Gender, Competitiveness and Career Choices

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Gender, Competitiveness and Career Choices

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Gender, Competitiveness and Career Choices

Thomas Buser¹, Muriel Niederle, Hessel Oosterbeek•Institutions (1)

01 Nov 2012-Research Papers in Economics (National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc)-

TL;DR: This article found that competitiveness is as important a predictor of profile choice as gender and up to 23 percent of the gender difference in profile choice can be attributed to gender differences in competitiveness, which lends support to the extrapolation of laboratory findings on competitiveness to labor market settings.

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Abstract: Gender differences in competitiveness are often discussed as a potential explanation for gender differences in education and labor market outcomes We correlate an incentivized measure of competitiveness with an important career choice of secondary school students in the Netherlands At the age of 15, these students have to pick one out of four study profiles, which vary in how prestigious they are While boys and girls have very similar levels of academic ability, boys are substantially more likely than girls to choose more prestigious profiles We find that competitiveness is as important a predictor of profile choice as gender More importantly, up to 23 percent of the gender difference in profile choice can be attributed to gender differences in competitiveness This lends support to the extrapolation of laboratory findings on competitiveness to labor market settings

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The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations

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Francine D. Blau¹, Lawrence M. Kahn², Lawrence M. Kahn³, Lawrence M. Kahn¹•Institutions (3)

Cornell University¹, Ifo Institute for Economic Research², Institute for the Study of Labor³

18 Jan 2016-Social Science Research Network

TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide new empirical evidence on the extent of and trends in the gender wage gap, using PSID microdata over the 1980-2010, which shows that women's work force interruptions and shorter hours remain significant in high skilled occupations, possibly due to compensating differentials.

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Abstract: Using PSID microdata over the 1980-2010, we provide new empirical evidence on the extent of and trends in the gender wage gap, which declined considerably over this period. By 2010, conventional human capital variables taken together explained little of the gender wage gap, while gender differences in occupation and industry continued to be important. Moreover, the gender pay gap declined much more slowly at the top of the wage distribution that at the middle or the bottom and by 2010 was noticeably higher at the top. We then survey the literature to identify what has been learned about the explanations for the gap. We conclude that many of the traditional explanations continue to have salience. Although human capital factors are now relatively unimportant in the aggregate, women’s work force interruptions and shorter hours remain significant in high skilled occupations, possibly due to compensating differentials. Gender differences in occupations and industries, as well as differences in gender roles and the gender division of labor remain important, and research based on experimental evidence strongly suggests that discrimination cannot be discounted. Psychological attributes or noncognitive skills comprise one of the newer explanations for gender differences in outcomes. Our effort to assess the quantitative evidence on the importance of these factors suggests that they account for a small to moderate portion of the gender pay gap, considerably smaller than say occupation and industry effects, though they appear to modestly contribute to these differences.

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984 citations

Cites background from "Gender, Competitiveness and Career ..."

...Buser, Niederle, and Oosterbeek (2014) collected data on the competitiveness of high school students in the Netherlands through in-class experiments and then tracked their subsequent education choices across four study profiles at age fifteen....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Bargaining, Sorting, and the Gender Wage Gap: Quantifying the Impact of Firms on the Relative Pay of Women

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David Card¹, Ana Rute Cardoso², Patrick Kline¹•Institutions (2)

University of California, Berkeley¹, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics²

01 May 2016-Quarterly Journal of Economics

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used longitudinal data on the hourly wages of Portuguese workers matched with balance sheet information for rms to show that the wages of both men and women contain rm-specic premiums that are strongly correlated with employer productivity.

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Abstract: There is growing evidence that rm-specic pay premiums are an important source of wage inequality. These premiums will contribute to the gender wage gap if women are less likely to work at high-paying rms or if women negotiate worse wage bargains with their employers than men. Using longitudinal data on the hourly wages of Portuguese workers matched with balance sheet information for rms, we show that the wages of both men and women contain rm-specic premiums that are strongly correlated with employer productivity. We then show how the impact of these rm-specic pay dierentials on the gender wage gap can be decomposed into a combination of bargaining and sorting eects. Consistent with the bargaining literature, we nd that women receive only 90% of the rm-specic pay premiums earned by men. Notably, we obtain very similar estimates of the relative bargaining power ratio from our analysis of between-rm wage premiums and from analyzing changes in

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433 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Do Competitive Workplaces Deter Female Workers? A Large-Scale Natural Field Experiment on Job Entry Decisions

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Jeffrey A. Flory¹, Andreas Leibbrandt², John A. List³•Institutions (3)

Claremont McKenna College¹, Monash University², University of Chicago³

01 Jan 2015-The Review of Economic Studies

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors run a natural field experiment on job-entry decisions where they randomize almost 9000 job-seekers into different compensation regimes and examine whether a competitive compensation regime, by itself, can cause differential job entry.

