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on Gender |
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Issue of 2026–04–20
six papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Cristiano C. Carvalho; Trine E. Vattø (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how an often-overlooked source of pay transparency—the public disclosure of tax information—affects gender wage gaps. We exploit a 2001 change in Norway that made individual tax returns searchable online. Using matched employer–employee data and a difference in-differences design, we find that within-firm gender wage gaps fell by 2.2 percentage points (8.7 percent), driven by rising female wages. Effects are strongest in private-sector firms, industries with initially larger gaps, and municipalities that previously lacked easy access to printed tax lists. Wage gains are concentrated among job-changing women, suggesting that broad-based transparency mainly operates through improved information for job search. |
| Keywords: | Gender Wage Gap; Income Transparency; Public Disclosure of Tax Information |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J38 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:1033 |
| By: | C. Monfardini; E. Pisanelli |
| Abstract: | Why do large gender inequalities in everyday life persist even as women strengthen their attachment to paid work? Existing evidence shows that women continue to do more unpaid work than men, but much of that evidence is based on individual diaries, says little about how inequality is jointly organized within couples, and rarely links daily time allocation to directly measured gender attitudes. This paper addresses that gap using the TIMES Observatory, an original survey of 1, 928 co-resident couples with at least one child younger than 11 in Emilia-Romagna or Campania. The data combine matched partner diaries for one weekday and one weekend day with rich socio-economic information and direct measures of gender norms. We document three main findings. First, women do substantially more unpaid work and spend more time with children, while men do more paid work and enjoy more leisure without children. Second, these asymmetries remain sizeable even among dual full-time couples, implying that stronger female labor-market attachment does not by itself equalize daily life. Third, more traditional gender attitudes - especially among men - are descriptively associated with lower male participation in childcare and domestic work and with wider gaps in discretionary leisure. The analysis is descriptive rather than causal, but it shows that gender inequality within couples is visible not only in the amount of work performed, but also in the distribution of time that is genuinely discretionary. |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2604.13896 |
| By: | Mehrzad B. Baktash; Uwe Jirjahn |
| Abstract: | Concerns about corporate scandals and abusive leadership suggest that individuals with an opportunistic and manipulative personality sort into managerial positions. Indeed, a fledgling number of econometric studies have shown that individuals high in Machiavellianism are more likely to hold a management position. Our study takes that research an important step further by analyzing the moderating role of gender. It examines whether gender has an influence on how far Machiavellians climb the managerial hierarchy. Using representative data from Germany, we find that Machiavellianism increases the likelihood of holding a middle management position for both men and women. However, Machiavellianism is associated with a higher likelihood of occupying a top-level management position only among men but not among women. For men, the impact of Machiavellianism even appears to increase the further they climb the managerial hierarchy. These findings fit theoretical considerations. |
| Keywords: | Machiavellianism, Gender Career Gap, Women, Top-Level Managers, Managerial Hierarchy |
| JEL: | D90 J16 M12 M51 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trr:wpaper:202603 |
| By: | Minseo Choi (KAIST College of Business); SeEun Jung (Inha University); Duk Gyoo Kim (Yonsei University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether behavioral norms formed in same-gender environments persist when individuals later interact in mixed-gender groups, focusing on willingness to volunteer for low-promotability tasks (LPTs). Using a two-stage laboratory experiment that varies group gender composition over time, we find that initial exposure to same-gender groups generally reduces subsequent volunteering in mixed-gender settings. However, women who transition from same-gender to mixed-gender groups volunteer more than men, a pattern traditionally attributed to gendered social expectations. While prior literature attributes such gaps to gendered social expectations, our data challenge the universality of this mechanism. In our context, participants overwhelmingly assign the LPT to a male, rather than a female, peer in hypothetical supervisor scenarios, suggesting that expectation-based mechanisms do not drive the observed gender gap. We propose that women’s higher volunteering instead reflects greater aversion to strategic uncertainty, which becomes more salient in mixed-gender environments. Consistent with this interpretation, women with single-sex schooling backgrounds, accustomed to more predictable peer environments, exhibit especially high volunteering rates in mixed-gender groups. These results indicate that same-gender experiences shape later LPT behavior and that women may volunteer for LPTs not only to comply with social norms but also to mitigate strategic uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | Low-promotability tasks, Same-gender environments, Gender differences, Strategic uncertainty |
| JEL: | C92 J16 I21 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yon:wpaper:2026rwp-284 |
| By: | Hailemariam, Abebe; Lukas, Erica; Mavisakalyan, Astghik; True, Jacqui |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect of proximity to mining activity on men's adherence to traditional masculinity norms. Combining geocoded survey data with detailed spatial information on mining activity across 37 countries, we employ an instrumental variable strategy that exploits exogenous variation in geological mineral endowments and global commodity prices to address endogeneity concerns. We find that residing within 20 km of an active mine increases conformity to traditional masculinity norms approximately by 0.29 points on a four-point scale. The effects are concentrated in the violence and help avoidance dimensions, indicating that men living near active mines display greater tolerance of aggression and stronger resistance to help-seeking - traits closely aligned with the masculine culture of extractive workplaces. Heterogeneity analyses further show that these effects are strongest among lower-educated, unmarried, and older men. The results are robust to an alternative difference-in-differences identification strategy comparing areas near active versus inactive mines and to the use of an alternative measure of traditional gender role attitudes as the outcome variable. The analysis of mechanisms suggests that mining proximity increases male employment in the extractive sector while reducing female labor force participation in surrounding communities. These findings provide new insights into how extractive industries can shape and reinforce traditional masculinity norms in mining communities. |
| Keywords: | Mining, Conformity to Masculine Norms Inventory, Gender Norms, Gender Equality, Sustainable Development Goal 5 |
| JEL: | J16 J24 O13 Q33 Z13 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1742 |
| By: | Laura J. Noll (ZHAW School of Management and Law); Matthias Sahli (Bern University of Applied Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This article studies gender differences in museum exhibitions and examines how institutional visibility in art museums relates to outcomes in the secondary art market. We analyze more than 21, 000 exhibition records and link them to about 33, 000 painting auction transactions. We document three main findings. First, female artists remain substantially underrepresented in exhibitions, with persistent cohort heterogeneity. Second, on the auction market, artworks by women are more likely to reach reserve and sell, although average prices remain lower. Third, linking both markets, we construct an event-time exhibition exposure measure based on the timing of exhibitions around auctions and estimate dynamic responses. Auction prices increase three to five years after exhibitions, while sale probabilities show no systematic reaction, with effects concentrated among male artists. Finally, exploiting the Guerrilla Girls’ 1989 campaign as an activist shock, a difference-in-differences design yields suggestive evidence of a modest and only temporary shift toward female exhibitions in the United States. Overall, the results highlight exhibitions as a key allocative mechanism in cultural markets and illustrate how institutional visibility and activism may shape market outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Exhibition, Auction, Empirical, Art, Signal, Applied Econometrics, Cultural Economics |
| JEL: | Z11 |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-04-2026 |