LISER Researcher Dr. Eva Sierminska was awarded a two-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to continue her studies on diversity in the economics field. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation typically supports original projects with a high expected return in research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics. 

The studies undertaken by Eva are a continuation of her work on gender differences in field specialisation in economics that started during her scientific leave at the University of Arizona two years ago, which was funded by a seed grant from FNR (INTER mobility grant) and LISER.

Together with her co-Principal Investigator (PI) Professor Ronald Oaxaca,  a former LISER visiting scholar, they will look into the nitty gritty aspects of why women or men specialise in different fields in economics. Questions such as:

• Why are more women interested in studying labour market and health issues and why are more men interested in more abstract themes?
• Are salary differences the answer or maybe non-monetary factors (such as graduate school conditions and personal preference)... what is more likely to explain these differences?

The results of the project are expected to shed light on how to encourage diversity in economics as well as the broader STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields. Apart from journal articles, the outcomes of the project will include two robust databases, a website and strengthened cooperation between LISER and the University of Arizona.