Hersch's research covered by The Wall Street Journal, NBCNews.com, Cosmopolitan, and others

April 2013

Professor Hersch's paper "Opting Out among Women with Elite Education" is garnering substantial media attention. [Read at NBCNews.com] [Read at WSJ.com] [Read at ScienceDaily.com] [Read at BusinessNewsDaily.com] [Read in Cosmopolitan] [Read at Vanderbilt.edu]

 

Hersch wins 2013 Mentoring Award

March 2013

Professor Hersch was one of two recipients of the 2013 Mentoring Award, presented by Vanderbilt University's Margaret Cunningim Women's Center.

 

Hersch will be the next FedEx Research Professor at Vanderbilt Law School

July 2012

Professor Hersch will be the FedEx Research Professor for AY 2012-2013. This honor is bestowed upon a senior member of the law faculty each year in recognition of productivity in research.

 

Hersch writes about launching Vanderbilt's Ph.D. Program in Law & Economics

June 2012

Professor Hersch writes about "Starting a New Interdisciplinary PhD Program" in the Summer 2012 edition of the American Economic Association's Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession Newsletter.

 

Hersch's findings on skin color discrimination featured in Wall Street Journal India

April 2012

Wall Street Journal India cites Professor Hersch's research on skin color discrimination for immigrants to the US in "Economics Journal: Is Fairer Skin Really ‘Better’?"

 

Hersch's findings on skin color discrimination featured in National Geographic

April 2012

National Geographic cites Professor Hersch's research on skin color discrimination for immigrants to the US in "Has India’s Skin-Lightening Obsession Reached the Final Frontier?" by Dan Morrison.

 

Hersch discusses her work on sexual harassment in a podcast

March 2012

Professor Hersch examines the relationship between pay and the likelihood of experiencing sexual harassment in a podcast. [Listen to Inside Higher Ed: Academic Minute: Sexual harassment and pay]

 

Hersch's work on higher pay for the risk of sexual harassment featured in The Toronto Star

December 2011

Professor Hersch discusses her finding of higher pay for the risk of sexual harassment. [Read "Sexual Harassment in the Same League as Injury and Death When it Comes to Danger Pay: Study" by Francine Kopun in The Toronto Star]

 

Hersch's work on compensating differentials for the risk of sexual harassment featured in The Washington Post and MSNBC

November 2011

Professor Hersch discusses her finding of higher pay for the risk of sexual harassment. [Read "The Risk of Sexual Harassment Can Mean a Bigger Paycheck" in The Washington Post] [Read "Where Harassment is Higher, So Are Salaries" on MSNBC.com]

 

Hersch discusses "The Bias against the Unemployed" in The New York Times' Room for Debate

July 2011

Professor Hersch joins the debate on a New Jersey law that prohibits employers from barring unemployed workers from applying for jobs. [Read the New York Times discussion] [Download Professor Hersch's segment]

 

Hersch and Viscusi release study on job risks and wage compensation for immigrant workers

October 2010

Professors Hersch and Viscusi find that Mexican immigrants work in jobs with higher fatality risks and receive little wage compensation for these risks. Non-Mexican immigrants face similar labor market conditions as U.S. natives. [Read more]

 

Hersch Writes on Sexual Harassment for CSWEP

May 2009

Learn what constitutes sexual harassment and what you can do about it if you are experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace. Read Professor Hersch's article for the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP) newsletter, "Sexual Harassment."

 

Hersch and the EEOC's E-RACE Initiative

Professor Hersch's findings on skin color discrimination have been closely followed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and her work has been cited in support of the launch and continuation of their E-RACE Initiative. [Read the remarks of Robert A. Canino at the E-RACE Initiative Launch Meeting in 2007] [Read the Digest of EEO Law, Vol XX, No. 3, 2009]

 

Hersch on SSRN

Professor Joni Hersch is a leading contributor to the Vanderbilt Law & Economics Working Paper Series on SSRN. New additions include:

• Immigrant Status and the Value of Statistical Life, with W. Kip Viscusi
• Punitive Damages by Numbers: Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, with W. Kip Viscusi
• Skin Color Discrimination and Immigrant Pay
• Home Production and Wages: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey
• Skin Color, Immigrant Wages, and Discrimination

 

Hersch now Associate Editor of REHO

April 2009

Professor Hersch is now an Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Review of Economics of the Household.

 

Hersch on Nashville Public Radio

April 2009

Professor Hersch was interviewed by Nashville Public Radio's Rachel Allen regarding her work on the effect of home production on wages.

 

Hersch in The Boston Globe

June 2008

Professor Hersch's paper "Double Your Major, Double Your Return?" coauthored with Alison Del Rossi and forthcoming in the Economics of Education Review, is cited in the Ideas section of The Boston Globe.

 

The Vanderbilt Lawyer features the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics

November 2007

The Vanderbilt Lawyer alumni publication (Vol. 36, No. 1) features the official launch of the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics as well as Co-directors W. Kip Viscusi and Joni Hersch and the program's first class of students.

 

Study by economist Joni Hersch reveals that lighter and taller equals a bigger paycheck for immigrants

January 2007

A new study by Vanderbilt University Professor of Law and Economics Joni Hersch found legal immigrants in the United States with a lighter skin tone made more money than those with darker skin.

Professor Hersch used data from 2,084 men and women who participated in the 2003 New Immigrant Survey. An interviewer reported the person’s skin color using an 11-point scale where 0 represented the absence of color and 10 represented the darkest possible skin color.

Even when taking into consideration characteristics that might affect wages, such as English language proficiency, work experience and education, Professor Hersch found immigrants with the lightest skin color earned, on average, 8 percent to 15 percent more than immigrants with the darkest skin tone. She said the effect of skin color even persisted among workers with the same ethnicity, race and country of origin.

Professor Hersch’s research also found height played a part in salary. Taller immigrants earned more, with every inch adding an additional 1 percent to wages.

Professor Hersch considered various explanations for skin color’s effect on wages, such as discrimination in country of birth, the possibility that darker skin color is caused by outdoor work, which is lower paying, and interviewer bias. After ruling out those explanations, she concluded that discrimination is the strongest explanation for why lighter and taller immigrants make more money.

"I was surprised and dismayed at how strong and persistent the skin color effect was even after I considered a whole series of alternative interpretations and explanations," she said.

Professor Hersch will present her research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference on Feb. 19. -- Story by Amy L. Wolf, Vanderbilt University Public Affairs

Read the Associated Press-syndicated story at the New York Times.

Read it at the Washington Post.