Stereotyping, and Socioeconomic
Background as Determinants of Economic Knowledge and Learning. Journal Of Economic
Education, 12(1), 34-40.
The extent of male-female differences in economic understanding and learning at the precoUege
level is still a matter of controversy. In a recent article in the JEE, MacDowell, Senn, and Soper
(1977, p. 30) list thirteen studies which have shown gender to be an important explanatory
variable in determining cognitive outcomes in economics, with boys scoring higher on standardized
tests than girls. On the other hand, they cite ten other studies in which gender-linked differences
were found to be insignificant.
Concerned economists and educators have advanced several hypotheses regarding possible
gender-related differences in economic knowledge and learning. These include the possibility that
economics is viewed by students, parents, and teachers as a discipline more appropriate for boys to
study than for girls; the existence of male-female differences in quantitative ability at the high
school level; and possible sex bias in teachers' attitudes and/or instructional materials in
economics (Ladd 1977, pp. 150-151).The Hawaii Joint Council on Economic Education recently
undertook a major evaluation of its current programs, including teacher in-service programs and
instructional materials development. This paper presents the results of that evaluation as they
pertain to gender-related factors in economic knowledge and learning.
Joy, Lois, 2000. "Do Colleges Shortchange Women? Gender Differences in the Transition from
College to Work." American Economic Review, 90(2): 471–475.
Kahn, Shulamit, 1995. "Women in the Economics Profession," Journal of Economic Perspectives;
Vol. 9, No. 4; pp. 193 – 205.
Analysis of the trends of women in the economics profession. Women have progressively made
more inroads in the profession of economics.
Lage, Maureen J., and Michael Treglia. "The impact of integrating scholarship on women into
introductory economics: Evidence from one institution." Journal of Economic Education (1996):
26-36.
There is widespread agreement that women are underrepresented both in the economics
profession and in the classroom (Ferber 1990; Phillip 1993). It has also been shown that male
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students generally perform better than female students in economics courses (Siegfried 1979;
Heath 1989; Lumsden and Scott 1987; Watts and Lynch 1989). This situation has been attributed to
such factors as a chilly classroom environment (Ferber 1984, 1990; Hall and Sandier 1982), and a
lack of coverage of issues concerning women and minorities (Feiner 1993), as well as underlying
cultural differences. Although much research has focused on whether gender-based differences in
performance exist, relatively little is known about the efficacy of methods for mitigating these
differences.
In this article, we empirically examine the effect of integrating the latest scholarship on women into
the principles of microeconomics course.' The content of the introductory microeconomics course
was modified to address economic issues in a gender-inclusive manner. In addition, the formats of
the classroom and of examinations were changed in a manner consistent with hypotheses that
explain why female students do not perform as well as male students in economics courses. Thus,
we examine the extent to which observed differences in economics performance based upon
gender can be modified. Our evidence suggests that all students perform significantly better in a
gender-inclusive economics course. Furthermore, there is an additional increase in the
performance of female students.
Lawson, L. D. (1994). The Role of Attitude in Learning Economics: Race and Gender
Differences. Journal Of Economics And Finance, 18(2), 139-151.
This study identifies and analyzes factors that affect a learner's knowledge, comprehension, and
application of economics by racial and gender grouping. A decomposition model is used to evaluate
the impact of attitudinal effects and other exogenous variables on economic cognition. Preliminary
findings suggest that the attitude of black students towards economics instruction differs from their
white cohorts while no gender differences are found.
Lopez, M. (2009). Incorporating Service-Learning into the Economics Curriculum. Review Of
Black Political Economy, 36(2), 137-149.
Service-learning courses provide students the opportunity to apply and relate economic concepts
and theories to real-world experiences within the community and to reflect on the relationship
between theory and practice. One form of service-learning is student-based instruction, which
involves college students teaching economics in the neighboring community, such as to high school
students. The author provides a detailed application of the student-based instruction model of
service-learning to an Economics of Race and Gender course at a liberal arts college. Upon
completion of the project, students completed a survey about their service-learning experiences.
