Differences in conformity: women may conform a bit more to widespread social views (at least, to views of “their social class”) and/or compartimentalize more between what they learn about a specific topic and their general views. This would mean female scientists would be slightly less likely to be atheists in religious countries, female theology students would be slightly less likely to be fanatics in not-that-fanatical societies, etc.
We need to look at differences between men and women conditional on the fact that they’ve become economists, not just differences between men and women. Becoming a professional economist requires more nonconformity for a woman than for a man—deciding to pursue a gender-atypical job, having peers and mentors that are mostly male, and delaying having children or putting a lot of time into family life until you’re 30, at least.
Different subfields in economics: Maybe “economics” shouldn’t be considered one big blob—there may be some subfields that have more in common with other social sciences (and thus have a more female student body, and a more “liberal” outlook), and some more in common with maths and business.
There are more women in fields you might expect to be more liberal, and fewer in fields like theory. http://www.cepr.org/meets/wkcn/3/3530/papers/Dolado.pdf Women seem to be more concentrated in public economics (taxes) and economic development. They are less concentrated in theory… and in the large field of “other”. When you define the fields differently women are especially well represented (compared to the mean) in “health, education, and welfare” and “labour and demographic economics”.
It would be interesting to see how, say, health economists view employer-provided health insurance rules.
We need to look at differences between men and women conditional on the fact that they’ve become economists, not just differences between men and women. Becoming a professional economist requires more nonconformity for a woman than for a man—deciding to pursue a gender-atypical job, having peers and mentors that are mostly male, and delaying having children or putting a lot of time into family life until you’re 30, at least.
There are more women in fields you might expect to be more liberal, and fewer in fields like theory. http://www.cepr.org/meets/wkcn/3/3530/papers/Dolado.pdf Women seem to be more concentrated in public economics (taxes) and economic development. They are less concentrated in theory… and in the large field of “other”. When you define the fields differently women are especially well represented (compared to the mean) in “health, education, and welfare” and “labour and demographic economics”.
It would be interesting to see how, say, health economists view employer-provided health insurance rules.