Since mid-August, I have been following with interest a discussion about the sexism in economics. The discussion burst onto the public scene with a piece by Justin Wolfers in the New York Times, in which the research by Alice Wu was featured. Many economists have contributed reasonable opinions and I have seen discussions of how economists are just mean to each other, without the meanness being specifically oriented against women (but all too often it is, with a vengeance). Today, I want to point you to this great post by Claudia Sahm. She lists some of the nasty, negative, hurtful comments she has received, in almost all cases from an economist who outranked her and was not speaking anonymously. She asks that we economists start a conversation about the evil of an anonymous website being the main source of information about the economics job market, and then to consider the problems with anonymous refereeing in the publishing process. I share this here in the spirit of amplifying her message.
Economist colleagues, our profession is impoverished by our ridiculous aggressiveness and status-obsession. What will it take to make us behave better?
The curious incident of DD on the Web 