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Abstract: An important line of research using laboratory experiments has provided a new potential reason for gender imbalances in labour markets: men are more competitively inclined than women. Whether, and to what extent, gender differences in attitudes toward competition lead to differences in naturally occurring labour markets remains an open question. To examine this, we run a natural field experiment on job-entry decisions where we randomize almost 9000 job-seekers into different compensation regimes. By varying the role that individual competition plays in setting the wage and the gender composition, we examine whether a competitive compensation regime, by itself, can cause differential job entry. The data highlight the power of the compensation regime in that women disproportionately shy away from competitive work settings. Yet, there are important factors that attenuate the gender differences, including whether the job is performed in teams, whether the position has overt gender associations, and the age of the job-seekers. We also find that the effect is most pronounced in labour markets with attractive alternative employment options. Furthermore, our results suggest that preferences over uncertainty can be just as important as preferences over competition per se in driving job-entry choices

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311 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Gender and the labor market: What have we learned from field and lab experiments?

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Ghazala Azmat¹, Ghazala Azmat², Barbara Petrongolo¹, Barbara Petrongolo²•Institutions (2)

Queen Mary University of London¹, Centre for Economic Performance²

01 Oct 2014-Labour Economics

TL;DR: The contribution of the experimental literature to the understanding of both traditional and previously unexplored dimensions of gender differences and discuss their bearings on labor market outcomes is discussed in this article, where the authors discuss the contribution of experimental literature on gender discrimination and gender differences in preferences.

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269 citations

Journal Article•DOI•

Human and Financial Capital for Microenterprise Development: Evidence from a Field and Lab Experiment

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Lars Ivar Oppedal Berge¹, Kjetil Bjorvatn¹, Bertil Tungodden¹•Institutions (1)

Norwegian School of Economics¹

01 Apr 2015-Management Science

TL;DR: The results suggest that long-term finance is an important constraint for microfinance entrepreneurs, but that business training is essential to transform financial capital into productive investments and points to the need for more comprehensive measures to promote the businesses of female entrepreneurs.

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Abstract: Microenterprises constitute an important source of employment, and developing such enterprises is a key policy concern in most countries. But what is the most efficient tool for microenterprise development? We study this question in a developing country context Tanzania, where microenterprises are the source of employment for more than half of the labor force, and we report from a field experiment that jointly investigated the importance of a human capital intervention business training and a financial capital intervention business grant. Using data from three survey rounds, a lab experiment, and administrative records of the microfinance institution, we present evidence on business performance, management practices, happiness, business knowledge, and noncognitive abilities. Our study demonstrates strong effects of the combination of the two interventions on male entrepreneurs, while the effects on female entrepreneurs are much more muted. The results suggest that long-term finance is an important constraint for microfinance entrepreneurs, but that business training is essential to transform financial capital into productive investments. Our study also points to the need for more comprehensive measures to promote the businesses of female entrepreneurs. Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1933 . This paper was accepted by John List, behavioral economics.

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263 citations

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References

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Journal Article•DOI•

Gender Differences in Preferences

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Rachel Croson, Uri Gneezy¹•Institutions (1)

University of California, San Diego¹

01 Dec 2009-Journal of Economic Literature

TL;DR: This paper reviewed the literature on gender differences in economic experiments and identified robust differences in risk preferences, social (other-regarding) preferences, and competitive preferences, speculating on the source of these differences and their implications.

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Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on gender differences in economic experiments. In the three main sections, we identify robust differences in risk preferences, social (other-regarding) preferences, and competitive preferences. We also speculate on the source of these differences, as well as on their implications. Our hope is that this article will serve as a resource for those seeking to understand gender differences and to use as a starting point to illuminate the debate on gender-specific outcomes in the labor and goods markets.

