Science under Threat? A Natural Experiment in Economics

Dominic Rohner, Oliver Vanden Eynde () and Philine Widmer ()
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Oliver Vanden Eynde: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research
Philine Widmer: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris

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Abstract: Academic freedom has come under growing strain across the world. To study whether and how academics react to political pressure, we exploit a natural experiment: the U.S. government's "blacklist" of undesirable words released in early 2025. We find that the release of this list leads to a sharp reduction in the use of banned words in sensitive contexts among economists working at universities that rely heavily on NSF funding. The drop is particularly marked for content related to gender, race, and environment. Our findings are consistent with scholars responding strongly to political pressure through career incentives.

Keywords: Censorship; Science; Academic Freedom; Science Funding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-05519411v1
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Working Paper: Science under Threat? A Natural Experiment in Economics (2026)
Working Paper: Science under Threat? A Natural Experiment in Economics (2026)
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