Economics isn’t known for gender balance among senior faculty. So six years ago, the Committee for the Status of Women in the Economics Profession started a randomized controlled trial of a mentoring program for young, female economists. The results?

After five years the 2004 treatment group averaged .4 more NSF or NIH grants and 3 additional publications, and were 25 percentage points more likely to have a top-tier publication. There are significant but smaller effects at three years post-treatment for the 2004 and 2006 cohorts combined.

The NBER paper is here. Ungated here.

Another astonishing fact that may not immediately occur: a Committee subjected itself to a randomized control trial. This is what I love about my profession: the sneaking suspicion it was once colonized by Vulcans.