%0 Report
        %A Gertsberg, Marina
        %T Diversity and Access in Academic Finance Seminars
        %D 2026
        %8 2026 Apr
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 18603
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18603
        %X Academic seminars are a central mechanism through which the finance profession allocates visibility, feedback, and network access. Using a new panel of 8,744 external seminars at 74 U.S. finance departments from 2010 to 2024, I document five stylized facts. First, female representation rose from 10% to 25%, outpacing growth in the female share of the finance faculty. Second, seminar presenters are positively selected on research visibility: relative to same-institution faculty, they have substantially more publications, Top-3 publications, and citations, and this premium is no larger for women than for men. Third, seminar matching is strongly hierarchical: lower-ranked departments invite upward, whereas top departments draw from a broader range of tiers. Fourth, geographic reach is greater for elite-affiliated and senior scholars. Fifth, seminar opportunities are highly concentrated, with the top 10% of presenters accounting for 43% of all talks. The evidence shows that finance seminars have become more gender-inclusive while remaining strongly selective and hierarchical.
        %K finance profession
%K academic seminars
%K diversity
%K hierarchy
%K geographic stratification
%K academic labor markets