Bridging barriers: How COVID-19 changed racial diversity in economics seminars
研究了新冠疫情前后经济学研讨会演讲者的种族分布变化，发现全球范围内变化不大，但美国少数族裔演讲者比例在虚拟研讨会期间几乎翻倍。
In this paper, new facts are documented on the racial distribution of seminar speakers in economics. From a sample of 270 institutions, I determined that before the COVID-19 pandemic, 82.5% of seminars were given by White speakers, 13.9% of seminars were given by Asian speakers, and 3.6% by speakers with a Hispanic-Latino or Black background. The racial distribution of speakers did not change globally. However, the share of speakers from underrepresented minorities in the United States almost doubled with the introduction of virtual seminars during the COVID-19 pandemic. • Virtual seminars during COVID-19 affected the racial diversity of economics seminar speakers. • Globally, the racial composition of seminar speakers remained largely unchanged. • In the U.S., the share of seminar speakers from underrepresented minority (URM) backgrounds nearly doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic.