## Mind the Gap

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Mind the Gap](https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2018/june/may.pdf)

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### Study scope and context
- Surveyed male and female economists at universities in 18 European Union countries that grant PhDs in economics.
- Controlled for residence, when and where PhDs were earned.
- Compared responses across a wide variety of policy questions, including support for austerity measures, regulation of high-risk financial transactions, deflationary policies, renewable energy and hydraulic fracturing, drilling in the Arctic, and genetically modified crops.
- Builds on prior work for U.S.-based economists (2014) and situates findings in a European context where economics professors commonly serve in high-level policymaking roles.

### Major findings by topic area
- Found statistically significant differences between men and women economists in all five examined topic areas:
  1. Core economic principles and methodology.
  2. Market solutions versus government intervention.
  3. Government spending, taxation, and redistribution.
  4. Environmental protection.
  5. Gender and equal opportunities.

- Market solutions versus government intervention
  - Largest gender gap observed in this area.
  - Average female economist was less likely than the average male economist to prefer market solutions over government intervention.
  - Largest single item difference: whether stronger employment protection legislation results in weaker economic performance — men were more likely than women to believe such legislation would weaken the economy.

- Environmental protection
  - Second-largest gender gap.
  - Women economists were more likely to support increased environmental protection than their male counterparts.
  - Largest item difference: whether the European Union should continue the ban on planting genetically modified crops — women were more likely to agree with continuing the ban.
  - Questions included: lower value-added tax rate on eco-friendly products, increased energy taxes on carbon dioxide emissions, promotion of renewable energy, limiting hydraulic fracturing, drilling in the Arctic, and banning genetically modified crops.

- Government spending, taxation, and redistribution
  - Small but statistically significant gender differences.
  - Topics included: level of military spending, import openness, impact of increases in the minimum wage on unemployment, effect of moderate inflation, European Central Bank policy, deflationary policies, and deficit and debt limits.
  - Largest difference within this group: views on the appropriate level of military spending — women were more likely to see military spending as too large, men more likely to see it as too small.

- Core principles and methodology
  - Disagreements present between male and female economists.
  - Largest contrast: women were more likely than men to support the notion that interdisciplinary research teams would improve economic knowledge.

- Gender and equal opportunities
  - Questions covered: the gender wage gap, policies promoting gender balance on boards of directors of privately held companies, affirmative action, perceptions of opportunities for faculty and graduate students in the European Union, potential benefits of gender balance in research teams, role of housework, and importance of affordable childcare in women’s labor force participation.
  - This topic area did not produce the largest or second-largest gender differences overall.
  - Largest item difference in this group: perceptions of opportunities for men and women in economics at most universities in the European Union — women were more likely to believe opportunities favor men a bit more; men believed opportunities favor women a bit more, or are approximately equal.

### Implications for policy, research, and the profession
- Greater representation of women in economics, particularly at the senior level, would likely influence policy choices and the types of research questions asked.
- In the European Union context — where economics faculty often serve in policymaking roles — changes in the gender makeup of the profession may have direct effects on policy outcomes.
- If women hold views at odds with those of more senior male colleagues on research and policy questions, hiring, promotion, and publication outcomes may disadvantage women and help explain why progress in female representation stalled around 2000.
- Including both men and women economists in policy formulation and debate will expand the debate and enlarge the scope of perspectives.

### Notable contextual points and citations in the source
- The European Commission has emphasized greater gender balance in economic decision-making as contributing to greater productivity and innovation, better company performance, and improved public policy.
- Reference to Frey and Eichenberger (1993) on differences between American and European economics and the translation of academic economic knowledge into policy.

*Source: Ann Mari May, David Kucera, and Mary G. McGarvey, Finance & Development, June 2018.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2018/june/may.pdf_