To Whom It May Concern: Demographic Differences in Letters of Recommendation

Beverly Hirtle and Anna Kovner

No 20241115, Liberty Street Economics from Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Abstract: Letters of recommendation from faculty advisors play a critical role in the job market for Ph.D. economists. At their best, they can convey important qualitative information about a candidate, including the candidate’s potential to generate impactful research. But at their worst, these letters offer a subjective view of the candidate that can be susceptible to conscious or unconscious bias. There may also be similarity or affinity bias, a particularly difficult issue for the economics profession, where most faculty members are white men. In this post, we draw on our recent working paper to describe how recommendation letters differ by the gender, race, or ethnicity of the job candidate and how these differences are related to early career outcomes.

Keywords: recommendation letters; gender in economics; race and ethnicity in economics; research institutions; professional labor markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A11 A23 J15 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-11-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-sog
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Journal Article: To Whom It May Concern: Demographic Differences in Letters of Recommendation (2024)
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