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4,864 citations

"Gender, Competitiveness and Career ..." refers background in this paper

...UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (http://dare.uva.nl) UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Gender, competitiveness and career choices Buser, T.; Niederle, M.; Oosterbeek, H. Published in: The Quarterly Journal of Economics DOI: 10.1093/qje/qju009 Link…...
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...UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (http://dare.uva.nl) UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Gender, competitiveness and career choices Buser, T.; Niederle, M.; Oosterbeek, H. Published in: The Quarterly Journal of Economics DOI: 10.1093/qje/qju009 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Buser, T., Niederle, M., & Oosterbeek, H. (2014)....
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...I. Introduction A recently emerging literature documents large gender differences in competitiveness based on laboratory experiments (see Croson and Gneezy 2009; Niederle and Vesterlund 2011)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Performance in Competitive Environments: Gender Differences

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Uri Gneezy¹, Muriel Niederle², Aldo Rustichini•Institutions (2)

University of Chicago¹, Stanford University²

01 Aug 2003-Quarterly Journal of Economics

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present experimental evidence in support of an additional factor: women may be less effective than men in competitive environments, even if they are able to perform similarly in non-competitive environments.

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Abstract: Even though the provision of equal opportunities for men and women has been a priority in many countries, large gender differences prevail in competitive high-ranking positions. Suggested explanations include discrimination and differences in preferences and human capital. In this paper we present experimental evidence in support of an additional factor: women may be less effective than men in competitive environments, even if they are able to perform similarly in non-competitive environments. In a laboratory experiment we observe, as we increase the competitiveness of the environment, a significant increase in performance for men, but not for women. This results in a significant gender gap in performance in tournaments, while there is no gap when participants are paid according to piece rate. This effect is stronger when women have to compete against men than in single-sex competitive environments: this suggests that women may be able to perform in competitive environments per se.

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1,943 citations

Posted Content•

Race and gender in the labor market

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Joseph G. Altonji, Rebecca M. Blank

01 Jan 1999-Research Papers in Economics

TL;DR: The authors summarizes recent research in economics that investigates differentials by race and gender in the labor market, including recent extensions of taste-based theories, theories of occupational exclusion, and theories of statistical discrimination.

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Abstract: This chapter summarizes recent research in economics that investigates differentials by race and gender in the labor market. We start with a statistical overview of the trends in labor market outcomes by race, gender and Hispanic origin, including some simple regressions on the determinants of wages and employment. This is followed in Section 3 by an extended review of current theories about discrimination in the labor market, including recent extensions of taste-based theories, theories of occupational exclusion, and theories of statistical discrimination. Section 4 discusses empirical research that provides direct evidence of discrimination in the labor market, beyond "unexplained gaps" in wage or employment regressions. The remainder of the chapter reviews the evidence on race and gender gaps, particularly wage gaps. Section 5 reviews research on the impact of pre-market human capital differences in education and family background that differ by race and gender. Section 6 reviews the impact of differences in both the levels and the returns to experience and seniority, with discussion of the role of training and labor market search and turnover on race and gender differentials. Section 7 reviews the role of job characteristics (particularly occupational characteristics) in the gender wage gap. Section 8 reviews the smaller literature on differences in fringe benefits by gender. Section 9 is an extensive discussion of the empirical work that accounts for changes in the trends in race and gender differentials over time. Of particular interest is the new research literature that investigates the impact of widening wage inequality on race and gender wage gaps. Section 10 reviews research that relates policy changes to race and gender differentials, including anti-discrimination policy. The chapter concludes with comments about a future research agenda.

