Discussion paper

DP16686 Women in Economics: Europe and the World

Based on a data set that we collected from the top research institutions in
economics around the globe (including universities, business schools and other organizations
such as central banks), we document the underrepresentation of women
in economics. For the 238 universities and business schools in the sample, women
hold 25% of senior level positions (full professor, associate professor) and 37% of
junior level positions. In the 82 U.S. universities and business schools, the figures
are 20% on the senior level and 32% on the entry level, while in the 122 European
institutions, the numbers are 27% and 38%, respectively, with some heterogeneity
across countries. The numbers also show that the highest-ranking institutions (in
terms of research output) have fewer women in senior positions. Moreover, in the
U.S., this effect is even present on the junior level. The “leaky pipeline” may hence
begin earlier than oftentimes assumed, and is even more of an issue in the highly
integrated market of the U.S. In Europe, an institution ranked 100 places higher
has three percentage points fewer women in senior positions, but in the U.S. it is
almost 5 percentage points.

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Citation

Auriol, E, G Friebel, A Weinberger and (2021), ‘DP16686 Women in Economics: Europe and the World‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 16686. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp16686