The results indicated that the service-learning project enhanced student learning and created a
more enriching course experience
Lückerath-Rovers, Mijntje, 2010. “ Women on Board and Firm Performance,”
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1586832
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This study addresses the research question of whether companies with female directors on
the board have a higher average performance than companies with no female directors. The debate
about the low representation of women in the top management of companies involves both moral
arguments (equality between men and women) and economic arguments (companies with
more women perform better). This study investigates the financial performance of 99 Dutch listed
companies with and without women on the board. The analysis extends earlier used methods of
Catalyst and McKinsey, two studies that are often cited in the literature (although both have a
number of methodological shortcomings). This article adds to the international debate and applies
useful methods to 99 listed companies in the Dutch Female Board Index. The results contribute to
this often normative debate. They show that firms with women perform better than those
without women. The differences are statistically significant for return on equity. Regression
analyses confirm these findings.
Lumsden, K. G., & Scott, A. (1987). The Economics Student Reexamined: Male-Female
Differences in Comprehension. Journal Of Economic Education, 18(4), 365-375.
The development of validated multiple-choice tests such as the Test of Understanding in College
Economics (TUCE) has been instrumental in encouraging a proliferation of studies on variables
affecting students' understanding of economics, particularly in beginning courses. Two factors led
to the acceptance of these tests as reliable measures of economics comprehension: first, the high
standing within the profession of the economists involved in their construction, backed by the
assistance of psychometricians; second, the large numbers of students tested to generate norming
data.
A consistent statistically significant finding has emerged from the research on these multiple-choice
tests: female students perform less well than male students in beginning economics courses (for a
survey, see Siegfried [1979]). This finding has spawned a series of inductive papers (which identify
causes reaching back to the cradle) to explain female students' inferiority in economics
comprehension. A more-sophisticated approach distinguishes between the stock and the flow of
knowledge (Siegfried 1979; Buckles and Freeman 1983), with the general conclusion that male
superiority appears in the stock of knowledge prior to college but that learning rates in college are
similar for males and females. When and why male superiority appears in the stock of knowledge
remains a mystery. One cannot avoid the uneasy feeling that the now generally accepted "truth" of
female inferiority is based on ad hoc rationalizations.
The psychological literature argues that people who mature earlier have higher verbal learning
rates. Because females, on average, mature earlier than males, they should have higher verbal skills,
leaving males with a comparative advantage only in spatial and quantitative skills.' According to
this hypothesis, female students should perform better than male students on essay questions
(which require verbal skills) and no worse on multiple-choice questions. Unfortunately, virtually
none of the largescale studies carried out to date is supplemented by analyses using essay
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examination marks. In a single-school study, Eerber (1983) found that females performed
statistically no worse than males did on essay questions, other factors held constant.
In this paper, we offer evidence from a large-scale study involving many institutions that the
multiple-choice results cannot be generalized to essay examination marks; indeed, the evidence
supports the psychological assertions that females have higher verbal skills than do males. The
results suggest that the impact of the sex variable depends on the form of the examination.
However, some evidence exists that male and female learning rates differ; consequently, the
advantage that female students exhibit in essay writing may diminish as the course proceeds,
whereas the disadvantage associated with multiple-choice tests may increase.
McDowell, John; Singell, Larry, Jr.; & Stater, Mark, 2006. "Two to Tango? Gender Differences in
the Decisions to Publish and Coauthor, Economic Inquiry; Vol. 44, No, 1; pg. 153+.
The existence of old boy networks has long been postulated as a possible explanation for the
presence of gender differences in market outcomes but with little empirical support because of the
difficulty in measuring network access. This article exploits the unique attributes of academic labor
markets and detailed data on individuals and jobs for PhD economists over nearly four decades.
Morehead Dworkin, Terry & Schipani, Cindy, 2003. “Gender Voice and Correlations with Peace,”
The Aspen Institute.
http://www.caseplace.org/d.asp?d=1750
This article addresses issues of violence through the lens of issues of gender. It looks at the
correlation between violence and the lack of women's meaningful involvement in the economy, and
suggests that multinational corporations could play an important role in increasing women's
opportunities, and thus decreasing violence.
