Publications
- Boring, A., & Philippe, A. (2021). Reducing Discrimination in the Field Evidence from an Awareness Raising Intervention Targeting Gender Biases in Student Evaluations of Teaching. Journal of Public Economics, 193.
- Azmat, G., & Boring, A. (2020). Gender Diversity in Firms. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 36(4), 760-782.
- Boring, A., Desrieux, C., & Espinosa, R. (2018). Aspiring Top Civil Servants' Distrust in the Private Sector. Revue d’Economie Politique, 128(6), 1047-1087.
- Boring, A. (2017). Gender Biases in Student Evaluations of Teaching, Journal of Public Economics, 145, 27-41.
- Boring, A., Ottoboni, K., & Stark, P. (2016). Student Evaluations of Teaching (Mostly) Do Not Measure Teaching Effectiveness. ScienceOpen Research.
Working papers
Gender, Competition and Choices in Higher Education, with Jen Brown
Data on the labor market outcomes of university graduates show that gender pay gaps appear soon after graduation in nearly every field of study. We provide descriptive evidence of a plausible cause of the gender starting-salary gap: choices within an educational setting that differ between male and female students, even after accounting for academic specialization. We examine the choices of undergraduate students at a selective French university who are competing for seats at foreign universities to fulfill a mandatory exchange program requirement. Holding fixed students' field of study, we find that average- and high-ability female students request exchange universities that are worse-ranked than their male peers. A survey eliciting students’ preferences suggests that male students prioritize the academic characteristics of potential exchange universities more often, whereas similar female students consider both the academic and non-academic characteristics of exchange destinations. We explore the short-term consequences of these differing preferences using a simulation that assigns students to exchange seats solely on university ranking and students' academic performance. Female students' assignment improves almost uniformly; while top-performing male students face increased competition for seats, and male students with average grades face less competition as high-achieving female students shift towards better-ranked assignments.
Data on the labor market outcomes of university graduates show that gender pay gaps appear soon after graduation in nearly every field of study. We provide descriptive evidence of a plausible cause of the gender starting-salary gap: choices within an educational setting that differ between male and female students, even after accounting for academic specialization. We examine the choices of undergraduate students at a selective French university who are competing for seats at foreign universities to fulfill a mandatory exchange program requirement. Holding fixed students' field of study, we find that average- and high-ability female students request exchange universities that are worse-ranked than their male peers. A survey eliciting students’ preferences suggests that male students prioritize the academic characteristics of potential exchange universities more often, whereas similar female students consider both the academic and non-academic characteristics of exchange destinations. We explore the short-term consequences of these differing preferences using a simulation that assigns students to exchange seats solely on university ranking and students' academic performance. Female students' assignment improves almost uniformly; while top-performing male students face increased competition for seats, and male students with average grades face less competition as high-achieving female students shift towards better-ranked assignments.
Work in progress
Turning Back the Clock: Beliefs in Gender Norms During Lockdown, with Gloria Moroni
We conduct a survey in France on a representative sample of 1,000 individuals to study the impact of lockdown measures on beliefs regarding gender norms. Using questions from the European Values Study, we find evidence that the lockdown is associated with a shift towards more traditional beliefs in gender norms, i.e. less equal gender norms. We explore two mechanisms through which some individuals may have shifted towards less equal gender beliefs: (i) increase in time constraints for couples that were unable to outsource childcare and housework during lockdown, and (ii) increase in economic uncertainty. Our results suggest that the increase in more traditional beliefs in gender roles are mainly driven by men with kids, as well as by individuals from economically vulnerable groups (lower education and lower income). Our results are consistent with a ``conservative shift'' hypothesis: beliefs in more unequal gender norms seem to be related to increases in economic uncertainty caused by the health crisis. We also find some evidence of a mother's guilt effect for women whose male partners ended-up taking more time to take care of children during lockdown.
Using Motivation Letters to Understand Students' Higher Educational Choices, with Ghazala Azmat, Sophie Cêtre & Roberto Galbiati
We analyze information from motivation letters that students provide in their admissions packages to a selective French university specialized in social sciences. We use the information these letters contain to understand how students’ motivations evolve over the course of their studies, up to their choices of master’s degree specialization. We analyze how students’ motivations for different study paths evolve throughout their undergraduate studies, when they are exposed to new courses and when they receive ability signals through grades in different fields.
Improving Student Evaluations of Teaching
Ideally, student evaluations of teaching (SET) provide instructors with useful information to help them improve the quality of their teaching. The original purpose of SETs was formative: to help instructors improve their teaching practices through student feedback. Over time, universities have started relying on SETs to assess instructors’ teaching effectiveness (summative purpose). A vast number of universities worldwide now use SETs as their main assessment tool to make personnel decisions for faculty, especially tenure track and adjunct faculty. Despite their widespread use, SETs remain highly controversial. Using survey data, the research describes some of the main issues that instructors worldwide currently have with SETs. The research then discusses measures that universities can implement to improve their use of SETs. The analysis covers five main issues that impact instructors' satisfaction and well-being: student biases, response rates and selection effects of students who complete their evaluations, multitasking issues and distorted incentives for instructors who are trying to fulfill both formative and summative purposes of SETs, the perceived power that students have over instructors' careers through SETs, and university administrations' interpretation of SET scores.
We conduct a survey in France on a representative sample of 1,000 individuals to study the impact of lockdown measures on beliefs regarding gender norms. Using questions from the European Values Study, we find evidence that the lockdown is associated with a shift towards more traditional beliefs in gender norms, i.e. less equal gender norms. We explore two mechanisms through which some individuals may have shifted towards less equal gender beliefs: (i) increase in time constraints for couples that were unable to outsource childcare and housework during lockdown, and (ii) increase in economic uncertainty. Our results suggest that the increase in more traditional beliefs in gender roles are mainly driven by men with kids, as well as by individuals from economically vulnerable groups (lower education and lower income). Our results are consistent with a ``conservative shift'' hypothesis: beliefs in more unequal gender norms seem to be related to increases in economic uncertainty caused by the health crisis. We also find some evidence of a mother's guilt effect for women whose male partners ended-up taking more time to take care of children during lockdown.
Using Motivation Letters to Understand Students' Higher Educational Choices, with Ghazala Azmat, Sophie Cêtre & Roberto Galbiati
We analyze information from motivation letters that students provide in their admissions packages to a selective French university specialized in social sciences. We use the information these letters contain to understand how students’ motivations evolve over the course of their studies, up to their choices of master’s degree specialization. We analyze how students’ motivations for different study paths evolve throughout their undergraduate studies, when they are exposed to new courses and when they receive ability signals through grades in different fields.
Improving Student Evaluations of Teaching
Ideally, student evaluations of teaching (SET) provide instructors with useful information to help them improve the quality of their teaching. The original purpose of SETs was formative: to help instructors improve their teaching practices through student feedback. Over time, universities have started relying on SETs to assess instructors’ teaching effectiveness (summative purpose). A vast number of universities worldwide now use SETs as their main assessment tool to make personnel decisions for faculty, especially tenure track and adjunct faculty. Despite their widespread use, SETs remain highly controversial. Using survey data, the research describes some of the main issues that instructors worldwide currently have with SETs. The research then discusses measures that universities can implement to improve their use of SETs. The analysis covers five main issues that impact instructors' satisfaction and well-being: student biases, response rates and selection effects of students who complete their evaluations, multitasking issues and distorted incentives for instructors who are trying to fulfill both formative and summative purposes of SETs, the perceived power that students have over instructors' careers through SETs, and university administrations' interpretation of SET scores.
