Discrimination in the Formation of Academic Networks: A Field Experiment on #EconTwitter
AER: Insights · 2025 · Nicolás Ajzenman、Bruno Ferman、Pedro C. Sant'Anna
中文摘要
本文记录了学术界经济学家在职业网络形成中的歧视现象。我们创建了80个自称为博士生的机器人账号，这些账号在三个特征上存在差异：性别（男性或女性）、种族（黑人或白人）以及所属大学（排名靠前或排名较低）。这些机器人账号随机关注了#EconTwitter社区中的6,920名用户。白人学生的回关率比黑人学生高12%，来自排名靠前大学的学生的回关率比来自排名较低院校的学生高21%，女性学生的回关率比男性学生高25%。值得注意的是，即使在来自排名靠前院校的学生中，种族差距仍然存在。
Abstract
This paper documents discrimination in the formation of professional networks among academic economists. We created 80 bot accounts that claim to be PhD students differing in three characteristics: gender (male or female), race (Black or White), and university affiliation (top- or lower-ranked). The bots randomly followed 6,920 users in the #EconTwitter community. Follow-back rates were 12 percent higher for White students compared to Black students, 21 percent higher for students from top-ranked universities compared to those from lower-ranked institutions, and 25 percent higher for female compared to male students. Notably, the racial gap persists even among students from top-ranked institutions. (JEL A11, C93, I23, J15, J16, Z13)