EJMR Petition

[Anya Samek]

Dear friends and colleagues,

While not specifically on the topic of experimental economics, I want to make you aware of an important issue that should concern all of us in our profession related to the website EJMR (Economics Job Market Rumors).

Several months ago, I started a petition to request that the AEA assist in action against libel and threats on EJMR. As you may know, this site generates a hostile environment and disproportionately hurts women, minorities and junior faculty. As you may have seen, Florian Ederer presented a paper last week at the NBER Summer Institute which identified numerous toxic posts as originating at IP addresses of serious economics departments, many based in the US. This paper also makes clear that one can uncover the sources of toxic content on the site.

Importantly, the site is a source of libel and threats, which are not protected free speech (unlike the toxic/hate speech which Florian did uncover). After consulting with the AEA Ombuds and others, I have come up with a way to limit the hostility of this site (by targeting libel and threats specifically) and potentially deter bad behavior. The process is detailed in my petition, which I hope you will sign:

Sign the petition here: https://forms.gle/hczYLK2iykdyKsHX6

If you would like to support this effort further, please circulate the petition within your department/networks,

 and re-tweet it.

We currently have over 1,100 signatures. I think a collective effort is important if we wish to improve the climate in the profession for our junior people. I plan to send this petition to the AEA in the next week or so.

Best,

Anya



Anya Samek, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
UC San Diego Rady School of Management
anyasamek.com