Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP7437
Authors: Alison L. Booth
Abstract: In almost all European Union countries, the gender wage gap is increasing across the wages distribution. In this lecture I briefly survey some recent studies aiming to explain why apparently identical women and men receive such different returns and focus especially on those incorporating pyschological factors as an explanation of the gender gap. Research areas with high potential returns to further analysis are identified. Several examples from my own recent experimental work with Patrick Nolen are also presented. These try to distinguish between the role of nature and nurture in affecting behavioural differences between men and women that might lead to gender wage gaps.
Keywords: experimental economics; glass ceiling; personality differences
JEL Codes: C9; J16; J71
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Single-sex school education (I24) | Competitive behavior (L13) |
| Competitive behavior (L13) | Labor market outcomes (J48) |
| Single-sex school education (I24) | Labor market outcomes (J48) |
| Psychological factors (risk aversion, competitiveness) (D91) | Gender wage gap (J31) |
| Single-sex school education (I24) | Risk aversion (D81) |
| Single-sex school education (I24) | Competitiveness (L11) |