tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post4786985208038910651..comments2024-03-28T03:16:14.104-04:00Comments on Noahpinion: What can be done about the gender problem in economics?Noah Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-21310786930497112172015-02-06T09:25:13.273-05:002015-02-06T09:25:13.273-05:00I recently published a piece in the Journal of Inv...I recently published a piece in the Journal of Investment Management ("Where the Boys Are") quantifying both the numbers and responsibilities of women in institutional investment management. My research suggested that gender-related differences in risk tolerance appears to play a role. If so, then a shift in emphasis from technical education towards attitudes toward risk taking may help things within professional finance.Margaret Stumppnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-87993681740978330632015-01-23T05:36:37.235-05:002015-01-23T05:36:37.235-05:00@Pesudonymous ,Ok I agree with you this happens al...@Pesudonymous ,Ok I agree with you this happens all the time but I guess the origin of this problem does not come from girl's side ,maybe this happens because she feels the pre judgement that females gets all the time Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-11985839616391100692015-01-23T05:27:05.389-05:002015-01-23T05:27:05.389-05:00Actually it not about economics or academia only...Actually it not about economics or academia only, discrimination is in every field, these fields are just reflection of the bigger picture <br /> Ask yourself honestly if you have to choose between a male and female engineer (given that everything is equal) you will go for the male <br />If you are choosing between female and male doctor you will go for the male as well even if the female has something better <br />The problem is in our minds I guess we should fix it outside any specific field first Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-11515457320792281152015-01-09T20:01:06.299-05:002015-01-09T20:01:06.299-05:00What?
You might be so marinated in feminism and c...What?<br /><br />You might be so marinated in feminism and critical theory that what you write seems obvious to yourself, but I have no idea what you're meaning.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-18731681401941566922015-01-08T02:14:20.693-05:002015-01-08T02:14:20.693-05:00I think this is a much larger sociological problem...I think this is a much larger sociological problem than just a gender problem. Economics is dominated by peer review and peer feedback, whereas other scientific studies can be eventually rewarded by fact in the long run.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-48194824028563482442015-01-08T02:01:28.097-05:002015-01-08T02:01:28.097-05:00Ok, I think a person had to be awake at 4:31 AM in...Ok, I think a person had to be awake at 4:31 AM in a sorry state for this to make sense. It must be a joke, or perhaps the writer is a joke…<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-69075244836276101572015-01-07T17:43:11.006-05:002015-01-07T17:43:11.006-05:00When you do math, the word obvious often appears w...When you do math, the word obvious often appears when you're too dumb or wrong to actually prove your point.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-46242328685049455042015-01-07T04:31:00.007-05:002015-01-07T04:31:00.007-05:00In case it's not already obvious, all talk abo...In case it's not already obvious, all talk about "inequality", "gender problem" (or whatever issue the Social Justice Warriors decide to "tackle") is an excuse to grab other people's stuff.<br /><br />Noah, you really need to try smarter, your shtick is transparent.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-54483337580510564742015-01-05T16:17:34.947-05:002015-01-05T16:17:34.947-05:00Economics has a genteel problem, but shrillness wi...Economics has a genteel problem, but shrillness will win in the end.John Aziznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-18609578441832060062015-01-05T13:31:07.888-05:002015-01-05T13:31:07.888-05:00Randomly select successful male economics and have...Randomly select successful male economics and have them go through sex change, albeit, with hefty incentives!KVnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-90866190037033648692015-01-04T23:11:37.427-05:002015-01-04T23:11:37.427-05:00Economics' gender problem is an extremely resp...Economics' gender problem is an extremely respectable topic to ponder, while economics' gentile problem is not at all respectable.<br /><br />That may tell us more about where structural power really lies.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-33038660328659363872015-01-04T23:07:21.244-05:002015-01-04T23:07:21.244-05:00"How about engineering?"
Ben Rich's..."How about engineering?"<br /><br />Ben Rich's "Skunk Works" is one of the best books ever about managing engineers.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-44177158639060304002015-01-04T11:55:48.417-05:002015-01-04T11:55:48.417-05:00This post by Sendhil Mullainathan, a professor of ...This post by Sendhil Mullainathan, a professor of economics at Harvard, might be helpful, since so many "fast thinkers" chose to say stupid things:<br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/04/upshot/the-measuring-sticks-of-racial-bias-.html?abt=0002&abg=1&_r=0Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10790574845701761554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-44502659368968767882015-01-03T21:29:40.318-05:002015-01-03T21:29:40.318-05:00The guy frequently talks to the advisor, the girl ...<em>The <strong>guy</strong> frequently talks to the advisor, the <strong>girl</strong> seems afraid to approach <strong>him</strong> with any idea for fear of looking stupid.</em><br /><br />Hmm yea maybe start with yourself and your own (implicit) biases, pal. You might well be part of the problem yourself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-62954983738062291992015-01-03T12:47:06.463-05:002015-01-03T12:47:06.463-05:00See, I troll the trolls. And now it should make se...See, I troll the trolls. And now it should make sense to you. Noahsensenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-66681827129886373082015-01-03T11:40:55.457-05:002015-01-03T11:40:55.457-05:00My (male) grad school perspective is that a lot of...My (male) grad school perspective is that a lot of intelligent women in economics seem to be more nervous, self-conscious, etc. than their equally-intelligent male counterparts. I have two friends who are a couple in their 2nd year, in the same field, with (likely) the same advisor. The guy frequently talks to the advisor, the girl seems afraid to approach him with any idea for fear of looking stupid.