|
on Gender |
| By: | Sule Alan (University of Essex); Seda Ertac (Koc University); Elif Kubilay (Bocconi University); Gyongyi Loranth (University of Virginia) |
| Abstract: | We study the evolution of gender differences in the willingness to assume the decision-maker role in a group, which is a major component of leadership. Using data from a large-scale field experiment, we show that while there is no gender difference in the willingness to make risky decisions on behalf of a group in a sample of children, a large gap emerges in a sample of adolescents. In particular, the proportion of girls who exhibit leadership willingness drops by 39% going from childhood to adolescence. We explore the possible causes of this drop and find that a significant part of it can be explained by a dramatic decline in "social confidence," measured by the willingness to perform a real effort task in public. We show that it is possible to capture the observed link between public performance and leadership by estimating a structural model that incorporates costs related to social concerns. These findings are important in addressing the lower propensity of females to self-select into high-level positions, which are typically subject to greater public scrutiny. |
| Keywords: | leadership, gender, risk taking, social confidence, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 C93 D03 I28 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2016-024&r=gen |
| By: | Quentin Lippmann (PSE - Paris School of Economics); Alexandre Georgieff (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics); Claudia Senik (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics, UP4 - Université Paris-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | Social scientists have provided empirical evidence that "gender trumps money", meaning that gender norms can be more powerful than economic rationality in shaping daily arrangements between spouses. In particular, when they deviate from the "male breadwinner" norm, women react by "doing gender", i.e. overplaying their feminine role by increasing the number of housework hours that they accomplish. The risk of divorce also increases when a woman earns more than her husband. This paper shows that, however powerful, these norms are cultural and can be trumped by institutions. We use the 41-year division of Germany as a natural experiment and look at differences between East and West Lander in terms of gender behavior after the German reunification. As most countries of the socialist bloc, the former GDR had designed institutions that were much more gender equalizing than their counterpart in the former FRG. We show that these institutions have created a culture that keeps inuencing behavior up to the current period. In particular, East Germany differs from West Germany in the sense that a woman can earn more than her husband without "doing gender" and without putting her marriage at risk. |
| Keywords: | German Division,Household economics,Gender norms,Culture,Institutions |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01297653&r=gen |
| By: | Quentin Lippmann (PSE - Paris School of Economics); Claudia Senik (PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - École des Ponts ParisTech (ENPC) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics, UP4 - Université Paris-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that the socialist episode in East Germany, which constituted a radical experiment in gender equality in the labor market and other instances, has left persistent tracks on gender norms. We focus on one of the most resilient and pervasive gender gaps in modern societies: mathematics. In spite of the great push of girls into education since the 1980s, mathematics remains a predominantly male field in most developed countries. But the underperformance of girls in math is sharply reduced in the regions of the former GDR, in contrast with those of the former FRG. We show that this East-West difference is due to girls' attitudes, confidence and competitiveness in math, and not to other confounding factors, such as the difference in economic conditions or teaching styles across the former political border. We also provide illustrative evidence that the gender gap in math is smaller in European countries that used to be part of the Soviet bloc, as opposed to the rest of Europe. The lesson is twofold: (1) a large part of the pervasive gender gap in math is due to social stereotypes; (2) institutions can durably modify these stereotypes. |
| Keywords: | Gender Gap in Math,Institutions,German Division,Gender Sterotypes,I2, J16, J24, P36, Z13 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-01387272&r=gen |
| By: | Margherita Borella; Mariacristina De Nardi; Fang Yang |
| Abstract: | Wages and life expectancy, as well as labor market outcomes, savings, and consumption, differ by gender and marital status. In this paper we compare the aggregate implications of two dynamic structural models. The first model is a standard, quantitative, life-cycle economy, in which people are only heterogenous by age and realized earnings shocks, and is calibrated using data on men, as typically done. The second model is one in which people are also heterogeneous by gender, marital status, wages, and life expectancy, and is calibrated using data for married and single men and women. We show that the standard life-cycle economy misses important aspects of aggregate savings, labor supply, earnings, and consumption. In contrast, the model with richer heterogeneity by gender, marital status, wage, and life expectancy matches the observed data well. We also show that the effects of changing life expectancy and the gender wage gap depend on marital status and gender, and that it is essential to not only model couples, but also the labor supply response of both men and women in a couple. |
