Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/305500 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
Staff Reports No. 1129
Publisher: 
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, NY
Abstract: 
We analyze 6,400 letters of recommendation for more than 2,200 economics and finance Ph.D. graduates from 2018 to 2021. Letter text varies significantly by field of interest, with significantly less positive and shorter letters for Macroeconomics and Finance candidates. Letters for female and Black or Hispanic job candidates are weaker in some dimensions, while letters for Asian candidates are notably less positive overall. We introduce a new measure of letter quality capturing candidates that are recommended to "top" departments. Female, Asian, and Black or Hispanic candidates are all less likely to be recommended to top academic departments, even after controlling for other letter characteristics. Finally, we examine early career outcomes and find that letter characteristics, especially a "top" recommendation have meaningful effects on initial job placements and journal publications.
Subjects: 
recommendation letters
gender in economics
race and ethnicity in economics
research institutions
professional labor markets
JEL: 
A11
A23
J15
J16
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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