(Bloomberg) -- More than 600 economists including Nobel Prize winner Claudia Goldin have spoken out against the appointment of a new chief at Germany’s leading labor-market research institute, citing allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of power that surfaced last year on social media.

In an open letter Tuesday on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the economists expressed “profound dismay” that Armin Falk was appointed to take over the leadership of the Institute of Labor Economics, known as IZA, starting Jan. 1. They said the appointment would be “deeply damaging” to IZA, one of the top labor-market research institutes in the world.

The economists said that Falk, currently chief executive officer of the Institute on Behavior & Inequality, known as briq, was at the center of sexual misconduct and abuse of power allegations last year. They also noted that there was an inquiry and the allegations were not confirmed. They added that the person who made the allegations recently died. “In this context, Professor Falk’s appointment to the head of IZA is insensitive and inappropriate,” the group wrote.

IZA spokesman Mark Fallak said the organization has no comment at this time. Fallak also said Falk declined to comment and that the economist was “fully exonerated” by an independent investigation ordered by briq and a separate review by the University of Bonn, where he is a professor. 

The letter raising concerns about Falk’s appointment comes as economics grapples with a lack of diversity and disparities between how men and women are treated in the profession. Just 10% of the 1,248 economics doctoral degrees awarded in 2021 in the US went to minority candidates and 33% to women, according to a 2022 American Economic Association report. Some of the growing anger among female economists spilled out at the American Economic Association’s annual conference in January, where a couple of dozen economists protested with #MeToo signs. 

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Briq said in October last year that it hired a law firm to investigate complaints against a “senior briq employee.” The organization didn’t publicly identify Falk as the senior employee but cited “allegations posted on social media.” The posts made it clear the complaints were about Falk, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the posts have since been taken down.

In March, briq said the allegations weren’t confirmed. Falk, who was put on a temporary leave of absence during the length of the four-month investigation, went back to work.

Signatories to this week’s letter said they would renounce their fellowships and affiliations with the organization if Falk’s appointment stands. As well as Goldin, the group includes MIT professor David Autor, David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College, Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf’s Jens Suedekum.

The note was addressed to Klaus Zumwinkel, the president of the Deutsche Post Foundation which funds both briq and IZA, and is in the process of merging the two organizations. Deutsche Post Foundation trustees and the Rectorate of the University of Bonn, where the institute is based and where Falk is a professor, were the other addressees. 

Zumwinkel declined to comment. A spokesperson for the university said Falk is on leave from the university for his work at briq. “From the university’s perspective, he has been fully exonerated from the allegations made,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

(Updated to remove reference to spokesperson in fourth paragraph.)

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