This paper was presented at the 2002 conference, Corporate Governance and Sustainable Peace, cosponsored by the Aspen Institute and the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
Neelakantan, Urvi, & Chang, Yunhee, 2010. "Gender Differences in Wealth at
Retirement." American Economic Review, 100(2): 362–67.
Neymotin, Florence,2011. "Women in Economics: Making Connections and Forging
Ahead," Journal About Women in Higher Education,NASPA, 4(2), doi:10.2202/1940-7890.1122.
http://journals.naspa.org/njawhe/
NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education focuses on issues affecting all women in higher
education: students; student affairs staff; faculty; and other administrative groups. It is intended for
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both practitioners and researchers, and includes articles that focus on empirical research,
pedagogy, and administrative practice. NASPA Journal About Women in Higher Education offers
research reflecting a variety of paradigms and issues affecting women in higher education, in all
their diversity.
O'Neill, June, 2003. "The Gender Gap in Wages, circa 2000 ." American Economic Review, 93(2):
309–314.
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/000282803321947254
53. Owen, A. L. (2010). Grades, Gender, and Encouragement: A Regression Discontinuity
Analysis. Journal Of Economic Education, 41(3), 217-234.
The author employs a regression discontinuity design to provide direct evidence on the effects of
grades earned in economics principles classes on the decision to major in economics and finds a
differential effect for male and female students. Specifically, for female students, receiving an A for
a final grade in the first economics class is associated with a meaningful increase in the
probability of majoring in economics, even after controlling for the numerical grade earned in the
class. This suggests that for female students, the feedback that is embedded in the course letter
grade has an encouragement effect on their decision to study economics further. The author finds
no evidence of a similar effect for male students.
Peterson, J., & Lewis, M. (Eds.). (1999). The Elgar companion to feminist economics. Edward
Elgar Pub.
The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics provides an overview of feminist economic concepts
on which is is difficult to find information in a succinct format. The minimal use of technical
language makes the book accessible to a broad audience of individuals from a variety of
disciplines. This book can be considered a mini-encyclopedia on feminist economics that
individuals can use as their first step into topics of interest. . . Peterson and Lewis should be
applauded on their addition to this ever-advancing school of economic thought. Jennifer
VanGilder, Eastern Economic Journal Janice Peterson and Margaret Lewis are to be commended
for the fine job they ve done producing this invaluable resource. The volume s nearly 100 entries
are uniformly well written, tightly focused, and, of equal importance, each contains a fine
bibliography, which will be of use to those familiar with the topic and those just getting
introduced. Moreover, the list of 88 contributors to the Companion reads like a Who's Who" of
feminist economics, and this reviewer rues the day she decided not to write an entry. .The volume
will be useful across the entire undergraduate and graduate curriculum, since the entries and
bibliographic sources collected here are unavailable elsewhere. . . . I cannot imagine anyone
setting out to write an essay engaging a topic on which feminist economists have written without
referring to the relevant entries in this encyclopedia. Peterson and Lewis have performed a
valuable service by compiling an encyclopedia that conveys the depth and breadth of feminist
interventions in the economics discipline. This volume is truly a goddess send. Susan F. Feiner,
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Feminist Economics Feminist economics offers a new perspective, considering the impact of
economics on human lives, particularly women and their children. The whole spectrum of
economic thought is covered, including economic concepts, schools of economic thought,
traditional economic fields, policy issues and feminist economics professional organizations. This
book covers many topics of particular interest to feminist economists that are often not covered in
traditional economics works. . . Highly recommended for libraries and researchers in feminist
economics, upper-division undergraduate and up. E.P. Hoffman, Choice The Elgar Companion to
Feminist Economics is the first comprehensive reference work introducing readers to the field of
feminist economics. It includes 99 entries by 88 authors. This authoritative volume includes
timely entries addressing key concepts in feminist economics as well as feminist economic
critiques and reconstructions of major economic theories and policy debates. The material is
presented in an accessible manner and will be of interest to scholars and teachers from across the
social sciences. The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics will become an indispensable
resource for scholars and teachers interested in exploring this emerging and evolving field of
inquiry
Powlick, K. (2009). The Value of Advanced Interdisciplinary Classes for Students of
Economics: Case Study of a 300-Level Class on Gender in the Economy. Forum For Social
Economics, 38(2-3), 189-200.
