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on Gender |
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Issue of 2024‒11‒04
seven papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Iris Kesternich; Marjolein Van Damme; Han Ye |
| Abstract: | One reason gender pay gaps persist is that women receive more of their total compensation through amenities. Since wages, but not amenities, increase retirement incomes, this may translate into gender pension gaps. Using a discrete choice experiment we investigate whether the valuation for amenities changes when the trade-off with pension income is made salient. We find that women value amenities more than men. Beliefs about the effect of wage changes on pension income do not show large gender differences. However, women change their choices much more strongly than men when reminded about the effects of current choices on pension income. |
| Keywords: | gender, pension gap, amenities, work meaning, workplace flexibility, hypothetical choice experiment, salience, beliefs |
| JEL: | D91 J16 J26 J32 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_600 |
| By: | Stefano Piasenti (University of Bologna); Süer Müge (HU Berlin) |
| Abstract: | Behavioral differences by biological sex are still not fully understood, suggesting that studying gender differences in behavioral traits through the lenses of continuous identity might be a promising avenue to understand the remaining observed gender gaps. Using a large U.S. online sample (N=2017) and machine learning, we develop and validate a new continuous gender identity measure consisting of separate femininity and masculinity scores. In a first study, we identify ninety attributes from prior research and conduct an experiment to classify them as feminine and masculine. In a subsequent study, a different group of participants completes tasks designed to elicit behavioral traits that have been previously documented in the behavioral economics literature to exhibit binary gender differences. Data for the second study are collected in two waves; the first wave serves as a training sample, allowing us to identify key attributes predicting behavioral traits, create candidate identity measures, and select the most effective one, comprising sixteen attributes, based on predictive power. Finally, we use the second wave (test sample) to validate our gender identity measure, which outperforms existing ones in explaining gender differences in economic decision-making. We show that confidence, competition, and risk are associated with masculinity, while altruism, equality, and efficiency are with femininity, providing new possibilities for targeted policymaking. |
| Keywords: | Biological sex; Gender identity; Machine learning; Online experiment; |
| JEL: | D91 J16 J62 C91 |
| Date: | 2024–10–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:513 |
| By: | Enriqueta Aragonès |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the demand based causes of gender discrimination in the labor market and it aims to explain the currently existing gender gaps in terms of labor market participation and lab or income. I propose a formal model to analyze the gender discrimination that individuals face at work due to statistical discrimination and taste-based discrimination. I study the effects of discrimination on the lab or market participation, income, and utility distributions and compare these effects between the female and male sectors of the society. I show that the conditions that dissipate the gender gaps are also good to improve efficiency. However, in order to reach a first best it is necessary to eliminate all kinds of gender related idiosyncratic preferences that are based on stereotypes and conscious and unconscious biases. |
| Keywords: | statistical discrimination, taste-based discrimination, active labor market policies |
| JEL: | J7 J31 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1460 |
| By: | Alexandre Truc (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France); François Claveau (Université de Sherbrooke); Catherine Herfeld (Leibniz University Hannover, Germany); Vincent Larivière (Université de Montréal, Canada) |
| Abstract: | This study examines gender diversity among authors in philosophy and methodology of economics, comparing it to the disciplines of economics and philosophy. Using bibliometric methods, we find that philosophy and methodology of economics, as an interdisciplinary field, consistently had a lower share of women authors than its parent disciplines, which are the two social sciences and humanities disciplines that are the furthest from gender parity. Although homogeneity compounding generally characterizes the whole field of philosophy and methodology of economics, one small and temporary subfield, making contributions to heterodox economics, structural realism, and the discussion on pluralism in economics, constituted a pocket of gender diversity. Alongside a more general discussion of possible reasons behind the striking gender imbalance in the field, we also elaborate on possible reasons for the limited size and duration of this pocket of diversity. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Scientometrics, Philosophy of economics, Methodology of Economics |
| JEL: | B4 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2024-25 |
| By: | Lindsey Macmillan (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities); Richard Murphy (Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin); Gill Wyness (UCL Centre for Education Policy & Equalising Opportunities) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we depart from traditional skills-based measures of occupational mismatch. Whereas skill-based measures are typically non-hierarchical, and involve comparing an individual's skills to those required by their occupation, we devise a new hierarchical method. Specifically, we create two continuous, measures of occupational quality: an `input' measure derived from the initial qualifications of others in an occupation, and an `output' measure derived from the realized wages of others, alongside a corresponding measure of individual ability. We use these detailed, comparable measures to examine the extent to which individuals mismatch into occupations, for the first time in the literature. We explore the nature of mismatch throughout the ability distribution, focusing on systematic differences by socio-economic status (SES) and gender. We find low SES individuals are employed in lower wage and lower qualification occupations compared to their similarly qualified peers. Meanwhile, while females match to occupation groups with higher achieving employees than males, they are employed in lower wage occupations. Educational routes between compulsory education and occupations at age 25 can explain around 33% of these SES gaps among high achievers, but persistent sizeable difference remain, conditional on all post-16 activity. By contrast the gender gap in mismatch remains stable, suggesting that education choices are not driving the differences. Instead, industry worked in accounts for most of the gender gap, though only among low achievers. |
| Keywords: | mismatch, inequalities, occupational choices, education, gender |
| JEL: | I20 I24 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucl:cepeow:24-06 |
| By: | Lidia Cruces (GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT); Isabel Micó-Millán (BANCO DE ESPAÑA); Susana Párraga (EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relationship between married couples’ portfolio choices and property division rules. Using rich household survey data, we exploit the regional variation in marital laws across Spain to estimate the causal effects of property division rules on household financial investment. We find that separate-property couples hold riskier financial portfolios than community-property ones when wives take charge of the household finances. To understand this gap in risky asset holdings, we develop a financial portfolio choice model where couples are subject to divorce risk but differ in their property division regimes and the gender of the spouse making the financial decisions. A model in which the costs of dissolving a community property regime in the event of divorce are sufficiently high for women is likely to replicate the empirical estimates. High dissolution costs of marital assets upon divorce reduce spouses’ future disposable income in the event of divorce, encouraging precautionary savings in the form of safe assets during marriage as compared with their separate-property counterparts who bear no cost. Greater transfers of savings between couples in divorce attenuate this mechanism, while lower income levels reinforce it. |
| Keywords: | personal finance, portfolio choice, marriage, gender, family law |
| JEL: | D14 G11 J12 J16 K36 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bde:wpaper:2434 |
| By: | Beverly Hirtle; Anna Kovner |
| Abstract: | We analyze 6, 400 letters of recommendation for more than 2, 200 economics and finance Ph.D. graduates from 2018 to 2021. Letter text varies significantly by field of interest, with significantly less positive and shorter letters for Macroeconomics and Finance candidates. Letters for female and Black or Hispanic job candidates are weaker in some dimensions, while letters for Asian candidates are notably less positive overall. We introduce a new measure of letter quality capturing candidates that are recommended to "top" departments. Female, Asian, and Black or Hispanic candidates are all less likely to be recommended to top academic departments, even after controlling for other letter characteristics. Finally, we examine early career outcomes and find that letter characteristics, especially a "top" recommendation have meaningful effects on initial job placements and journal publications. |
| Keywords: | recommendation letters; gender in economics; race and ethnicity in economics; research institutions; professional labor markets |
| JEL: | A11 A23 J15 J16 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedrwp:98967 |