Data and Code for: Half Empty and Half Full? Women in Economics and the Rise in Gender-Related Research

We use 3 decades (1991-2021) of the EconLit dissertation database to investigate the link between the gender of economic dissertation authors and economic research topics. We find a remarkable rise in gender-related research in economics over time and by sub-field. We show that women economists are significantly more likely to pursue gender-related dissertation topics. Moreover, women bring gender-related topics into a wider range of fields within economics, thus expanding the scope of economic research more broadly. The rise in gender-related research in economics dissertations does not appear to be fully driven by the gender mix of dissertators - the share of dissertations written by women has held constant as research on gender has increased. It appears that men in economics have substantially increased their interest in gender-related topics as well.