Interdisciplinary classes are valuable to students of economics for many reasons. This paper
discusses three reasons why such classes, at an advanced level, are useful and important for
students of economics. First, interdisciplinary classes have the potential to encourage theory
building and critical thinking, especially through the use of primary sources. Second,
interdisciplinary classes also provide students with a richer empirical understanding of the world,
beyond the narrowly quantitative data used in most economics research. Fostering a
'constructivist' view of data, this facilitates future economists building the tools to tell marginalized
stories. Lastly, interdisciplinary classes can create a diverse learning environment that facilitates
peer learning about difficult subjects such as race, class, and gender. A case study of a 300-level
class titled Gender in the Economy, in which a diverse group of students from backgrounds in
women's studies, economics, business, and American studies came together to study the economic
history of gender, is used to explore such benefits.
Rask, Kevin N. & Tiefenthaler, Jill, 2004. Too Few Women? - Or Too Many Men? The Gender
Imbalance in Undergraduate Economics (August).
http://ssrn.com/abstract=595222 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.595222
There is a gender imbalance in undergraduate economics departments with most departments
educating a strong majority of young men. This imbalance has led many economists to ponder the
question of why relatively few women choose to take courses and major in economics. Our
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hypothesis is that the gender imbalance in undergraduate economics, particularly at institutions
with traditional liberal arts curriculums, is as much the result of too many men choosing economics
as it is too few women. Students choose their majors based on both their interests and their
abilities. The literature indicates that the grade a student receives in an introductory class relative
to grades received in other departments is one of the strongest predictors of whether or not the
student chooses to enroll in more courses in the discipline. However, our hypothesis is that men
who take economics courses are less responsive to this signal than are women. As a result, men
who do poorly in economics are more likely to continue in the major. Women who do poorly, in
contrast, are more likely to abandon economics and pursue a different major. Our results, generated
from 16 years of data from a liberal arts college where economics is one of the most popular
majors, support this hypothesis. The overall economics GPA for female majors is significantly
higher than that for males. In addition, histograms show that male students dominate the bottom of
the grade distribution. Finally, results from estimation of a series of selection models of the decision
to take more economics courses indicate that, holding other characteristics constant, women are
more responsive to the relative grade received in the second semester of economics than are men.
Robb, R., & Robb, A. (1999). Gender and the Study of Economics: The Role of Gender of the
Instructor. Journal Of Economic Education, 30(1), 3-19.
Considerable attention has been focused on the issue of declining economics enrollments across
North America, This decline is well documented for the United States (Siegfried 1995), Although
less work has been directed at this issue in Canada, discussion at the teaching and learning sessions
of the June 1996 meeting of the Canadian Economics Association indicated that the issue is of equal
concern in Canada, Although the reasons for this decline are not well understood, the desire of
academic departments to protect their share of scarce resources has led to much soul-searching on
how to attract more students. Because women now constitute an increasing proportion of
university enrollments in general, some of the discussion has focused on the long-standing
underrepresentation of women in the discipline. This situation, although well documented (e,g,,
Dynan and Rouse 1997; Ferber 1995; Siegfried 1995), is also not well understood.
The decision to pursue economics may be thought of as involving a two-stage process. In the first
stage, the high school student decides to take economics (or a program requiring economics) in the
first year at the university; in the second stage, the university student decides to take further
courses in economics conditional on having taken the introductory course. Although the analyses of
these decisions are quite limited, recent work by Dynan and Rouse (1997) for the United States
indicates that women are significantly less likely than men to take introductory economics in the
first place or to major in economics conditional on having taken the introductory course
Robson, D. (2001). Women and Minorities in Economics Textbooks: Are They Being
Adequately Represented?. Journal Of Economic Education, 32(2), 186-191.
The author examined 12 recent editions of principles of economics textbooks to determine the
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quantity of race- and gender-related material. Comparing the results to earlier studies
demonstrates how efforts to incorporate more such coverage within the economics curriculum
have influenced economics textbooks. In general, there has been an increase in the quantitative
coverage of race- and gender-related material as measured by the number of pages, names, and
tables of the textbooks.