| JEL: | D1 E1 E21 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22817&r=gen |
| By: | Booth, Alison L. (Australian National University); Fan, Elliott (National Taiwan University); Meng, Xin (Australian National University); Zhang, Dandan (Peking University) |
| Abstract: | In the laboratory experiment reported in this paper we explore how evolving institutions and social norms, which we label 'culture', change individuals' preferences and behaviour in mainland China. From 1949 China experienced dramatic changes in its socio-economic institutions. These began with communist central planning and the establishment of new social norms, including the promotion of gender equality in place of the Confucian view of female 'inferiority'. Market-oriented reforms, begun in 1978, helped China achieve unprecedented economic growth and at the same time Marxist ideology was gradually replaced by the acceptance of individualistic free-market ideology. During this period, many old traditions crept back and as a consequence social norms gradually changed again. In our experiment we investigate gender differences in competitive choices across different birth cohorts of individuals who, during their crucial developmental-age, were exposed to one of the two regimes outlined above. In particular we investigate gender differences in competitive choices for different birth cohorts in Beijing using their counterparts in Taipei (subject to the same original Confucian traditions) to control for the general time trend. Our findings confirm: (i) that females in Beijing are significantly more likely to compete than females from Taipei; (ii) that Beijing females from the 1958 birth cohort are more competitive than their male counterparts as well as more competitive than later Beijing birth cohorts; and (iii) that for Taipei there are no statistically significant differences across cohort or gender in willingness to compete. In summary, our findings confirm that exposure to different institutions and social norms during the crucial developmental age changes individuals' behaviour. Our findings also provide further evidence that gender differences in economic preferences are not innately determined. |
| Keywords: | gender, competitive choices, culture, behavioural economics |
| JEL: | C9 C91 C92 J16 P3 P5 D03 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10364&r=gen |
| By: | Tromp, Nikolas |
| Abstract: | I analyze the gender wage gap in South Korea across the wage distribution in 2003 vs. 2013. Gaps are decomposed into composition and structural effects using a semi-parametric framework. I find a "glass ceiling" effect in both years with larger wage gaps at the upper end of the wage distribution. Decompositions show that the structural effect decreases, and composition effect increases, in importance as we move up the distribution. Between 2003 and 2013, a fall in the composition effect drives the narrowing of the wage gap across the entire distribution. While a fall in the structural effect augments the narrowing at the lower end of the distribution, a rise in the structural effect curtails it at the upper end, maintaining the glass ceiling. Lastly, controlling for occupational choice causes minor increases in the composition effect at the lower end and structural effect at the upper end of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | Gender wage gaps, Decomposition methods, Wage Distributions |
| JEL: | C14 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2016–11–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75123&r=gen |
| By: | Stepan Jurajda; Radek Janhuba |
| Abstract: | Compared to men, women, even financial professionals, exhibit higher risk aversion. We exploit random assignment of clients to banking advisors ('private bankers') in a large Czech bank to study the effects of advisor gender on the probability of mortgage issuance and on the probability that a newly issued mortgage is insured, which we interpret as corresponding to risk averse mortgage behavior. Male advisors do not substantially affect the chances that their clients will take a new mortgage, but the mortgages that they issue are dramatically less likely to be insured, particularly so for female clients who never had an insured loan with the bank. |
| Keywords: | banking advisors; mortgage insurance; |
| JEL: | G21 G32 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp564&r=gen |
| By: | Gozde Corekcioglu (European University Institute) |
| Abstract: | Do religiously conservative governments enact policies that limit opportunities for women? This study addresses this general question in a specific context: whether pro-Islamist politicians’ preferences for traditional gender roles translate into discriminatory employment practices in Turkish municipalities. I combine data from 2009 municipal elections with a unique dataset of municipal personnel. Comparing close races for the mayor, who appoints municipal personnel, I find no evidence of gender bias with mayors from the pro-Islamist party. Conditioning on the type of incumbent, I find that the share of females among white-collars decreases in municipalities where a pro-Islamist mayor replaced a secular mayor. |
