Who's Doing the Talking: Women Economists and the Media
In an open letter earlier this fall, Ralph Nader called on Janet Yellen, chairwoman of the Fed, to “sit down with [her] Nobel Prize winning husband,” to learn about the intricacies of monetary policy. This is only one of several sagas that have played out this fall for famous female economists. In recent coverage of their fascinating work on rising mortality among middle-aged white men, Princeton Economics Professor and Econometric Society Fellow Anne Case was repeatedly reduced to junior co-author – and sometimes simply “wife” – of Angus Deaton. Likewise, in the original version of Adam Davidson’s September New York Times Magazine piece on rising college costs, Claudia Goldin, Professor of Economics at Harvard University and recent President of the American Economic Association, was mentioned almost parenthetically in relation to pioneering work with her partner Lawrence Katz.
In a recent article for the New York Times, Justin Wolfers hypothesized that the female halves of these economics power couples have gotten short shrift because of subconscious biases on the part of those who hold the pen. But journalist Dan Diamond, at Forbes, subsequently foisted the blame back on the women, writing, “. . . the problem isn’t just how we talk about economists. It’s who’s doing the talking the first place.”
We want to start changing the conversation.
Join us at the ASSA meetings in San Francisco on Monday, January 4, 2:30-4:00PM in Franciscan A&B for a panel discussion, Who’s Doing the Talking: Women Economists and the Media. Panelists include economists Claudia Goldin of Harvard; Susan Dynarski and Justin Wolfers, both of the University of Michigan; and media representatives Catherine Rampell, national syndicated opinion columnist for the Washington Post, and Dan Diamond, contributor to Forbes, Voxand other outlets. Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach of Northwestern University and the Brookings Institution will moderate. Stay after for refreshments and further informal conversation.
We hope to see you in San Francisco!
Department of Economics
Duke University
Durham, NC 27709-0097
A standing committee of the American Economic Association, the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) is charged with serving professional women economists by promoting their careers and monitoring their progress. CSWEP sponsors mentoring programs, surveys economics departments and freely disseminates information on professional opportunities, career development and how the profession works, both on the web and via free digital subscriptions to the CSWEP News.
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