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An empirical analysis of sexual harassment case outcomes in academia

Author

Listed:
  • Chitra Jogani

    (Trinity College)

  • Gerardo Ruiz Sánchez

    (Trinity College)

Abstract

This paper studies the severity of punishment of sexual harassment in academia using a dataset of public cases of academic sexual misconduct in the United States. Using both an ordered logit and a linear probability model, we study whether the severity of punishment is associated with factors such as the gender, academic field, and seniority of the accused faculty member, and whether the institution where the incident took place was a university or not. We also investigate if there was a relationship between the case outcomes and the start of the “Me Too” movement. We find that once a sexual harassment case is filed and investigated, accused senior faculty are 25 percentage points less likely to no longer work at the institution compared to accused non-senior faculty. Furthermore, accused faculty at universities are 12.1 percentage points less likely to no longer work at the institution compared to accused faculty in non-university institutions. We find that the severity of the case outcome is not associated with either the gender of the accused or the timing of the “Me Too” movement.

Suggested Citation

  • Chitra Jogani & Gerardo Ruiz Sánchez, 2023. "An empirical analysis of sexual harassment case outcomes in academia," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 43(4), pages 1593-1600.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-23-00230
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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2023/Volume43/EB-23-V43-I4-P138.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination

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