| Keywords: | Political Islam, Regression Discontinuity, Female Employment, Discrimination, Turkey. |
| JEL: | D72 H75 J71 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:koc:wpaper:1613&r=gen |
| By: | Margherita Scarlato |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an evaluation of the impact of the Child Support Grant (CSG) on gender disparities by evaluating the e ect of the programme on the employment status of adult members in bene ciary households. We use data from the National Income Dynamics Study and apply a fuzzy regression discontinuity design that exploits an expansion in eligibility due to a discontinuous change in the age eligibility criterion. The analysis considers two sources of heterogeneity in the impact of the CSG on the labour market, i.e., gender and household members receiving the Old Age Pension social grant. Overall, this evaluation shows that the CSG had a negative e ect on the probability of the bene ciary household members being employed and increased gender disparities by strongly discouraging women's employment. |
| Keywords: | Cash transfers, regression discontinuity design, South Africa, labour market, gender disparities |
| JEL: | I38 C33 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0210&r=gen |
| By: | Ben Sand (York University); Chris Bidner (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | Are differences in the quality of workers' prospects outside of their current employment relationship influential in generating pay differentials? We consider the role of an economy's industrial structure in generating differences in outside prospects, and apply our analysis to the gender pay gap in the U.S. during the 1980-2010 period. We develop a formal search and matching model that connects outside prospects, industrial structure and wage gaps and use it to guide our subsequent empirical analysis of local labor markets. Our results suggest that an economy's within-industry gender pay gap-which also controls for human capital characteristics-is substantially influenced by gender differences in the quality of outside prospects generated by the economy's industrial structure. Our analysis reveals that the relatively sharp narrowing of the gender pay gap during the 1980s is accounted for by the relatively sharp decline in the outside prospects of men during this period. |
| Keywords: | Gender Pay Gap, Search Frictions, Industrial Structure |
| JEL: | J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2016–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sfu:sfudps:dp16-14&r=gen |
| By: | Hahn, Youjin; Hassani Mahmooei, Behrooz; Islam, Asadul; Patacchini, Eleonora; Zenou, Yves |
| Abstract: | We randomly assign more than 6,000 students to work on math tests in one of three settings: individually, in groups with random mates, or in groups with friends. The groups consist of four people and are balanced by average cognitive ability and ability distribution. While the achievement of male students is not affected by the group assignment, low-ability females assigned to groups outperform low-ability females working individually. The treatment is particularly effective when low-ability females study with friends. To rule out sorting effects, we show that random groups with identical composition to that of friendship groups do not produce similar effects. Our study thus documents that there are teaching practices where mixing students by ability may improve learning, especially for low-ability female students. |
| Keywords: | ability; education; Gender; learning; Social interactions |
| JEL: | E21 I25 J16 O12 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11615&r=gen |
| By: | Jekaterina Kuliomina |
| Abstract: | I study the changes in female political participation that occur when an additional female candidate is elected to the local council. To address the endogeneity related to non-random election outcomes I employ a Regression Discontinuity Design. I focus on close competition for the last seat in the Czech municipal (local) elections between a male and a female candidate. I find that the election of an additional female candidate leads to fewer newly participating female candidates in the following elections. The effect is stronger in the municipalities where the marginally elected female candidate was successful. |
| Keywords: | political participation, women and politics; regression discontinuity; gender; female representation; Czech Republic; |
| JEL: | J16 H11 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp559&r=gen |
| By: | Alena Bicakova; Klara Kaliskova |
| Abstract: | The Czech Republic is a country with a strong attachment of women to the labor market, but with one of the longest paid family leaves, which is often followed by a spell of unemployment. Using a difference–in–differences methodology, we study the impact of two reforms of the duration of the parental allowance on the labor market status of mothers 2–7 years after childbirth. While the 1995 reform prolonged the allowance from 3 to 4 years, the 2008 reform allowed some parents to shorten the duration of the allowance to only 2 or 3 years with an equivalent total monetary amount. The impact of the reforms on the length of women’s career breaks following childbirth is substantial. |
| Keywords: | family leave; female labor supply; unemployment; policy evaluation; |
| JEL: | J13 J18 J22 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp568&r=gen |