“The Falling Roe and Relocation of Skilled Women”

Department of Accounting

A short report from Shi Rui on her research findings presented in the conference.

I attended the 2024 Contemporary Accounting Research Conference, held on November 1-2 in Toronto, Canada. At the conference, I presented my paper titled “The Falling Roe and Relocation of Skilled Women”, co-authored with Yupeng Lin, Michael Shen and Jean Zeng. As the only Ph.D. student presenter, I delivered the presentation and handled the subsequent Q&A session independently, engaging with questions and feedback from editors, discussants, and conference participants.

The paper examines how abortion restrictions reshape the geographic mobility and career decisions of skilled women, with a particular focus on implications for the accounting labor market. We find that skilled women who are more supportive of abortion rights tend to relocate to places where local policies align with their values. The paper highlights the role of non-pecuniary factors in shaping professional labor supply and organizational performance.

Presenting at the CAR Conference was an invaluable experience. I received constructive feedback regarding how to better articulate the paper’s contribution to the accounting literatures. Discussions with participants provided concrete suggestions for strengthening identification, refining the mechanism tests, and highlighting the policy implications for firms and regulators. In addition, the conference provided an excellent opportunity to engage with leading scholars in the accounting field, exchange ideas on related research agendas, and broaden my professional network.

Overall, the experience significantly sharpened the framing of the project, improved my understanding of how to communicate research to diverse academic audiences, and provided clear direction for the next stage of revisions.