Categorical
Devaluation for whom? Feminization and wages in an economically polarized labor market, 2003–2019
Meiying Li
Social Forces, forthcoming
Abstract:
Scholars have found that as the proportion of female workers in an occupation grows, wages generally decline. Yet, we know little about how this gender inequality intersects with other labor market inequalities. This study evaluates the feminization-wage relationship of an increasingly economically polarized post-2000 US labor market. First, I hypothesize that the negative effect of feminization on wages has diminished in high-skilled occupations due to the declining prejudice against (highly educated) women and increasing requirements for higher education, which functions as a form of social closure. Second, because of the increasing demand for “people skills” in higher-skilled occupations and their association with women, workers in higher-skilled occupations that require these skills may experience positive effects of feminization on wages. Not all people skills, however, are associated with women and similarly rewarded. Thus, I examine three people skills—persuasion, managerial, and sociability—that have different gender stereotypes. I test hypotheses using occupational-level fixed-effects models with individual-level data from the American Community Survey 2003–2019 (N = 15,996,526) and time-varying occupational-level data from the Occupational Information Network 2003–2019 (N = 460). Results show that for workers in occupations requiring more than sixteen years of education, feminization corresponds with higher wages. Additionally, the positive feminization-wage relationship is larger in occupations with a high demand for a gender-neutral people skill, persuasion. This moderation effect is not found for sociability and managerial skills, which are associated with women and men, respectively. This study calls for greater attention to how labor market polarization has shaped gender inequality.
Eliciting Thresholds for Interdependent Behavior
Moritz Janas, Nikos Nikiforakis & Simon Siegenthaler
NBER Working Paper, August 2024
Abstract:
Threshold models have been widely used to analyze interdependent behavior, yet empirical research identifying people’s thresholds is nonexistent. We introduce an incentivized method for eliciting thresholds and use it to study support for affirmative action in a large, stratified sample of the U.S. population. Most Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White men and women condition their support for affirmative action on the number of others supporting it. In line with preregistered hypotheses, thresholds are influenced by one’s perceived benefits and pressure to conform. We demonstrate how our method can offer unique insights for policy design and enhance understanding of social dynamics.
The presence of diversity initiatives leads to increased pro-White hiring decisions among conservatives
Zeinab Hachem & Tessa Dover
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, August 2024, Pages 2100–2126
Abstract:
Despite the push and pull between pro-diversity advocates and conservative resistance, most organizations have implemented diversity initiatives in an effort to promote equitable and fair organizational practices. Past work has shown that these diversity initiatives may not be as effective as expected and may instead result in unintended negative consequences for the very individuals they are meant to support. In three novel experiments (total N = 3,664), we investigated whether and when the presence of pro-diversity messages in organizational job recruitment materials might facilitate versus hinder the hiring of underrepresented racial minorities. Participant race and political ideology were also investigated as predictors of hiring recommendations. Findings indicate that pro-diversity messages facilitate politically motivated hiring bias. Specifically, in the presence of pro-diversity messages, White and some Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) conservatives tend to display a pro-White shift in their hiring recommendations, whereas liberals tend to display a pro-minority shift. The present research underscores the importance of organizational awareness regarding the potential for hiring managers to react, whether consciously or subconsciously, against pro-diversity efforts because of political ideology. The present research also highlights the need for organizations to move beyond just espousing pro-diversity values and actually investigate the impact diversity initiatives have on hiring, retention, and promotion of diverse employees.
‘Woman-Owned Business’ Labels Enhance Perceived Competence
Nicole Davis & Tami Kim
Journal of Consumer Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
Gender bias is widely recognized as having negative effects on women in business, including on outcomes such as hiring, promotion, pay, and access to venture capital funding. This study identifies a strategy that women business owners can employ to boost business outcomes. Across five preregistered studies (N = 2585), including a field study, affixing the owner attribute label “woman-owned business” can engender positive business outcomes, including perceptions of business competence and service quality (studies 1–2). These effects are driven by an increase in perceptions of the business owner’s agency (study 3). Affixing a gender-based owner attribute label is especially effective in situations that lack other credible cues of competence (study 4) and in industries that are perceived as difficult to succeed in (study 5). The present work advances our understanding of stereotypes, discrimination, and identity in the consumer marketplace, and it offers practical implications for business owners in traditionally marginalized groups who face -- and must combat -- stereotypes.
The Long-Run Impacts of Banning Affirmative Action in US Higher Education
Francisca Antman, Brian Duncan & Michael Lovenheim
NBER Working Paper, August 2024
Abstract:
This paper estimates the long-run impacts of banning affirmative action on men and women from under-represented minority (URM) racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Using data from the US Census and American Community Survey, we use a difference-in-differences framework to compare the college degree completion, graduate degree completion, earnings, and employment of URM individuals to non-URM individuals before and after affirmative action bans went into effect across several US states. We also employ event study analyses and alternative estimators to confirm the validity of our approach and discuss the generalizability of the findings. Results suggest that banning affirmative action results in a decline in URM women’s college degree completion, earnings, and employment relative to non-Hispanic White women, driven largely by impacts on Hispanic women. Thus, affirmative action bans resulted in an increase in racial/ethnic disparities in both college degree completion and earnings among women. Effects on URM men are more ambiguous and indicate significant heterogeneity across states, with some estimates pointing to a possible positive impact on labor market outcomes of Black men. These results suggest that the relative magnitude of college quality versus mismatch effects vary for URM men and women and highlight the importance of disaggregating results by gender, race, and ethnicity. We conclude by discussing how our results compare with others in the literature and directions for future research.
