The Effect of Gender Discrimination on Labor Supply

Gagnon, Nickolas; Bosmans, Kristof; Riedl, Arno

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3519540

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The Effect of Gender Discrimination on Labor Supply

66 Pages Posted: 7 Feb 2020 Last revised: 7 Nov 2022

See all articles by Nickolas Gagnon

Nickolas Gagnon

Aarhus University, Department of Economics and Business Economics; University of Arizona - Economic Science Laboratory

Arno Riedl

Maastricht University; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Netspar

There are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: November 6, 2022

Abstract

We conduct experiments on an online platform to investigate the causal effect of gender discrimination on labor supply decisions. Controlling for the piece-rate wage, workers who face negative gender-discriminatory wage inequality supply substantially less labor compared to workers who face gender-neutral wage inequality (−0.16 standard deviations) and compared to workers with equal wages (−0.21 standard deviations). We also examine the effect of positive discrimination, differences between men and women, and the role of beliefs about facing discrimination. Our results provide evidence for decreased labor supply in reaction to discrimination being a novel mechanism contributing to the gender gap in earnings.

Keywords: Gender Discrimination, Labor Supply, Workplace Inequality

JEL Classification: D90, E24, J22, J31, J71, M5

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Gagnon, Nickolas and Bosmans, Kristof and Riedl, Arno M., The Effect of Gender Discrimination on Labor Supply (November 6, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3519540 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3519540