nep-sog New Economics Papers
on Sociology of Economics
Issue of 2022‒05‒02
five papers chosen by
Jonas Holmström
Axventure AB

  1. Gender differences in opinions about market solutions and government interventions: the case of Uruguayan economists By Verónica Amarante; Marisa Bucheli; Tatiana Pérez
  2. Women in European Academia before 1800 - Religion, Marriage, and Human Capital By David de la Croix; Mara Vitale
  3. The environmental cost of the international job market for economists By Chanel, Olivier; Prati, Alberto; Raux, Morgan
  4. University entrance Requirements and Students' Academic Performance By A. Abdulhakeem, Kilishi
  5. The Academic Market and the Rise of Universities in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (1000-1800) By David de la Croix; Frédéric Docquier; Alice Fabre; Robert Stelter

  1. By: Verónica Amarante (Instituto de Economía, Universidad de la República, Uruguay); Marisa Bucheli (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República); Tatiana Pérez (Departamento de Economía, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República)
    Abstract: This paper explores the differences in views between male and female Uruguayan economists regarding their opinions about market solutions and government interventions. In line with international evidence, the support to statements more market-oriented is lower among women than men, but the magnitudes of the gaps are small. We examine the role of age, family background, exposure to economic discussions (proxied by postgraduate education, reading of blogs and press and academic environment), and personality traits (risk aversion, optimism, and preferences for competition) to explain the gender gaps. Our results indicate that there is a positive relationship between gender differences in competitiveness and pro-market opinions. However, the gender difference remains significant after controlling for explanatory variables, though the magnitudes are mild. In any case, the findings indicate that achieving gender balance through the inclusion of women in public debates and decision-making positions would improve the diversity of perspectives in economics.
    Keywords: gender gap, economic opinions, economists
    JEL: A11 H00 Z00
    Date: 2022–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:wpaper:0222&r=
  2. By: David de la Croix (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Mara Vitale (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES))
    Abstract: We document the participation of women in European academia from the first universities to the eve of the Industrial Revolution. 108 women taught at universities or were members of academies of arts and sciences. Most of them were active in Catholic southern Europe - an unexpected result. We conjecture that Protestantism left less room for women at the top of the distribution of human capital to exercise their talent. The percentage of ever-married female scholars is 79%, but a large fraction of them remained childless. We measure the quality of women in academia through their publications. Comparing them to 52,000 male scholars, we find that they were on average better, suggesting some form of discrimination.
    Keywords: University, Academy, Protestantism, Publications, Gender
    JEL: N33 Z12 I23 J16
    Date: 2022–04–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2022010&r=
  3. By: Chanel, Olivier; Prati, Alberto; Raux, Morgan
    Abstract: We provide an estimate of the environmental impact of the recruitment system in the economics profession, known as the "international job market for economists". Each year, most graduating PhDs seeking jobs in academia, government, or companies participate in this job market. The market follows a standardized process, where candidates are pre-screened in a short interview which takes place at an annual meeting in Europe or in the United States. Most interviews are arranged via a non-profit online platform, econjobmarket.org, which kindly agreed to share its anonymized data with us. Using this dataset, we estimate the individual environmental impact of 1,057 candidates and one hundred recruitment committees who attended the EEA and AEA meetings in December 2019 and January 2020. We calculate that this pre-screening system generated the equivalent of about 4,000 tons of avoidable CO2-eq and a comprehensive economic cost over e3.5 million. We contrast this overall assessment against three counterfactual scenarios: a more efficient in-person system, a hybrid system (where videoconference is used for some candidates) and a fully online system (as it happened in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Overall, the study can offer useful information to shape future recruitment standards in a more sustainable way.
    Keywords: job market for economists; international job market; carbon footprint; environmental impact; comprehensive economic cost
    JEL: A11 J44 Q51 Q56
    Date: 2021–12–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113815&r=
  4. By: A. Abdulhakeem, Kilishi (Department of Economics)
    Abstract: This paper examined impacts of entrance requirements on students’ academic performance in Nigeria. A given cohort of students in Department of Economics, University of Ilorin, Nigeria is chosen as the sample frame for the study. Both descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used to analysed the data collected from the existing records of the students using proforma. The results revealed that: (i) high scores in UME, good grade in O’Level English and passing the require number of credits in one sitting of O’Level examination influence positively students academic performance at first year of their study; (ii) male students perform is on the average better than their female counterpart at first year, the perform of students who had credits in one Art or one Commerce subject to make up the require number of credits, is lower; and (iii) only UME scores and one O’Level sitting positively impacted on final year academic performance, while students with one Art or one Commerce graduated with lower grades. It is therefore recommended that candidates with one sitting O’Level result, high UME scores should be given priority in admission to the Department of Economics, while students with credit in O’Level Art or Commerce subjects instead of social sciences subject should be given less priority.
    Keywords: Entrance Requirement; Academic Performance; UME Scores; Number of Sitting
    JEL: A22 I23
    Date: 2022–03–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:decilo:0028&r=
  5. By: David de la Croix (IRES/LIDAM, UCLouvain, Belgium and CEPR, London); Frédéric Docquier (LISER, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg); Alice Fabre (Aix-Marseille Univ, CNRS, AMSE,Marseille, France); Robert Stelter (University of Basel, Switzerland;Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)
    Abstract: We argue that market forces shaped the geographic distribution of upper-tail human capital across Europe during the Middle Ages, and contributed to bolstering universities at the dawn of the Humanistic and Scienti c Revolutions. We build a unique database of thousands of scholars from university sources covering all of Europe, construct an index of their ability, and map the academic market in the medieval and early modern periods. We show that scholars tended to concentrate in the best universities (agglomeration), that better scholars were more sensitive to the quality of the university (positive sorting) and migrated over greater distances (positive selection). Agglomeration, selection and sorting patterns testify to an integrated academic market, made possible by the use of a common language (Latin).
    Keywords: upper-tail human capital, universities, discrete choice model, scholars, sublications, agglomeration
    JEL: N33 O15 I25
    Date: 2022–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:2209&r=

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