By Christiana Hilmer and Michael Hilmer* individuals (309 men, 100 women) from this population receiving initial domestic academic placements and providing enough information for us to construct complete early career job histories. Our second sample is drawn from the population of tenure track faculty in public programs listed among the 1995 National Research Council (NRC) rankings of PhD granting economics programs. In response to Freedom of Information Act requests, we received reliable 2007 salary information for 753 associate and full professors (680 men, 73 women) from 53 programs ranging from University of California Berkeley (ranked No. 7) to Utah State (ranked No. 104).

For both samples, we use information from the American Economic Association (AEA)’s Directory of Members and/or the individual’s most recent CV to construct detailed job histories that include the identity of each employer and the dates and ranks of employment. For our PhD sample, these histories cover the first 14 to 19 years post PhD receipt (1990–1994 to 2009). For our salary sample, these histories cover periods ranging from five years (for the least experienced associate professor) to 58 years (for the most experienced full professor) post PhD receipt. There are important differences between these samples. Because the PhD sample uses initial academic placement as a starting point, we are able to follow individuals as they move out of the academic ranks. However, because we do not possess salary data for individuals leaving academia or holding faculty positions at private institutions, we are unable to analyze the salary effects attendant to such moves. To these comprehensive job histories, we add individual-specific data collected from publicly available sources. Gender and current academic rank are determined from departmental Web sites and/or individual home pages. Peer reviewed publication data through 2007 are collected from Econlit, the AEA’s bibliography of economics literature throughout the world, and