Siegfried, J. J. (1979). Male-Female Differences in Economic Education: A Survey. Journal Of
Economic Education, 10(2), 1-11.
There have been numerous efforts to examine the relationship between gender and student
performance in the college-level introductory economics course. Most such studies have examined
the association of gender with student learning as a by-product of their primary objective.* Student
gender is usually added as a control variable in statistical studies associating some experimental
teaching technique with student learning. For this reason, many of the studies which evaluate the
association of sex with student learning suffer from methodological deficiencies.
There also have been some studies of the association of gender with student performance in
economics in primary grades and in high school. Finally, there is a little evidence concerning gender
differences in understanding economics among college graduates. This survey first examines the
hypotheses that are commonly used to justify the inclusion of a binary variable for gender in
models of the "production function" for learning. Second, the distinction between understanding
and learning economics is made, and its implications for the empirical studies are described. Third,
the many empirical studies examining the association of gender with economic education are
summarized and evaluated. The effect of gender on learning and understanding is distinguished
and the question of when gender differentials appear is addressed. Fourth, gender differences in
the effectiveness of alternative teaching techniques is discussed. The final section reports
differences between men and women students in their enjoyment of and interest in economics.
Shelburn, M. R., & Lewellyn, P. G. (1995). Gender Bias in Doctoral Programs in Economics.
Journal Of Economic Education, 26(4), 373-382.
The percentage of doctorates in economics earned by women was only 8.7 percent in 1977, but the
figure had risen to 19.3 percent by 1986 (Hansen 1991, 1057). Still, the proportion of Ph.D.'s going
to women is far lower in economics than in many other fields, including the other social sciences.
The Chronicle of Higher Education (1991) reports that of all recipients of doctorates in the United
States in 1989, 36.5 percent were female.
What have been women's experiences in male-dominated doctoral economics programs? Is their
progress impaired by gender bias? Published studies of gender bias in Ph.D. programs in general
identify many possible forms. Berg and Ferber (1983) surveyed literature documenting negative
attitudes of doctoral faculty toward female graduate students. Holmstrom and Holmstrom (1974)
found faculty "unsupportive and antagonistic" toward female doctoral students. Gilbert (1985)
documented the tendency of psychology doctoral students to seek same gender role models,
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implying a problem for female students if female-to-male student ratios are higher than female-tomale faculty ratios. Creager (1971) found that a higher percentage of female than male graduate
students nationwide saw emotional strain as a possible obstacle to degree completion. His results
suggested, however, that this strain resulted from the fact that female graduate students had
weaker relationships with faculty than their male peers.
Peer relations may also be problematic. Follett, Andberg, and Hendel (1982) found that gender
influenced the peer relationships of veterinary students. Berg and Ferber (1983) refer the reader to
several 1970s studies documenting less interaction between male and female graduate students
than between men and differences in attitudes of men toward their female peers.
In 1988, the president of the American Economic Association appointed 12 eminent economists to a
Commission on Graduate Education in Economics (COGEE; 1991) whose purpose was to examine
the state of graduate economics education. COGEE's research agenda did not include the
investigation of gender bias in graduate economics programs. In this article, we seek to address that
question. Learning more about this issue is important because an understanding of the precise
nature of existing gender bias is essential to the creation of a gender- neutral environment, and
students entering graduate economics programs can better cope with any gender bias if they
recognize it as such.
Shurchkov, Olga, 2011. “Under Pressure: Gender Differences in Output Quality and Quantity
Under Competition and Time Constraints,” Wellesley College (January).
http://www.eeassoc.org/index.php?site=JEEA&page=55
Gender gaps in the workplace are widespread. One explanation for gender inequality stems from
the effects of the interaction between competition and two pressure sources, namely, task
stereotypes and time constraints. This study uses a laboratory experiment to find that the gender
gap in performance under competition and preferences for competition can be partly explained by
the differential responses of men and women to the above pressures. In particular, while women
underperform the men in a high-pressure math- based tournament, women greatly increase their
performance levels and their willingness to compete in a low-pressure verbal environment, such
that they actually surpass the men. This effect appears largely due to the fact that extra time in a
verbal competition improves the quality of women’s work, reducing their mistake share. On the
other hand, men use this extra time to increase only the quantity of work, which results in a greater
relative number of mistakes. A labor market study suggests that the nature of the job and the stress
level are correlated with the gender gap in the labor market in a manner consistent with the results
of my experiment.
