Structural racism, abusive policing and discrimination have been front-and-center in the national discourse over the past few weeks. But many economists say their profession has had uncharacteristically little to say -- perhaps because of the field's own longstanding issues with discrimination and bias. Those issues burst into the fore this week with a controversy over Harald Uhlig, a senior University of Chicago economist who is the editor of one of the field's most important professional journals. His comments on Twitter comparing #BlackLivesMatter demonstrators to "flat earthers" for their embrace of the #defundthepolice movement led to calls for him to resign as editor. Black economists say this is about more than Uhlig. It's about what gets studied in economics, and how, and who gets to do the studying. And there are signs their longstanding complaints are finding an audience: The American Economics Association last week put out a letter acknowledging the profession's issues with racism. For more about the debate, and what it means for economics, see my story with Jim Tankersley in today's New York Times. #racism #diversity #economics …see more