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1. “Same As It Ever Was: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity Differences in Promotion for Academic Economists.”

   Ginther, Donna K; Kahn, Shulamit; Milakhina, Daria (May 2025, American Economic Association)

   Using data from Academic Analytics 2009-2022 linked to publications and multiple approaches of identifying race, we examine gender and racial/ethnicity differentials in promotion of economists in economics and non-economics departments. Results are mixed. The share of Black economists remains at 3%. Huge gender penalties in promotion to both associate and full not explained by productivity continue in economics departments. There are no gender penalties in promotion to associate for economists in non-economics departments, although some in promotion to full. There are hardly any significant racial penalties in promotion to either rank, although statistical significance is difficult with such small samples. 

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2. Chapter 80 - Experimental and behavioral economics to inform agri-environmental programs and policies.

   https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.hesagr.2021.10.006  

   Palm-Forster, L. & (October 2021, Handbook of agricultural economics)

   Agricultural and applied economists have begun routinely using behavioral and experimental economics tools to answer important questions about agri-environmental policies and programs. These tools offer valuable insights into decision-making that can advance our economic understanding of human behavior and inform evidence-based policies. However, conducting robust economic experiments on agri-environmental topics presents unique challenges that can make implementation of these studies difficult and limit the applicability of results. This chapter provides a practical guide for researchers regarding best practices for applying experimental and behavioral economics to agri-environmental research focused on producer decision-making. We begin with a brief overview of how insights from behavioral economics have contributed to related literatures over past decades and highlight how economic experiments have been used to answer important research questions in those domains. We describe the types of economic experiments used to answer policy-relevant questions and carefully consider the advantages and limitations of each method in various contexts. We also highlight important trade-offs between control, context, and representativeness to consider when determining the most appropriate type of experiment to conduct. The chapter emphasizes five contemporary issues related to conducting robust experimental economics studies: replicability, statistical power, publication bias, farmer and rural landowner recruitment, and detection of heterogeneous treatment effects. To assist researchers in addressing each issue, we outline best practices and we offer recommendations for researchers, editors, reviewers, and funders. We also discuss research ethics and community engagement. Finally, we present a framework for prioritizing future economics research that can inform agri-environmental programs and policies. 

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3. Half Empty and Half Full? Women in Economics and the Rise in Gender-Related Research

   https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20241116  

   Antman, Francisca M; Doran, Kirk B; Qian, Xuechao; Weinberg, Bruce A (May 2024, AEA Papers and Proceedings)

   Using the EconLit dissertation database and large-scale algorithmic methods that identify author demographics from names, we investigate the connection between the gender of economics dissertators and dissertation topics. Despite stagnation in the share of women among economics PhDs in recent years, there has been a remarkable rise in gender-related dissertations in economics over time and in many subfields. Women economists are significantly more likely to write gender-related dissertations and bring gender-related topics into a wide range of fields within economics. Men in economics have also substantially increased their interest in gender-related topics. 

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4. Land-grant lessons for Anthropocene universities

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03029-9  

   Kopp, Robert E. (March 2021, Climatic Change)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Established amidst the bloodshed of the Civil War, land-grant universities, together with the associated agricultural experiment stations and cooperative extension services, have played a crucial role in democratizing scientific knowledge and addressing intertwined educational, environmental, economic, and democratic challenges within the USA. Indeed, they have arguably pioneered the idea of “usable science.” Today, the urgent challenges of the Anthropocene demand a more robust relationship between scientific research and on-the-ground action, strong networks sharing local lessons globally, and channels for injecting global, long-term perspectives into the noise of short-termism. The land-grant experience provides lessons for “Anthropocene universities” seeking to tackle these challenges, including the importance of (1) establishing or expanding university-based boundary organizations akin to cooperative extension, (2) incentivizing the integration of engagement into the university’s research, teaching, and service missions, (3) centering values of democracy, justice, equity, and inclusion in engagement, and (4) cooperating across institutions and sectors. Given the urgency of fully engaging academic institutions as players and connectors in the real-world challenges of addressing climate change and biodiversity loss, there is little time to waste. 

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5. Complementary Vantage Points: Integrating Hydrology and Economics for Sociohydrologic Knowledge Generation

   https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR024786  

   Müller, Marc F.; Levy, Morgan C. (April 2019, Water Resources Research)

   Abstract Because human and environmental systems in the Anthropocene are increasingly coupled, hydrologists and economists often find themselves studying the same systems from different vantage points. Here we argue that synthesis across economics and hydrology can help address two pressing sociohydrologic challenges: actionable prediction and the generation of transferable knowledge from place‐based studies. Specifically, we review (1) empirical methods and (2) theoretical approaches from economics and connect the two through a proposed iterative framework. First, we find that empirical methods for statistical analysis of natural and quasi‐experiments in economics can be leveraged to distinguish causal relations from mere correlations in complex and data scarce systems, which can help address the challenge of sociohydrologic prediction. Second, we find that economic theories based on rational choice can be used to decipher known paradoxes in water resources, which can help address the challenge of sociohydrologic knowledge generation. In both empirical and theoretical domains, specialized knowledge in hydrology remains critical to properly applying techniques from economics to coupled human‐water systems. We propose that linkages between the two fields highlight a large potential for interaction. 

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