Hengel, Erin;
(2022)
Publishing While Female: are Women Held to Higher Standards? Evidence from Peer Review.
The Economic Journal
, 132
(648)
pp. 2951-2991.
10.1093/ej/ueac032.
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Abstract
Female authors are under-represented in top economics journals. In this paper, I investigate whether higher writing standards contribute to the problem. I find that (i) female-authored papers are 1%–6% better written than equivalent papers by men; (ii) the gap widens during peer review; (iii) women improve their writing as they publish more papers (but men do not); (iv) female-authored papers take longer under review. Using a subjective expected utility framework, I argue that higher writing standards for women are consistent with these stylised facts. A counterfactual analysis suggests that senior female economists may, as a result, write at least 5% more clearly than they otherwise would. As a final exercise, I show tentative evidence that women adapt to biased treatment in ways that may disguise it as voluntary choice.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Publishing While Female: are Women Held to Higher Standards? Evidence from Peer Review |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/ej/ueac032 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueac032 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10148349 |
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