A groundbreaking study published on Thursday has revealed that the anonymous comments featuring racist, sexist, and abusive messages on the Economics Job Market Rumors (EJMR) website originated from numerous prestigious US universities. EJMR, an anonymous website not affiliated with any university or institution, has long been criticized for its toxic content. The new research, conducted by Boston University’s Florian Ederer, the Yale School of Management’s Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, and Yale’s Kyle Jensen, shows that even economists from well-known institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Chicago engage in this behavior.
The study’s findings highlight the widespread nature of the offensive content on EJMR. During a presentation at a National Bureau of Economic Research conference in Cambridge, Mass., Ederer emphasized that the problem is not limited to a few individuals but rather is prevalent throughout the site. This revelation has sparked discussions among economists on social media, focusing on issues of privacy, free speech, and online abuse. Female economists who have been targeted on the website expressed their hope that these findings will prompt universities to investigate the offensive posts. However, concerns have also been raised regarding potential repercussions against those who posted on EJMR.
To address these concerns, Goldsmith-Pinkham assured in an interview that the research team has no intention of revealing the identities of individuals involved. Nevertheless, the paper’s livestream presentation on YouTube attracted nearly 2,000 viewers, indicating a significant level of interest among academic economists in this topic. The discriminatory content on EJMR further exacerbates the challenges faced by women and nonwhite economists, who already struggle for representation in a field that has difficulty diversifying. Goldsmith-Pinkham highlighted how this behavior reflects poorly on the entire profession and discourages participation.
The researchers used publicly available data to determine the internet addresses behind over 7 million posts on EJMR since 2010. Approximately 10% of these were classified as “toxic” due to racism or sexism. Racial slurs and claims that women have inferior brain sizes compared to men were prevalent in these posts. Surprisingly, around 11% of posts were traced back to several hundred universities, including those ranked in the top 25 for research. On average, 13% of university posts were deemed toxic.
The website has faced criticism since 2017 when a paper by UC Berkeley student Alice Wu exposed the site’s sexist nature. Prominent economists, such as former IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard, have referred to EJMR as a “cesspool” and a breeding ground for abusive personal attacks. Economists like Anya Samek, who was a target on the site in 2009 and experienced threats in 2022, hope that the universities linked to these posts will take measures to prevent future abuse. Samek has even started a petition urging the American Economic Association to take legal action against threatening and defamatory posts. The association has responded by creating its own job board as an alternative to EJMR, though it hasn’t gained much traction yet.
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