Who Goes Where
Gender, Race, and Entrepreneurship: A Randomized Field Experiment on Venture Capitalists and Angels
Will Gornall & Ilya Strebulaev
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We study gender and race in high-impact entrepreneurship using a tightly controlled randomized field experiment. We sent out 80,000 pitch emails introducing promising but fictitious start-ups to 28,000 venture capitalists and angels. Each email was sent by a fictitious entrepreneur with randomly assigned gender and race. Female entrepreneurs received 9% more interested replies than males pitching identical projects and Asians received 6% more than Whites. Our results suggest that investors do not discriminate against female or Asian entrepreneurs when evaluating unsolicited pitch emails and that future research on investor biases should focus on networks and in-person interactions.
Trends in Female Physicians Entering High-Compensation Specialties, 2008 to 2022
Karina Pereira-Lima et al.
Journal of the American Medical Association, 22/29 October 2024, Pages 1390-1392
Methods: We assessed the sex composition of matriculants and applicants to Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited residency programs in pipeline specialties (leading to primary board certification) using National Graduate Medical Education Census and Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) data from 2008 to 2022. Because data were aggregated and deidentified, this study was exempt per University of Michigan Institutional Review Board criteria. Of 26 specialties with matriculant data for all years, 14 were identified as high-compensation based on Doximity’s national physician compensation survey. Given prior research indicating a disproportionate underrepresentation of women in surgical residencies, we stratified high-compensation specialties into surgical (n = 9) and nonsurgical (n = 5). We used Prais-Winsten regression with Cochrane-Orcutt transformation to evaluate trends in the proportion of female residents matriculating to high-compensation vs non–high-compensation specialties. Similarly, we used Prais-Winsten regression with Cochrane-Orcutt transformation to test for interactions between specialty category (surgical vs nonsurgical) and time (specialty entrance year) to examine differences between specialty categories in the temporal trends of the (1) proportion of female matriculants; (2) proportion of female applicants; and (3) sex ratio of matriculants relative to applicants (sex ratio = [female matriculants ÷ female applicants] ÷ [male matriculants ÷ male applicants]). A sex ratio greater than 1 indicates that female applicants were more successful than male applicants in entering a category. For analyses involving applicant data, we adjusted the ERAS year by +1 for specialties requiring a preliminary year and excluded specialties with a low program participation rate in ERAS (<95% in 2022). A 2-sided P < .05 was considered statistically significant. Analyses were performed in R version 4.2.2 (R Foundation).
Results: Of 490 437 matriculants to pipeline specialties, 490 188 (99.9%) had sex data (female = 232 371 [47.4%]). Of those, 124 982 (25.5%) entered high-compensation specialties (female = 43 183 [34.6%]; surgical = 71 963 [57.6%]; nonsurgical = 53 019 [42.4%]). The proportion of female matriculants to high-compensation specialties significantly increased from 32.7% in 2008 to 40.8% in 2022 (P = .003) but remained lower than the proportion in non–high-compensation specialties (from 53.0% in 2008 to 53.3% in 2022; P = .44). For high-compensation specialties, we identified a significant interaction between specialty category and time (P < .001), with an increase in the proportion of female matriculants to surgical specialties from 28.8% in 2008 to 42.4% in 2022 (P < .001) and no significant change among nonsurgical specialties (from 37.6% in 2008 to 38.7% in 2022; P = .55). The proportion of female applicants to high-compensation nonsurgical specialties decreased from 36.8% in 2009 to 34.3% in 2022 (P = .001), whereas the proportion of female applicants to high-compensation surgical specialties increased from 28.1% in 2009 to 37.6% in 2022 (P < .001; specialty-category × time interaction, P < .001). The sex ratio of matriculants to applicants modestly increased across both surgical specialties (2009: 1.0 [95% CI, 1.0-1.1]; 2022: 1.2 [95% CI, 1.2-1.3]; P = .005) and nonsurgical specialties (2009: 1.0 [95% CI, 0.9-1.0]; 2022: 1.2 [95% CI, 1.1-1.3]; P = .003) (specialty category × time interaction, P = .79).