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1,717 citations

"Gender, Competitiveness and Career ..." refers background in this paper

..., 2000; Altonji and Blank, 1999).3 Next to discrimination (Goldin and Rouse, 2000) and differences in preferences (which could be driven by stereotypes), a standard explanation for gender differences in education choices is differences in ability.4 However, Ellison and Swanson (2010) provide compelling evidence that the gender imbalance in the U.S. among high achieving math students is not driven solely by differences in mathematical ability. They show that in mathematics, high-achieving boys come from a variety of (1)We will show that in the Netherlands boys are significantly more likely to take math classes in high school than girls. In France, where like in the Netherlands high school children decide on which sets of classes to enroll in, girls are less likely to choose the math and science heavy options (http://media.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/file/2010/42/2/filles-garcons-egalite-ecolea-enseignement-superieur2010_139422.pdf). The same is true for Denmark (Schroter Joensen and Skyt Nielsen, 2011), Switzerland (http://www.ibe.uzh.ch/publikationen/SGH2003_d.pdf), and Germany (http://www.bmbf.de/pub/band_dreissig_bildungsforschung.pdf). (2)http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009161.pdf. (3)In a study on the gender gap in earnings among MBA’s from Chicago Booth, Bertrand et al. (2011) conclude that one of three factors that account for the large gender gap in earnings a decade after MBA completion is differences in training prior to MBA graduation, with, most notably, women taking many fewer finance courses than men....
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...…in mathematics also predicts future earnings (for evidence and discussion, see Paglin and Rufolo 1990; Grogger and Eide 1995; Brown and Corcoran 1997; Altonji and Blank 1999; Weinberger 1999, 2001; Murnane et al. 2000; Schroter Joensen and Skyt Nielsen 2009; Bertrand, Goldin, and Katz 2010)....
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..., 2000; Altonji and Blank, 1999).3 Next to discrimination (Goldin and Rouse, 2000) and differences in preferences (which could be driven by stereotypes), a standard explanation for gender differences in education choices is differences in ability.4 However, Ellison and Swanson (2010) provide compelling evidence that the gender imbalance in the U.S. among high achieving math students is not driven solely by differences in mathematical ability. They show that in mathematics, high-achieving boys come from a variety of (1)We will show that in the Netherlands boys are significantly more likely to take math classes in high school than girls. In France, where like in the Netherlands high school children decide on which sets of classes to enroll in, girls are less likely to choose the math and science heavy options (http://media.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/file/2010/42/2/filles-garcons-egalite-ecolea-enseignement-superieur2010_139422.pdf). The same is true for Denmark (Schroter Joensen and Skyt Nielsen, 2011), Switzerland (http://www.ibe.uzh.ch/publikationen/SGH2003_d.pdf), and Germany (http://www.bmbf.de/pub/band_dreissig_bildungsforschung.pdf). (2)http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009161.pdf. (3)In a study on the gender gap in earnings among MBA’s from Chicago Booth, Bertrand et al. (2011) conclude that one of three factors that account for the large gender gap in earnings a decade after MBA completion is differences in training prior to MBA graduation, with, most notably, women taking many fewer finance courses than men. (4)For the potential importance of stereotypes on preferences of females over mathematics see Nosek et al. (2002), Kiefer and Sekaquaptewa (2007) and Ceci et al....
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..., 2000; Altonji and Blank, 1999).3 Next to discrimination (Goldin and Rouse, 2000) and differences in preferences (which could be driven by stereotypes), a standard explanation for gender differences in education choices is differences in ability.4 However, Ellison and Swanson (2010) provide compelling evidence that the gender imbalance in the U.S. among high achieving math students is not driven solely by differences in mathematical ability. They show that in mathematics, high-achieving boys come from a variety of (1)We will show that in the Netherlands boys are significantly more likely to take math classes in high school than girls. In France, where like in the Netherlands high school children decide on which sets of classes to enroll in, girls are less likely to choose the math and science heavy options (http://media.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/file/2010/42/2/filles-garcons-egalite-ecolea-enseignement-superieur2010_139422.pdf). The same is true for Denmark (Schroter Joensen and Skyt Nielsen, 2011), Switzerland (http://www.ibe.uzh.ch/publikationen/SGH2003_d.pdf), and Germany (http://www.bmbf.de/pub/band_dreissig_bildungsforschung.pdf). (2)http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009161.pdf. (3)In a study on the gender gap in earnings among MBA’s from Chicago Booth, Bertrand et al. (2011) conclude that one of three factors that account for the large gender gap in earnings a decade after MBA completion is differences in training prior to MBA graduation, with, most notably, women taking many fewer finance courses than men. (4)For the potential importance of stereotypes on preferences of females over mathematics see Nosek et al. (2002), Kiefer and Sekaquaptewa (2007) and Ceci et al. (2009). For evidence of the presence of such stereotypes already in elementary school see Cvencek et al....
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...For example, Paglin and Rufolo (1990) report that a large fraction of the gender gap in average starting salaries for college graduates is between rather than within detailed college major (for additional evidence and discussion see Grogger and Eide, 1995; Brown and Corcoran, 1997; Weinberger, 1999; Weinberger, 2001; Murnane et al., 2000; Altonji and Blank, 1999)....
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Journal Article•DOI•

Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of “Blind” Auditions on Female Musicians

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Claudia Goldin¹, Cecilia Elena Rouse²•Institutions (2)

Harvard University¹, Princeton University²

01 Sep 2000-The American Economic Review

TL;DR: A change in the way symphony orchestras recruit musicians provides an unusual way to test for sex-biased hiring and it is found that the screen increases by 50% the probability a woman will be advanced out of certain preliminary rounds and enhances the likelihood a female contestant will be the winner in the final round.

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Abstract: A change in the audition procedures of symphony orchestras--adoption of "blind" auditions with a "screen" to conceal the candidate's identity from the jury--provides a test for sex-biased hiring. Using data from actual auditions, in an individual fixed-effects framework, we find that the screen increases the probability a woman will be advanced and hired. Although some of our estimates have large standard errors and there is one persistent effect in the opposite direction, the weight of the evidence suggests that the blind audition procedure fostered impartiality in hiring and increased the proportion women in symphony orchestras.

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1,429 citations

"Gender, Competitiveness and Career ..." refers background in this paper

...girls take on average as many advanced math and science classes as boys and perform on average at similar levels (Goldin et al., 2006), this is not the case in many other OECD countries.2 Even in the U.S., girls are underrepresented among extremely high achieving math students (Ellison and Swanson, 2010), and women are significantly less likely than men to graduate from college with a major in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.3 The reason to be concerned about gender differences in math and sciences compared to, say, literature, is that the choices of math and science classes are most predictive of college attendance and completion (Goldin et al., 2006). Furthermore, performance in mathematics has consistently been found to serve as a predictor for future earnings. For example, Paglin and Rufolo (1990) report that a large fraction of the gender gap in average starting salaries for college graduates is between, rather than within, college majors (for additional evidence and discussion see Grogger and Eide, 1995; Brown and Corcoran, 1997; Weinberger, 1999; Weinberger, 2001; Murnane et al., 2000; Altonji and Blank, 1999).4 Next to discrimination (Goldin and Rouse, 2000) and differences in preferences that could be driven by stereotypes, a standard explanation for gender differences in math is differences in ability.5 However, Ellison and Swanson (2010) provide compelling evidence that the gender imbalance in the U....
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...girls take on average as many advanced math and science classes as boys and perform on average at similar levels (Goldin et al., 2006), this is not the case in many other OECD countries.2 Even in the U.S., girls are underrepresented among extremely high achieving math students (Ellison and Swanson, 2010), and women are significantly less likely than men to graduate from college with a major in science, technology, engineering or mathematics.3 The reason to be concerned about gender differences in math and sciences compared to, say, literature, is that the choices of math and science classes are most predictive of college attendance and completion (Goldin et al., 2006). Furthermore, performance in mathematics has consistently been found to serve as a predictor for future earnings. For example, Paglin and Rufolo (1990) report that a large fraction of the gender gap in average starting salaries for college graduates is between, rather than within, college majors (for additional evidence and discussion see Grogger and Eide, 1995; Brown and Corcoran, 1997; Weinberger, 1999; Weinberger, 2001; Murnane et al....
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Posted Content•DOI•

The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits

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Lex Borghans¹, Lex Borghans², Angela L. Duckworth³, James J. Heckman, Bas ter Weel⁴ - Show less +1 more•Institutions (4)

Maastricht University¹, Institute for the Study of Labor², University of Pennsylvania³, University of Amsterdam⁴

01 Feb 2008-Social Science Research Network

TL;DR: This article explored the interface between personality psychology and economics and examined the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle, and developed simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology.

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Abstract: This paper explores the interface between personality psychology and economics. We examine the predictive power of personality and the stability of personality traits over the life cycle. We develop simple analytical frameworks for interpreting the evidence in personality psychology and suggest promising avenues for future research.

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1,206 citations

"Gender, Competitiveness and Career ..." refers background in this paper

...This line of reasoning has only recently been advanced in line with the recognition of the importance of non-cognitive skills for educational and labor market outcomes (Cunha and Heckman, 2007; Segal, 2012; Borghans et al., 2008)....
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