U.S. Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration and Executive Office of the
President, Office of Management and Budget, 2011. "Women in America: Indicators of Social and
Economic Well-Being," March.
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In support of the Council on Women and Girls, the Office of Management and Budget and the
Economics and Statistics Administration within the Department of Commerce worked together to
create this report, which for the first time pulls together information from across the Federal
statistical agencies to compile baseline information on how women are faring in the United States
today and how these trends have changed over time. We believe that the information in this report
is vitally important to inform the efforts of the Council on Women and Girls—and may be equally
important in providing facts to a broad range of others who are concerned with the well-being of
women and girls, from policymakers to journalists to researchers.
This report provides a statistical picture of women in America in five critical areas: demographic
and family changes, education, employment, health, and crime and violence. By presenting a
quantitative snapshot of the well-being of American women based on Federal data, the report
greatly enhances our understanding both of how far American women have come and the areas
where there is still work to be done.
Tuma, Elias, (2004), Macroeconomics and Discrimination in Teaching, No 952, Working Papers,
University of California, Davis, Department of Economics
There are biases in the teaching of macroeconomics. These biases reflect economic discrimination
which varies in kind and impact on policy making and welfare of the people. Traditional economic
concepts and tools of analysis are capable of identifying the different kinds of economic
discrimination and assessing their impact on the economy. These concepts and tools are also
adequate in teaching macroeconomics without bias and without compromising traditional
objectives of economic education. The existence of economic discrimination has been widely
recognized, but the teaching of macroeconomics has been too slow to reflect that reality.1 There
have been a few attempts to identify the bias in economic education and restructure the
introductory course to remove the bias. However, economic textbooks continue to focus on the
economics of homogeneous labor, economic rationality, and perfect competition which tend to
ignore race and gender biases in economic policy and implementation. Models and theories of
perfect competition can establish standards for explanation of economic behavior, but they do not
explain economic discrimination nor justify the bias in economic education. Similarly, failing to
emphasize the distinction between theoretical models and applied behavior can result in distorted
perspectives of the economy, misleading economic
Van der merwe, Alex , (2006), IDENTIFYING SOME CONSTRAINTS IN FIRST YEAR ECONOMICS
TEACHING AND LEARNING AT A TYPICAL SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY,
South African Journal of Economics, 74, issue 1, p. 150-159
This paper examines possible determinants of economics 1 performance at the Riverside campus of
the Durban Institute of Technology. The study finds that high school subjects taken, age and gender
are not significantly associated with economics achievement. Learner motivation, however, does
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appear to be associated with economics performance. Specifically, learners may find it difficult to
relate meaningfully to the discipline's real content at least partly as a consequence of the
philosophical framework within which it is delivered and partly because they do not have the
textbook. A well-designed learner guide and workbook could go some way to demonstrating the
relevance of economics and instilling in students more effective learning methods. The result could
be a virtuous cycle of improved performance and greater learner motivation.
Van Staveren, I. (2010). Post-Keynesianism Meets Feminist Economics. Cambridge Journal Of
Economics, 34(6), 1123-1144.
This article explores the relationships between post-Keynesian economics and feminist economics.
It distinguishes three key concepts in each tradition that recommend serious attention in the other
tradition: gender, the household and unpaid work and caring as key concepts in feminist
economics; uncertainty, market power and endogenous dynamics as core concepts in postKeynesian economics. This article will show, with reference to the literature in which such crossfertilisation has been explored already, how both traditions can be enriched from a stronger mutual
engagement.
Waldfogel, Jane, 1998. "Understanding the "Family Gap" in Pay for Women with
Children." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 12(1): 137–156.
