9th CESifo Monthly Webinar on Labor Economics

Scientific organizer: Professor Gordon B. Dahl

The CESifo Webinars on Labor Economics were launched after the very first Area Conference of the Labor Economics Area of the CESifo Research Network was canceled due to COVID-19. In order to build and connect a network of researchers in labor economics on both sides of the Atlantic, the webinars will run on a monthly basis with different speakers for each event. 

Lectures by Ilyana Kuziemko (Princeton University) and J. Peter Nilsson (IIES, Stockholm University)

Ilyana Kuziemko will talk on Mobility for All: Representative Intergenerational Mobility Estimates over the 20th Century (co-authors Elisa Jácome and Suresh Naidu).

We present what is to the best of our knowledge the first long-run estimates of intergenerational relative mobility for samples that are representative of the full U.S.- born population. We develop a simple mobility measure that allows easy inclusion of non-whites and women for the 1910s to 1970s birth cohorts. We show a robust decline in both the intergenerational-elasticity and rank-rank persistence measures between the 1910s and 1940s birth cohorts. Both measures tend to drift up afterwards, so we find that persistence measures mirror the u-shaped trends in inequality over this period. Decomposing the IGE into within- and between-group components, we show that absolute convergence of incomes by race explain a large share of the decline in intergenerational mobility. 

J. Peter Nilsson will talk on What Happens When Discrimination in Academia Becomes Salient? (co-author Lena Hensvik).

We document the organizational and individual impacts following a revelation of substantial gender bias in competence assessments of research grant applicants at the Swedish Medical Research Council. Before the reform the marginal male applicant was the main beneficiary of the gendered evaluations. When the bias became salient the share of female members on the reviews boards was quickly increased from 10 to 40 percent, without compromising the quality of the board. These changes were followed by an immediate and permanent elimination of the male competence assessment premium. Changes in individual reviewers biases, as well as review board compositional changes contributed approximately equally to the elimination of the male competence premium. Following the career trajectories, income, as well as the research quantity, quality, and novelty of the young researchers applying for research fellowships around the reform, we show that the reduction in male bias resulted in higher impact and more novel research produced in the long-run. Our results are inconsistent with a gender-equity/efficiency trade-off, and shows the long-run potential of concerted efforts to reduce discriminatory practices in academia.

General Information on the Webinar

The webinar will begin at 6pm (CEST) on Thursday, 16 September 2021. Each speaker will give a 35 minute presentation and participants will then have the opportunity to pose questions.  Questions will also be encouraged during the lectures.