The Pact: How a Seemingly Race-Neutral Behavioral Policy Reproduced Racial Inequality at a Predominantly White Liberal Arts College
Alanna Gillis & Elena van Stee
Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, October 2024
Abstract:
How do seemingly nonracial organizational processes reproduce racial inequality? This study examines how “the Pact,” an ostensibly race-neutral COVID-19 behavioral policy implemented at a predominantly White U.S. liberal arts college, undermined social connection and belonging among students of color. Analyzing three waves of interviews with 30 undergraduates (N = 75 interviews), we document disparities in four domains of campus life: (1) social isolation in residence halls, (2) access to “safe” forms of rule breaking, (3) visibility and surveillance, and (4) stakes of violation. We identify three underlying mechanisms—unequal resource allocation, uneven rule enforcement, and color-blind decision-making—and demonstrate how distinct institutional conditions facilitated these processes. This analysis advances theoretical understandings of racialized organizational processes in higher education by connecting previously theorized mechanisms to specific university characteristics and practices.
Predatory DEI: How Racialized Organizations Exacerbate Workplace Racial Stratification through Exploitative Diversity Work
Julio Ángel Alicea
Social Problems, forthcoming
Abstract:
In the wake of the so-called racial reckoning of 2020, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) grew rapidly as an industry and organizational logic. This study examines how DEI work in organizations is not simply performative, but exploitative. Drawing on observations and in-depth interviews from a four-year ethnographic project, this study traces the rollout and racial problematics of DEI programming at a public high school serving Black and Latinx students. It finds that the organization tasked Black women educators with the unsupported role of implementing the school’s vision to become “Pro-Black.” In doing so, it facilitated a process that is termed “predatory DEI.” Building on work theorizing predatory inclusion, “predatory DEI” refers to the organizational approaches to DEI work that purport to empower racially minoritized groups in racialized organizations while exploiting their personal and professional resources, all under the guise of an antiracist alibi that renders the predation opaque. In conceptualizing predatory DEI, three facets are discussed in detail: goal perversion, time theft, and role ambiguity/role conflict. These findings cast a critical eye on the pernicious forms of racism within social justice organizations.
Girls persist more but divest less from ineffective teaching than boys
Mia Radovanovic, Ece Yucer & Jessica Sommerville
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, October 2024, Pages 2487–2509
Abstract:
Teaching is the primary way children learn about the world. However, successful learning involves recognizing when teaching is ineffective, even in the absence of overt cues, and divesting from ineffective teaching to explore novel solutions. Across three experiments, we investigated 7- to 10-year-old children’s ability to recognize ineffective teaching; we tested the hypothesis that girls may be less likely than boys to divest by exploring new solutions, given documented gender differences in socialization toward conformity and obedience. Overall, we demonstrate that children independently tested taught solutions and, upon learning that the solutions were ineffective, rationally traded off between instruction and exploration. Simultaneously, gender differences in divestment emerged. On average, girls demonstrated greater persistence in applying the taught solution, while boys tended to explore their own ideas, leading to differences in solving and learning. Importantly, these differences were observable across both masculine- and feminine-stereotyped tasks. These results have important implications for children’s learning and the development of leadership.
Transgender self-employment outcomes: Evidence from the USA
Klavs Ciprikis, Damien Cassells & Jenny Berrill
Small Business Economics, October 2024, Pages 871–896
Abstract:
Transgender persons are subject to strong stigma in society and the labour market. Transgender persons may therefore view self-employment as an opportunity to escape labour market inequalities. However, the rate of transgender self-employment, when compared to equivalent cisgender persons, has not been explored in previous research. Therefore, this article uses a large nationally representative dataset from the USA to examine differences in self-employment and incomes between transgender and cisgender persons. The main research technique uses Kitagawa-Oaxaca-Blinder style decomposition to explain differences in mean self-employment rates and incomes between cisgender men and other gender groups. The findings show that transgender persons are less likely than cisgender men, but more likely than cisgender women, to be self-employed. Transgender people are also likely to earn less than cisgender persons, but in terms of income from self-employment only, transgender people are no better or worse than self-employed cisgender men. There is some evidence that self-employed transgender men are more likely to be in the highest income category than self-employed cisgender men. Some of the self-employment and income gaps could not be explained by sociodemographic characteristics and, therefore, may be due to differences in unobserved characteristics or potential discrimination. The findings in this article provide important and previously unavailable evidence on differences in self-employment outcomes between transgender and cisgender persons.
