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on Gender |
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Issue of 2024‒01‒08
eight papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Delaney, Judith M. (University of Bath); Devereux, Paul J. (University College Dublin) |
| Abstract: | Much research shows that students take account of their perceived comparative advantage in mathematics relative to verbal skills when choosing college majors and career tracks. There is also evidence for an important role for comparative advantage in explaining the gender gap in college STEM major choice. For these reasons, it is important to understand why student perceptions of comparative advantage may differ from true comparative advantage as determined by actual abilities. One plausible pathway is through teachers. We study gender differences in teacher evaluations of student comparative advantage relative to comparative advantage as measured by test scores. We show that findings are very sensitive to the methods used; commonly used methods are not equivalent and can give different results as they target different estimands. Using two recent UK cohort surveys, we show that these conceptual issues matter in practice when we evaluate whether teachers are likely to over-estimate female comparative advantage in English relative to mathematics. Our preferred estimates provide no evidence that teachers exaggerate the female advantage in English relative to mathematics and generally suggest the opposite. We conclude that differences in teacher judgement by gender do not provide another reason for the gender gap in STEM. |
| Keywords: | teacher bias, gender gaps, STEM, comparative advantage, math and English skills |
| JEL: | J16 I21 I23 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16635&r=gen |
| By: | Belot, Michèle (Cornell University); Kurmangaliyeva, Madina (Université Libre de Bruxelles); Reuter, Johanna (Johannes Kepler University Linz) |
| Abstract: | Diversity in employee representation is often advocated for its potential to promote the diversity of ideas, and thereby innovation. In this study, we shed light on the phenomenon of 'idea homophily', which is a tendency to be more interested in ideas closer to one's own. We first document recent trends in the Economics Academic junior hiring showing that women specializing in traditionally male-dominated fields are faring significantly better than their counterparts in female-dominated fields and even outperform their male peers. We then examine the demand for ideas in a college educated population with an Online experiment involving 500 participants. We find substantial gender differences in which ideas people are choosing to engage with. Also, when decision-makers are predominantly male, incentives encouraging engagement with female ideas increase substantially their demand, but disproportionately in male-dominated fields. In contrast, incentives encouraging ideas in female-fields in general increase exposure to female ideas but do not lead to an over-representation of either gender conditional on field. |
| Keywords: | gender diversity, innovation, homophily, hiring, academia |
| JEL: | J16 O30 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16631&r=gen |
| By: | Margarita Machelett (Banco de España) |
| Abstract: | This paper describes a large-scale field experiment conducted in the US auto repair industry to study the existence and structure of gender-based price discrimination in service markets. Women receive price quotes that are 2% (over 10 dollars) higher than those received by men. These differences disappear when women signal low search costs, suggesting statistical rather than taste-based discrimination. Price requests that appear to come from high-income households raise quotes for men but not women, eliminating the gender gap. The price gap also falls with the number of nearby repair shops, suggesting that market competition alleviates gender-based price discrimination. |
| Keywords: | competition, discrimination, field experiment, gender |
| JEL: | C93 D4 J16 J18 J71 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2333&r=gen |
| By: | Hospido, Laura (Bank of Spain); Iriberri, Nagore (University of the Basque Country); Machelett, Margarita (Banco de España) |
| Abstract: | Gender gaps in financial literacy are pervasive and persistent. They are partly explained because women choose "I do not know" more frequently. We test for the effectiveness of three interventions to shift this behavior. The control survey includes the possibility of "I do not know". The three treatments either exclude this possibility, offer incentives for correct answers, or inform survey takers of the existing gender gap in choosing this answer option. While all interventions are very effective in reducing this answer option, only the information significantly reduces the gender gap in "I do not know" and in financial literacy. |
| Keywords: | financial literacy, gender gaps, survey methods |