The Impact of Race-Blind and Test-Optional Admissions on Racial Diversity and Merit
Allen Sirolly, Yash Kanoria & Hongyao Ma
Columbia University Working Paper, June 2024
Abstract:
How significant was the role of racial preferences in U.S. college admissions before the Supreme Court's 2023 decision to ban race-based affirmative action? How much might test-optional admission policies impact racial diversity and academic merit? In this work, we estimate a simple model of college admissions decisions from 2012-2021, leveraging a novel dataset of applicant profiles and admissions outcomes across the full spectrum of college selectivity. We find that, broadly, the impact of race and testing policies on diversity and merit of admits decreases by college selectivity. For America's less selective colleges that collectively enroll over three-quarters of students, fully eliminating racial preferences -- expressed either directly or via unobserved correlates -- has little impact on the proportion of underrepresented minorities (URM) and on the average SAT score of admitted students. In contrast, for the 34 most selective colleges accounting for 3 percent of total enrollment, our estimates suggest that admissions going "race blind" -- absent any compensating changes in admissions criteria -- could reduce URM admission by one-third while increasing the average SAT score of admits by no more than 10 points. We also estimate that universal test-optional admission does not materially affect the proportion of URMs at elite colleges, and may decrease the average SAT score by up to 10 points. At less selective institutions, the effects are estimated to be negligible.
Gender and Preferences for Performance Feedback
Katherine Coffman & David Klinowski
Management Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Across multiple studies, we investigate whether there are gender differences in preferences for receiving performance feedback. We vary many features of the feedback context: whether the performance task is a cognitive test or a mock interview, the feedback is objective or subjective, and it is possible for the provider of the feedback to discriminate on the basis of gender. Consistent with past work, we find that women are less optimistic about their performance than men and that, on average, more optimistic individuals have greater demand for feedback. Results like these have been hypothesized in the literature to imply that women will shy away from performance feedback more so than men. And, when we survey participants from a similar population, they also anticipate that women will demand feedback at lower rates than men. Yet, across our two incentivized studies, we find that women are no less eager to receive performance feedback than men. Understanding whether and how these results might generalize to broader contexts, particularly those with more social factors, is an important question for future work.
A U-shaped curve of female entrepreneurs? The development of women's entrepreneurship in the Netherlands, 1899–2020
Selin Dilli & Corinne Boter
Economic History Review, forthcoming
Abstract:
Many economic historians have shown that the relationship between female labour force participation and economic development is U-shaped. However, most studies on this phenomenon do not differentiate between female wage labourers and entrepreneurs. We argue that this is problematic because standard explanations of women's wage work do not necessarily apply to entrepreneurs. To demonstrate this, this paper studies female entrepreneurship in the Netherlands between 1899 and 2020. We show that the U-shaped curve of female labour force participation does not hold for entrepreneurs because life-cycle events – such as marriage and having children – stimulated rather than discouraged women to take up entrepreneurial activities. Moreover, structural change of the economy did not equally affect the demand for female wage labourers and entrepreneurs. By integrating an entrepreneurship perspective, this research provides a more complete understanding of the diversity in women's occupational choices when constrained by institutional and individual conditions.
Caitlin Clark's Surprising Economic Impact
Frank Stephenson
Economics Letters, forthcoming
Abstract:
Increases in attendance for University of Iowa's women's basketball games caused by star player Caitlin Clark have led to claims of large economic benefits for Iowa City. This paper uses daily hotel occupancy data to analyze the visitor inflow arising from Clark's stardom. The findings show a surprising pattern: hotel occupancy did increase substantially during Clark's junior season but showed a much smaller increase during her senior season, even with considerably higher game attendance. Local fans substituting from men's games to women's games, thereby leaving fewer women's basketball seats available for out-of-town visitors, appears to explain at least some of the smaller hotel occupancy effect in Clark's senior season.
Competing for Equality: Gender Bias Among Juries in International Piano Competitions, 1890-2023
Roberto Asmat, Karol Borowiecki & Marc Law
University of Vermont Working Paper, July 2024
Abstract:
Are women helped or harmed by being evaluated by other women? The evidence remains inconclusive and varies by time and place. We address this debate from a global and historical perspective by analyzing confidential data on the universe of international piano competitions held between 1890 and 2023 across approximately 100 countries. Using multiple identification strategies that leverage the repeated nature of these events, we find robust evidence that female competitors are less successful when judged by juries with a higher proportion of women. We estimate that replacing an all-male jury with an all-female jury reduces the likelihood that a female pianist reaches the finals by over 20 percent, reaches the podium by over 30 percent, or wins by over 40 percent. Analysis of individual juror scoring records from a major competition reveals that female jurors are stricter than their male counterparts in their relative assessments of female versus male competitors. We also find that the bias against female competitors is driven by prime-age female jurors who were previous winners in less prestigious competitions. This suggests that the gender bias of female jurors may be related to the threat that emerging female talent poses in a segmented labor market.