Gender affects economic policy

As the number of female economists increases, a recent study suggests that the perspectives and research interests of university economics professors are diversifying.

The study, published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, found that male economists are more likely to believe government regulation is excessive, to support tariff reductions, and to oppose requiring employers to provide health insurance.

Women economists were found to be more likely to favor government intervention as opposed to market solutions and to view gender inequality as a U.S. labor market problem.

Patrick Conway, chairman of UNC-CH’s economics department, said he was not surprised by the study’s results.

Conway said female economists tend to focus their research on social welfare and family economics, while male economists focus more on business, finance, market efficiency and corporate markets.

But he said professors’ opinions do not influence grades for students who disagree with them, as long as they demonstrate sound economic analysis.

“You get a different perspective when you take a new professor every semester,” he said. “Women do bring a different perspective to many questions, and we’re very lucky to have women on campus who do bring those perspectives to our classes.”

The American Economic Association’s 2011 report analyzing the status of women in economics found that the percentage of female economists is rising — even if women remain outnumbered.

According to the report , the percentage of female tenured full professors increased from 6.5 percent in 1997 to 12.8 percent in 2011.

This lack of female economics professors is reflected in the previous faculty rosters at universities.

According to the UNC-CH economics department’s website, only two of the department’s 17 emeritus faculty members are female.

Four out of the 26 current professors are female.

“Given the difficulty in finding women who research at this level, the ones we’ve got have been quite impressive,” Conway said. “The fact that they’re women isn’t the major factor here. It’s the fact that they’re independent-minded thinkers and the fact that they’re good role models.”

Jennifer Troyer, chairwoman of the economics department at UNC-Charlotte, said five out of 19 of the department’s faculty members are women.

She said certain findings — those without definitive numbers as justification — will be subjective regardless of economists’ gender.

“There are several sides to any issue that an economist might argue,” she said. “When you don’t have the data to sort out which (side) is better, then it probably is intuition which is shaped by your political beliefs.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.