Gender Differences in Bargaining Outcomes: A Field Experiment on Discrimination

Abstract:     
We examine gender differences in bargaining outcomes in a highly competitive and commonly used market: the taxi market in Lima, Peru. Examining the entire path of negotiation we find that men face higher initial prices and rejection rates. These differentials are consistent with both statistical and taste-based discrimination. To identify the source of the inferior treatment of men we conduct an experiment where passengers send a signal on valuation before negotiating. The signal eliminates gender differences and the response is shown only to be consistent with statistical discrimination. Our study secures identification within the market or interest and demonstrates that there are environments where sophisticated statistical inference is the sole source of differential gender outcomes.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 36

Keywords: barganing, discrimination, statistical inference, gender

JEL Classification: C93, J16, C78

working papers series