Only 17% of the studies published in top economics journals are by women

There is a significant gender gap in prestigious economics journals, according to new analysis of decades of data. Despite women making up 30% of first-year PhD students in more than 40 economics programs in the US, only 17% of the papers published in the top five academic journals have women authors, economist Caroline Krafft’s research shows. The top five journals—the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Journal of Economic Literature, Journal of Political Economy, and Quarterly Journal of Economics—have an outsize impact on academic careers in the field, including who receives tenure and promotions, especially at top universities.