Tackling sexual harassment could bring sizeable economic dividends

after the MeToo movement gripped the world, the problem of sexual harassment continues to dog the economics profession. Fresh allegations of misconduct at universities in America and Europe are causing a torrent of older cases to emerge. Rooting out harassment in academia is particularly hard because career progression depends on the goodwill of not just senior colleagues but also peers at far-flung institutions, who often partner with juniors to conduct research and who review papers vying to get published in prestigious journals. Yet half a decade has not gone by in vain. Many economists are now using the same rigorous approach they bring to assessing the labour market, or the impact of workplace accidents, to gauge the effects of harassment. Their findings help give a sense of the cost—to victims and the wider workforce—of sexual coercion, demeaning treatment and degrading comments. Fortunately, the research also shows that some remedies do work, making the pay-off to halting misconduct both sizeable and attainable.