EconLit

How much research do economists devote to the topics of gender, race and ethnicity, and inequality? In a recently published article in Econ Journal Watch, Arnold Kling and I looked at articles published in the American Economic Review as well as the conference papers of the American Economic Association on this topics. We find that economists devote a large amount of space to the topics combined in recent years: over 10% of published articles and over 20% of conference papers. We also find that the share of research on this topics, as measured in these two AEA outlets, has been increasing over time (we go back to 1991, when the current JEL Code system was introduced).

Of the three areas we looked at, papers on gender saw the clearest increase, rising as both a share of published articles and conference papers. Published AER articles addressing inequality have also been increasing over this time period, though AEA conference papers on inequality have been stable. Both published articles and conference papers on race and ethnicity have been stable over the period we studied as a share of the total, though the absolute number has increased.

What is the significance of our results? Our main motivation was to challenge other economists who suggest, in various ways, that economists ignore these topics or don’t study them enough (for examples see these popular writings on gender, race and ethnicity, and inequality). Our research clearly shows that economists devote a good deal of attention to these topics, and for many areas it has shown a clear increase.

It is still possible that economists don’t dedicate enough time to these topics. We make no strong claim in the paper about what the correct amount of time for each topic would be. However, we do note the opportunity cost that comes with an increasing focus on these topics.

More importantly, those who suggest in public venues that economists ignore these areas are doing a disservice to all the scholars that have devoted their careers to studying these important topics and publishing their results in one of the top journals in the discipline. We have much more to learn about gender, race and ethnicity, and inequality, but dismissing the research that has already been done is unfair to a discipline that has increasingly focused on these areas.

Katherine Abraham and Melissa Kearney just published
“Explaining the Decline in the US Employment-to-Population Ratio: A Review of the Evidence” in the Journal of Economic Literature.

The unemployment rate measures people who are actively looking for work and can’t find a job. The authors are not examining short term fluctuations in unemployment (which shot up in pandemic times). They are looking at at long term decline in employment rates of working-age adults in the US. The trend began in 1999. Employment of adults in the US dipped after the Great Recession and still has not recovered a decade later. Less-educated males have experienced the largest drop in employment.

I’m reviewing the entire paper with my Labor Economics class. Most of what the authors talk about can be found throughout our Labor Econ. textbook, but I like using the paper to organize and motivate the collection of facts and theories.

Here’s a summary of their thorough examination of possible causes of the decline in working.

They estimate, drawing on other empirical work, that two factors have a considerable and measurable impact on the decline in formal employment. Import competition from China (the US changed their position on trade with China in 2000) and automation (industrial robots) both result in lower demand for US workers.

There are three contributing forces that the authors declare them to be minor casual factors. Increased receipt of disability benefits disincentivizes working, higher minimum wages results in less jobs, and the increased incarceration rate in the past few decades takes adults out of the labor force.

The paper is called “A Review of the Evidence”. The following is a list of factors that could in theory be responsible for the decline for working but for which data is scarce:
Lack of child care
Changes in leisure options (i.e. young men play video games)
Changes in social norms (i.e. young people can stay “in the basement”)
Increased use of opioids (could be a result of diminished job opportunities)
Rise in occupational licensing
Frictions or matching issues

All of those indeterminate items represent research opportunities.