As the gender gap in pay between women and men has been narrowing, the 'family gap' in pay
between mothers and non-mothers has been widening. One reason may be the institutional
structure in the United States, which has emphasized equal pay and opportunity policies but not
family policies, in contrast to other countries that have implemented both. The authors now have
evidence on the links between one such family policy and women's pay. Recent research suggests
that maternity leave coverage, by raising women's retention after childbirth, also raises women's
levels of work experience, job tenure, and pay.
Warnecke, Tonia, (2009), Teaching globalisation from a feminist pluralist perspective,
International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, 1, issue 1, p. 93-107
Pluralist teaching encourages students to develop critical thinking skills to their fullest potential.
This article presents guidelines for a globalisation course taught from a feminist pluralist
perspective by the author during the fall of 2008. The article discusses course objectives,
assessment tools and the inherent challenges in developing and teaching such a course. It also
includes the full syllabus. The author concludes that the benefits of teaching from a pluralist
perspective are immensely rewarding for both student and teacher.
Wei, Chi, (date). “Organizational Predictors of Women on Corporate Boards,” Tsinghua
University, Journal of Comparative Economics.
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http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/content/organizational-predictors-women-corporateboards
Using 1987, 1996, and 2004 data, we show that the gender earnings differential in the Chinese
urban labor market has increased across the earnings distribution, and the increase was greater at
the lower quantiles. We interpret this as evidence of the stronger “sticky floor” effect. We use the
reweighting and recentered influence function regression methods proposed by Firpo, Fortin,
Lemieux to decompose gender earnings differentials across the earnings distribution [Firpo, S.,
Fortin, N.M., Lemieux, T., 2007a. Unconditional quantile regressions. Technical working paper No.
339, NBER; Firpo, S., Fortin, N.M., Lemieux, T., 2007b. Decomposing wage distributions using
influence function projections. Working paper. Department of Economics, University of British
Columbia]. We find that gender differences in the return to labor market characteristics, also
known as the “discrimination effect” or “unexplained gender pay gap,” contribute more to the
increase in the overall gender earnings differential than do the gender endowment differences. The
Firpo et al. method allows us to further decompose the gender earnings gap into the contribution of
each individual variable. We find that the “sticky floor” effect may be associated with a particularly
low paid group of female production workers with relatively low education working in non-state
owned enterprises
Wiepcke, C. (2011). Gender-Specific Job Choices--Implications for Career Education as Part of
Economic Education. International Journal Of Pluralism And Economics Education, 2(4), 355-368.
Labour market and occupational orientation are core topics of economic education. The
separation of men's professions and women's professions--the so-called gender-specific
segregation --is one of the most enduring socio-structural characteristics of the labour market.
Although an increasing labour participation of women can be observed in the German labour
market for several years, it is still characterised by relatively worse labour market conditions
compared to men. This article describes the extent of occupational and industry-specific
segregation and gives an overview of theories of gender-specific segregation. Based on this, a
relationship to economic education is established and how economic education can enhance a
gender-equitable occupational orientation is discussed.
Williams, M. L., Waldauer, C., & Duggal, V. G. (1992). Gender Differences in Economic Knowledge:
An Extension of the Analysis. Journal Of Economic Education, 23(3), 219-231.
The effect that students' gender has on their scores on tests of economic understanding has been a
topic of continuing interest, with most studies using standardized tests to identify the determinants
of such economic knowledge. The most comprehensive survey to date of male-female differences in
student performances on these standardized tests (Siegfried 1979) found that in a majority of cases
males performed better than females. This survey also revealed that male-female differences exist
at the high school level and continue on into college, but no conclusive evidence indicates that this
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gap is any greater at the college than at the high school level. However, the survey indicated that
tests of college seniors and graduates give some evidence that the gender gap in economic
understanding may widen over the college years and beyond.
More recent studies of gender differences in student performance on standardized tests of
economic knowledge also confirm the previous findings that males tend to do better than females
(Heath 1989; Soper and Walstad 1988; Walstad and Soper 1988 and 1989), especially at the college
level (Ferber, Birnbaum, and Green 1983; Gohmann and Spector 1989; Lumsden and Scott 1987;
Watts and Lynch 1989). However, some studies found no gender difference (Kelley 1975; Rhine
1989; Buckles and Freeman 1983; Watts 1987). When essays are used instead of multiple-choice
questions, the male-female differential is reduced (Ferber, Birnbaum, and Green 1983) or even
reversed (Lumsden and Scott 1987).
