Does the Gender Wage Gap Actually Reflect Taste Discrimination Against Women?

38 Pages Posted: 4 Feb 2025 Last revised: 11 Apr 2025

See all articles by Molly Maloney

Molly Maloney

University of California, Irvine

David Neumark

University of California, Irvine - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: January 2025

Abstract

One explanation of the gender wage gap is taste discrimination, as in Becker (1957). We test for taste discrimination by constructing a novel measure of misogyny using Google Trends data on searches that include derogatory terms for women. We find—surprisingly, in our view—that misogyny is an economically meaningful and statistically significant predictor of the wage gap. We also test more explicit implications of taste discrimination. The data are inconsistent with the Becker taste discrimination model, based on the tests used in Charles and Guryan (2008). But the data are consistent with the effects of taste discrimination against women in search models (Black, 1995), in which discrimination on the part of even a small group of misogynists can result in a wage gap.

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Suggested Citation

Maloney, Molly and Neumark, David, Does the Gender Wage Gap Actually Reflect Taste Discrimination Against Women? (January 2025). NBER Working Paper No. w33405, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5122124

Molly Maloney (Contact Author)

University of California, Irvine ( email )

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David Neumark

University of California, Irvine - Department of Economics ( email )

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