Emboldened in the rap “game”: How severely stigmatized video models navigate disrespect and vulnerability to workplace mistreatment
Payal Sharma, Kristie Rogers & Blake Ashforth
Journal of Applied Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Moral stigma attached to an occupation can scar workers through discrediting, shaming, and denying respect. It can also open the door to interpersonal mistreatment, but little is known about how morally stigmatized workers navigate anticipated disrespect to potentially avoid harm. We explore this issue in a study of an occupation carrying severe moral stigma and where disrespect and workplace mistreatment are pervasive: models in hip-hop and rap music videos. Through analyses of 71 interviews with 48 video models and 19 industry informants, field observations, and archival data, we show how severe moral stigma and industry constraints promote generalized disrespect of video models (i.e., denial of worth to all role occupants) and, thus, each model’s personal vulnerability to mistreatment. Two distinct groups of models emerged from our analysis -- those who viewed themselves as emboldened in their role identity and those who did not -- and this emboldened role identity was associated with differing perceptions of their personal vulnerability to mistreatment and their behaviors to mitigate it. The first group of models, those reporting an emboldened role identity, perceived their vulnerability to mistreatment as controllable. They strategically used both assertive behaviors (that earned respect from others) and passive behaviors (that avoided disrespect from others) to mitigate mistreatment. By contrast, the second group perceived their vulnerability to mistreatment as uncontrollable and reported using only passive behaviors (to avoid disrespect) when mistreatment was imminent. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings, advancing knowledge of dirty work, workplace mistreatment, respect dynamics, and identity.
Overcoming Discrimination: Harassment and Discrimination Dynamics
Yi Chen, Adam Dearing & Michael Waldman
NBER Working Paper, October 2024
Abstract:
A common feature of historical episodes in which integration was successful, as well as episodes where integration was unsuccessful, is the aggravated harassment of the early pathbreakers who put themselves at risk by violating the previous segregated norm. Examples abound including Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby in the case of Major League Baseball, Autherine Lucy who was the first Black student at the University of Alabama, and Jane Chastain and Melissa Ludtke who were early female sports reporters. In this paper, we explore from a theoretical perspective the role of harassment of what we refer to as integration pathbreakers in the success and speed with which integration occurs. In our model of labor market discrimination, harassment occurs because the harassers receive direct and immediate utility from harassing, but also because harassment has the potential to slow down or even stop integration. Our main result is that such a setting can exhibit path dependence, where the success or failure of the early integration pathbreakers can be pivotal for the success and speed of the subsequent integration process. That is, early success is more likely to be followed by successful and faster integration than early failure, even when the early success is not due to aspects of the environment that make integration easier. In addition to our formal theoretical analysis of the role of harassment in the success and speed of integration, we apply our results to various historical episodes.
Demographic Differences in Letters of Recommendation for Economics Ph.D. Students
Beverly Hirtle & Anna Kovner
Federal Reserve Working Paper, October 2024
Abstract:
We analyze 6,400 letters of recommendation for more than 2,200 economics and finance Ph.D. graduates from 2018 to 2021. Letter text varies significantly by field of interest, with significantly less positive and shorter letters for Macroeconomics and Finance candidates. Letters for female and Black or Hispanic job candidates are weaker in some dimensions, while letters for Asian candidates are notably less positive overall. We introduce a new measure of letter quality capturing candidates that are recommended to "top" departments. Female, Asian, and Black or Hispanic candidates are all less likely to be recommended to top academic departments, even after controlling for other letter characteristics. Finally, we examine early career outcomes and find that letter characteristics, especially a "top" recommendation have meaningful effects on initial job placements and journal publications.
Research Assistants, Sorting, and Career Outcomes: Evidence from the NBER Working Paper Series
Florian Caro
Yale Working Paper, September 2024
Abstract:
Research assistant (RA) positions play an increasingly important role in the economics profession, both for generating research and for nascent researchers to acquire skills, gather experience, and build professional networks. Despite this, we know little about the demographics of RAs, access to RA positions, and the impact of RA experience on downstream career outcomes. Using an original dataset on RAs collected from the acknowledgments of working papers published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, I (i) present novel, large-scale descriptive evidence on RAs, (ii) show that there exist strong sorting patterns between RAs and supervisors (PIs) along gender, race, and ethnicity, and (iii) provide evidence that gender alignment between RAs and PIs has a meaningful impact on the career outcomes of RAs.