Gender Differences in Economics Seminars

Pascaline Dupas, Amy Handlan, Alicia Modestino, Muriel Niederle, Mateo Seré, Haoyu Sheng, Justin Wolfers and Seminar Dynamics Collective

American Economic Review, 2026, vol. 116, issue 2, 749-89

Abstract: We assess whether men and women are treated differently when presenting their economics research. We collected data across thousands of seminars, job market talks, and conference presentations, leveraging human judgment and audio-processing algorithms to measure the number, tone, and type of interruptions. Within a seminar series, women are interrupted more than men. This holds when controlling for characteristics of the presenter, paper, and audience. Interruptions that are negative in tenor or tone or cut off the presenter mid-sentence increase for women presenters. We also find greater engagement of female audience members with female presenters, suggesting a potential role model effect.

JEL-codes: A11 C45 J16 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1257/aer.20241718

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