A survey of the educational psychology literature that deals with general differences in intellectual
and cognitive abilities suggests that, overall, no significant gender differences are apparent in
measures of general intelligence (Gage and Berliner 1988; Maccoby and Jackiin 1974; Sherman
1978; Wittig and Petersen 1979). In terms of verbal abilities, early studies found that females
exhibit greater linguistic aptitudes than males, with the difference becoming significant at about age
11 and widening through age 18. However, more recent analyses of such gender differences find
that they are not as significant as in the past (Fennema 1987; Gage and Berliner 1988; Hyde 1981;
Maccoby and Jackiin 1974; Sherman 1978; Wittig and Petersen 1979).
With respect to mathematical abilities, males manifest greater skills than females in spatial analysis
and in quantitative abstract reasoning. These differences seem to become significant around age 12
(7th grade) and widen throughout the junior and senior high school years. On the other hand, no
significant gender differences are apparent in purely computational skills, with females performing
slightly better than males on tests of such skills (Benbow and Stanley 1980; Fennema 1987; Gage
and Berliner 1988; Hyde 1981; Maccoby and Jackiin 1974; Ounsted and Taylor 1972; Sherman
1978; Wittig and Petersen 1979).
In the field of economics, virtually all of the empirical studies of the determinants of student
economic literacy were done at the principles course level. Only one study analyzed student
performance in economic statistics (Cohn 1972), but too few females were included to make any
inferences about gender. Most of these studies of student performance on standardized economic
exams used only multiple-choice questions. A few studies used essay questions (Ferber, Birnbaum,
and Green 1983; Lumsden and Scott 1987), and none used mathematical problems or graphs to
measure student economic knowledge.
This study extends the research on gender differences in economic knowledge by including student
test performances in courses at the intermediate economic theory level (both intermediate
microeconomic analysis and intermediate macroeconomic analysis) and in economic statistics (for
both semesters of a standard two-semester sequence in statistical analysis). Such an extension is
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long overdue because it addresses the question of whether gender gaps in economic understanding
tend to widen as students progress through college. If such gaps do widen, then gender differences
should be more pronounced at the intermediate economic theory level and, perhaps, at the
economic statistics level.
This investigation further extends the research on gender differences in economic test
performances by specifically including mathematical problems and graphs, as well as essay
questions, in the tests administered. Such inclusions are also long overdue because they focus on
the issue of whether observed differences in performance on economic exams are the result of
greater male skills in quantitative and spatial relationships compared with greater female skills in
verbal relationships, something that the multiple choice questions used in the previous studies
were not well designed to test (Siegfried and Fels 1979).
It should be recognized that observed gender differences in student performances on economic
exams may well be due to gender differences in the academic backgrounds of these students. As
indicated in a number of the previous studies of student understanding of economics, males tend to
have more extensive backgrounds and stronger interests in business and economics, as well as
mathematics, than do females (Ferber, Birnbaum, and Green 1983; KeUey 1975; Lumsden and Scott
1987; Siegfried 1979; Soper and Walstad 1988; Walstad and Soper 1989; Watts 1987; Watts and
Lynch 1989). The effect of gender differences in econoniic knowledge cannot properly be analyzed
without explicitly controlling for such gender-related factors. We included gender-related
characteristics as well as other determinants of economic performance as separate independent
variables in a multivariate framework.
X. OTHER RESOURCES
“Gender Equality Today,” The Gender Equality Project, 2011
http://www.genderequalityproject.com/?page_id=57
Countries that are more gender equal are also more competitive. Nevertheless, at the global level,
there is still a 41% gap between women and men in terms of economic participation and an 82%
gap in terms of political empowerment (World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2010).
Women continue to predominate in less valued jobs and sectors, are paid on average less than their
male peers, work part-time more frequently, and occupy fewer positions of responsibility.
47

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