Working Paper: NBER ID: w20788
Authors: Muriel Niederle
Abstract: This paper summarizes research on gender differences in economic settings. I discuss gender differences in attitudes toward competition, altruism and the closely related issue of cooperation, and risk preferences. While gender differences in competition are large and robust, the results are much more mixed and more nuanced concerning altruism or cooperative tendencies. Surprisingly, the results are also quite mixed when concerning gender differences in risk attitudes. I discuss the external validity of laboratory results in the field. More importantly, however, I emphasize research investigating the external relevance of laboratory findings. That is, to what extent can gender differences in the aforementioned psychological attributes account for observed gender differences in economic outcomes including education and labor market outcomes as well as voting behavior.
Keywords: gender differences; competition; altruism; risk preferences
JEL Codes: C9; J0
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Women shy away from competition (J16) | Labor market outcomes (J48) |
| Gender differences in competitiveness (J16) | Labor market outcomes (J48) |
| Women exhibit more altruism in some contexts (D64) | Gender differences in altruism (D64) |
| Women's utility sensitive to equalizing payoffs (J79) | Gender differences in altruism (D64) |
| Men show preference for efficiency (J29) | Gender differences in altruism (D64) |
| Gender differences in risk attitudes (D81) | Economic decisions (N00) |