<br /><br />Part of this might reflect the things Frances discusses. But I'm not sure that's all of it. Pseudonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-8422814328888883112015-01-02T22:30:40.439-05:002015-01-02T22:30:40.439-05:00Go troll Sumner's blog instead! Make yourself ...Go troll Sumner's blog instead! Make yourself useful!Noah Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-18537784189400402242015-01-02T19:40:28.656-05:002015-01-02T19:40:28.656-05:00Commie commie commie commie commie commie keynesia...Commie commie commie commie commie commie keynesian commie commie <br /><br /><br /><br />Hey, delete this reply. Noahsensenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-70723095207748592062015-01-02T07:48:26.259-05:002015-01-02T07:48:26.259-05:00@ Ragout: Yes, the spaceship argument was bad, bec...@ Ragout: Yes, the spaceship argument was bad, because it's not 'research', I just wanted to point out that calculations of the course of certain variables yield more diverse results in economics than in physics. Right now, the field can't agree on inflationary effects of an expanded money supply at the zero lower bound, while a physicist can calculate the course of a spaceship in the proximity of a gravitational object pretty well (since Newton, I guess). It's not even a matter of degree, economists can't even decide whether inflation rises or holds steady, i.e. which direction it takes. And @ Anonymous: the lack of agreement does not directly have anything to do with gender. It's just, and I think I have to speak more clearly, that this lack of agreement leaves more room for bullshitting, and I think men have an advantage there, for one, because the tradition of the field and the personal networks protect men more than women, and because I think that men are better at bullshitting than women.Alexander Sebastian Schulzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15135338616598357444noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-51133674440049007232015-01-02T00:59:56.591-05:002015-01-02T00:59:56.591-05:00Don't know. But if not so much in engineering...Don't know. But if not so much in engineering then they must have chosen not to enter that profession. If so in engineering then, hey, well, case proved again. I did hear of a former Rabbi who turned humourist that Jews were not interested in farming but I think he spent all his time in the USA and had never been to the Negev desert to see the drip irrigation projects. Drip irrigation is also sort of engineering and Israel is credited with the invention of the same and further proves my point. Nuclear weaponry. But maybe bridges are falling down in Israel. Don't know. amnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-9799495861614802342015-01-01T20:23:12.434-05:002015-01-01T20:23:12.434-05:00You won't find agreements between Valerie Rame...You won't find agreements between Valerie Ramey and Christina Romer either, just like you won't find agreements between David Romer and Robert Lucas. This doesn't really have much to do with gender (I can name 3 female economists (Ramey, Stokey, and McGratten) off the top of my head who would disagree with Romer and I only have a passing interest in macro theory. These women are huge names in macro, if you don't know them and you talk about female representation in economics you should probably get yourself a little more acquainted with what you're talking about.) as it does with macro in general. It's hard to quantify things in macro and fiscal theory just hasn't been studied very much (or at least it hasn't been studied as much as monetary theory) since RE gained prominence. Remember that macro underwent some pretty serious changes in the mid-70's/early-80's, it took a pretty long time for us to be able to answer any questions after those changes.<br /><br />When there's talk about gender and economics I often heard people say that it's macro in particular that's an issue, that "New Classical" macro is somehow not something women want to deal with for whatever reason. This could just be me, like I said I'm not very well versed in macro, but I know of far more female "New Classical" or RBC or whatever you want to call it macroeconomists than I know of female NK macroeconomists. Selection bias always plays a part but my interest in macro has always been monetary theory and I've always been drawn to the Woodfordian research agenda more than anything else, very much an NK flavour of macro.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-48067994893636375942015-01-01T19:42:37.303-05:002015-01-01T19:42:37.303-05:00How about engineering?How about engineering?Noah Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-21199806848404253602015-01-01T19:41:22.022-05:002015-01-01T19:41:22.022-05:00What about your stupid faceWhat about your stupid faceNoah Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09093917601641588575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-57759939045612181592015-01-01T18:20:04.368-05:002015-01-01T18:20:04.368-05:00This will sound strange, but in fields where women...This will sound strange, but in fields where women and under-represented minorities are rare, those that have/are succeeding get overloaded with "representation". In such a situation senior colleagues and administrators need to think about ways of taking some of that load away (less departmental/college make work committees, etc.).EliRabetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002964638398767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17232051.post-14304646609787259992015-01-01T16:07:29.520-05:002015-01-01T16:07:29.520-05:00I agree with your example of DSGE models: determin...I agree with your example of DSGE models: determining whether a macro model is any good or not is pretty subjective, and the old boys network plays a big role in determining whether a new macro model is accepted, or is even publishable. Many macro economists, such as Krugman, complain about this all the time.<br /><br />However, your example from physics of calculating the course of a spaceship is nonsense. If anyone with "adequate mathematical knowledge" can do this, then it isn't the kind of thing that physics professors are doing.<br /><br />Here's <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140624-fluid-tests-hint-at-concrete-quantum-reality/" rel="nofollow">a real example from physics</a> (that I think I read about on this blog). Demonstrating effects analogous to quantum physics using oil droplets rather than photons seems mind blowingly brilliant to me, and at least to some physicists. However, other physicists dismiss it. One says, “whether one thinks this is worth a lot of time and effort is a matter of personal taste. Personally, I don’t.”<br /><br />In general, I think much more physics research is difficult to judge objectively. Who really cares about quantum entanglement, other than physicists? However, an economist who comes up with a better estimate of the fiscal multiplier is guaranteed to find an eager audience (even if many economists dismiss Keynesian theory). That's because fiscal policy is of pressing concern to many outside of economics, and many economists are the the business of offering policy advice to those outside of economics.Ragoutnoreply@blogger.com