What type of work will be considered?
Any type of economics research that is related to issues of diversity and social justice. Some relevant topic areas may include crime and policing, diversity in education, environmental justice, economic history, gender and sexuality, geography, health, housing, wealth/income inequality, law and institutions, migration, race, labor markets, and tax policy. Other topics addressing related research questions are encouraged; feel free to apply if you can justify why your research applies to social justice issues.
How can the grant money be used?
The grant money can be used to cover research expenses of any type (including a stipend for your time). Grants will be awarded as a block stipend. The only requirement for grant recipients is to write a short (1,500-2,000) word blog post about their research that will be published in BEE's website by a pre-determined deadline.
How can I apply?
There is a short application form that has been emailed to BEE listserv members. It asks for a brief description of your research (approximately 1,000 words total). Please fill out this application before the deadline of Monday, November 1, 2021. If you haven't received the application for any reason but are eligible and interested in the application, please get in touch with us here.
How will decisions be made and when will they be reported?
A team of experts in social justice/diversity issues will review each application, and consider each project's relevance/contribution to current work in the topic area. We will do our best to match application to reviewers in an appropriate topic area. At least one economist will be a reviewer for each application, yet scholars from other disciplines will also be serving as reviewers. Scores will be averaged across reviewers, and those with the highest scores will be awarded grants. In the event that the number of top scoring applications exceeds the number of available grants, awards will be randomly allocated among top-scorers. We aim to release decisions by around December 2021, but this is a new program so please be patient and flexible.
Questions?
Email the BEE leadership team members or get in touch with us here.
Congratulations to our Spring 2021 Grant Recipients!
Research on discrimination and selection in Indian labor markets
Shreya Chandra (Berkeley ARE) & Utkarsh Kumar (Columbia University)
Shreya Chandra (Berkeley ARE) & Utkarsh Kumar (Columbia University)
Many disadvantaged social groups in India, including women and individuals from lower castes, prefer public sector jobs because they have less discriminatory processes as compared to private sector jobs (among other reasons). The process of obtaining a position in the prestigious Indian Administrative Services takes multiple attempts over multiple years. The composition of test-takers is shaped by two opposing forces - while prestige attracts talent, high opportunity cost (for talented candidates) of spending 3-4 years under uncertainty may also attrit talent. These attrition forces may be stronger for disadvantaged groups making their representation weaker among policy makers.
Research on gender and innovation
Gauri Subramani (Berkeley Haas)
Gauri Subramani (Berkeley Haas)
The goal of this project is to understand individuals’ trajectories as inventors and to identify gender-specific trends that may influence the direction of innovation. Specifically, I am interested in understanding if male female and male inventors differ in their decisions whether to patent again and what areas they pursue patents in. This provides novel insight into the landscape of innovation and gender gaps in patenting.
Congratulations to our Fall 2020 Grant Recipients!
Research on opium poppy markets in Mexico
James Sayre - Berkeley ARE
James Sayre - Berkeley ARE
I study the economic forces that lead rural farmers in Mexico to produce opium poppy, and the feasibility of crop substitution programs to provide a legal alternative to such activities. I measure the degree to which farmers can substitute between legal and illegal crops, and whether out-migration of such regions has also been a way to mitigate changes in the price of illegal crops.
Research on the "pink tax"
Kayleigh Barnes and Jakob Brounstein - Berkeley Economics
Kayleigh Barnes and Jakob Brounstein - Berkeley Economics
We evaluate the existence of a "pink tax" placed on women's consumer goods and find that women pay higher prices per unit than do men for similar goods. This work can inform whether there exist real consumption inequalities between men and women.
