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American Economic Review Vol. 96 No. 4 2006

What Is Discrimination? Gender in the American Economic Association, 1935–2004

Stephen G. Donald1; Daniel S. Hamermesh2

1 Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin, Bernard and Audre Rapoport Building, Austin, TX 78712. · 2 Department of Economics, University of Texas, Room BRB 2.162, Austin, TX 78712, National Bureau of Economic Research, and IZA.

Abstract

We illustrate problems of measuring discrimination using elections to AEA offices. With a new econometric technique, we find female candidates have a much better than random chance of victory. This advantage is either reverse discrimination or reflects beliefs that women are more productive. The former interpretation could be explained by an unchanging median voter whose preferences were not satisfied by suppliers of candidates; but there was a structural change in voting behavior in the mid-1970s. The results suggest it is generally impossible to claim differences in rewards, for different groups measure the extent of discrimination or even its direction.

DOI
10.1257/aer.96.4.1283
Volume
96
Issue
4
Pages
1283-1292
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib

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