| JEL: | C8 C9 D14 D91 G53 I22 J16 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16628&r=gen |
| By: | Storm, Eduard |
| Abstract: | Using worker-level task data, I explore if women's perceived comparative advantages in interactive tasks can contribute to a reduction in the gender pay gap. I find women receive lower returns to interactive tasks, even within occupations, despite increasing female employment shares in interactive-intensive occupations. Perceived comparative advantages in interactive tasks thus do not appear to pay off financially. |
| Abstract: | Anhand von Tätigkeitsdaten auf Arbeiterebene untersuche ich, ob die wahrgenommenen komparativen Vorteile von Frauen bei interaktiven Aufgaben zu einer Verringerung des geschlechtsspezifischen Lohngefälles beitragen können. Ich finde dass Frauen geringere Erträge aus interaktiven Aufgaben erhalten, sogar innerhalb von Berufen, trotz steigender Beschäftigungsanteile von Frauen in interaktiv-intensiven Berufen. Wahrgenommene komparative Vorteile bei interaktiven Aufgaben scheinen sich somit finanziell für Frauen nicht auszuzahlen. |
| Keywords: | Gender pay gap, task returns, job hierarchies |
| JEL: | J16 J21 J24 J31 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:280401&r=gen |
| By: | Bayly, Nicholas (Australian National University); Breunig, Robert (Australian National University); Wokker, Chris (Australian National University) |
| Abstract: | Despite a conventional wisdom that female board members positively impact firm performance, a thorough examination of the research to date reveals no consensus that female board members have either a positive or negative effect on firm performance. We build the largest dataset of Australian board appointments assembled to date. We use our data to demonstrate how difficult it is to replicate existing research, with one example from Australia and one from the US. Using event studies and regression analyses we demonstrate that there is little evidence that female board representation affects firm financial performance. |
| Keywords: | firm performance, board of directors, gender representation, female directors |
| JEL: | J16 N20 G32 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16617&r=gen |
| By: | Valentina Melentyeva (University of Cologne and ECONtribute); Lukas Riedel (ZEW Mannheim and University of Heidelberg) |
| Abstract: | Motherhood continues to pose significant challenges to women’s careers, and a correct assessment of its effects is crucial for understanding the persistent gender inequality in the labor market. We show that the prevalent approach to estimate post-birth earnings losses – so called “child penalties” – is prone to yield substantially biased results. We demonstrate that the biases stem from conventional event studies pooling together first-time mothers of all ages, without considering their distinct characteristics and the varying impact of motherhood. To address the biases, we propose a novel approach that accounts for the heterogeneity by building upon recent advancements in the econometric literature on difference-in-differences models. Applying it to administrative data from Germany, we demonstrate that considering heterogeneity by maternal age at birth is crucial for both methodological correctness and a deeper understanding of gender inequality. Our approach yields substantially larger estimates of earnings losses after childbirth (by 20 percent), indicating that the costs of motherhood and related gender gaps in Germany are even larger than previously thought. Moreover, we demonstrate that effects and their interpretation differ significantly depending on maternal age at birth. We show that younger first-time mothers experience larger career costs of motherhood, as they miss out on the phase of the most rapid career progression. |
| Keywords: | Child penalty, maternal labor supply, heterogeneous treatment effects, event studies |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J31 C23 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:266&r=gen |
| By: | Bonsang, Eric (Université Paris-Dauphine); Costa-Font, Joan (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We revisit the universality of the "caregiving daughter effect", which holds that daughters tend to provide more care to their older parents than sons. Based on rich European data, we document evidence of such an effect in countries with large gender disparities in employment rates, where having daughters also depresses the demand for formal care. In contrast, we find evidence consistent with the "demise of the caregiving daughter" when exposed to narrower gender gaps, where there is no more daughters' effect on formal care. These results point to a reconsideration of caregiving system design amidst the rise of female employment. |
| Keywords: | informal care, formal care, daughters, caregiving daughter effect, gender employment gap, Europe, care substitution, social norms |
| JEL: | I18 J14 J3 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16615&r=gen |