Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP16939
Authors: Oriana Bandiera; Nidhi Parekh; Barbara Petrongolo; Michelle Rao
Abstract: Gender differences in self-confidence could explain women’s under representation in high-income occupations and glass-ceiling effects. We draw lessons from the economic literature via a survey of experts and a Bayesian hierarchical model that aggregates experimental findings over the last twenty years. The experts’ survey indicates beliefs that men are overconfident and women under-confident. Yet, the literature reveals that both men and women are typically overconfident. Moreover, the model cannot reject the hypothesis that gender differences in self-confidence are equal to zero. In addition, the estimated pooling factor is low, implying that each study contains little information over a common phenomenon. The discordance can be reconciled if the experts overestimate the pooling factor or have priors that are biased and precise.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: No JEL codes provided
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| gender differences in self-confidence (J16) | women's underrepresentation in high-income occupations (J79) |
| gender differences in self-confidence (J16) | glass ceiling effects (J16) |
| overconfidence (G41) | gender differences in self-confidence (J16) |
| biased prior beliefs among economists (E71) | misinterpretation of the literature (Y50) |
| sampling variation (C83) | overall variation in estimates (C13) |