Program content

The purpose of this course is to familiarize the students with the economics of gender. This is a fast-growing area of research in economics. The focus will be on the latest methodological developments and innovative empirical approaches, which will be thoroughly presented and discussed. The aim is to enable participants to critically assess and replicate existing studies, as well as to come up with new research ideas.
The main questions tackled cover the rationale for the persistence of gender inequality in paid work unpaid work, and beyond, the economic costs of inequality, and the efficacy of quotas and other policy interventions.

Structure

Household Time Allocation : An Introduction to Gender Economics – Elena Stancanelli
Cultural Gender Norms – Claudia Senik
Gender and Negotiation – Nagore Iriberri
Gender Inequality in the Labour Market -–Thomas Breda
Women in Academia – Nagore Iriberri
Women in STEM –Thomas Breda
Gender Biases and Stereotypes : Research Methods – Elena Stancanelli
The Costs of Gender Inequality and the Efficacy of Gender Quotas – Elena Stancanelli
Gender, Economics, and Covid-19 – Libertad González
Fertility, Family, and Father’s Leave Policies – Libertad González

Workshop : present your paper/project
Participants will have the opportunity to submit a paper to be presented within this program. Selected papers will be presented in front of participants and faculty in slots reserved for such presentations.

Workshop : debate on quota
Participants will be (randomly) assigned to play defendants and opponents of gender quotas and they will be required to prepare arguments to sustain their position in a public (class-room) debate.

Household Time Allocation : An Introduction to Gender Economics – Elena Stancanelli

Overview
This course will present the concepts and practice of household time allocation, which form the roots of the economics of gender, and lay out the general framework for the economics of gender. The theoretical model of household decision making, encompassing labour supply, consumption and household production decisions, as developed by e.g. Becker, Chiappori, Apps and Rees, will be presented. Time Use Diaries, which are the unique data tool to measure the hours devoted to paid work, unpaid domestic work, parental time, and leisure time will be illustrated with an application for the American Time Use Survey (this last part of the lecture will take place in the laboratory).

Structure

Theoretical framework of Household Decision Making and Time Allocation
Introduction to Gender Economics
The gendered allocation of time : an application using the American Time Use Survey

Selected key references
Apps, Patricia and Ray Rees, (1997), « Collective Labor Supply and Household Production ». Journal of Political Economy.

Bertrand, Marianne, (2020), « Gender in the Twenty-First Century. AEA Papers and Proceedings ».

Chiappori, Pierre Andre, (1997), « Introducing Household Production in Collective Models of Labour Supply ». Journal of Political Economy.

Hamermesh, Daniel and Elena Stancanelli, (2015), « Long Workweeks and Strange Hours ». Industrial and Labor Relations Review.

Kabatek Jan, Elena Stancanelli and Arthur Van Soest, (2014), « Income taxation, labour supply and housework : a discrete choice model for French couples ». Labour Economics,

Lundberg, Shelly, (2022), « Gender Economics and the Meaning of Discrimination ». American Economic Association Papers and Proceedings, May 2022.

Ramey, Valerie A., and Neville Francis, (2009), « A Century of Work and Leisure ». American Economic Journal : Macroeconomics.

Sevilla, Almudena, (2020), « Gender Economics : An Assessment ». Oxford Review of Economic Policy.

Stancanelli Elena and Arthur Van Soest, (2012), « Retirement and Home Production : A Regression Discontinuity approach ». American Economic Association Papers & Proceedings.

Cultural Gender Norms – Claudia Senik

Overview
Gender inequalities are supported by traditional gender roles and identities, and form ‘a cultural equilibrium’. But different gender cultures can form depending on the institutions in each country. Remarkably, the institutions that were set up in the socialist bloc have durably modified the behavior of women and the relations between spouses within the household. The new culture that emerged from this experience has resisted the disappearance of institutions and mechanisms that promoted women’s work and autonomy. This cultural legacy is clearly illustrated by the different behavior of women living in the Länder of the former East versus West Germany.

Structure

Cultural gender norms and their persistence
Gender roles in the East versus the West of Europe
The division of tasks within the household : East versus West
Gender gaps maths and wages : East versus West
Persistence and diffusion of educational choices

Selected key references
Beblo, M. and L. Gorges, (2018), « On the nature of nurture. The malleability of gender differences in work preferences ». Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Bertrand, M., Kamenica, E. and J. Pan, (2015), « Gender identity and relative income within Households ». Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Campa, P. and M. Serafinelli, (2019), « Politico-economic regimes and attitudes : female workers under state-socialism ». The Review of Economics and Statistics.

Friedman-Sokuler N. and C. Senik, (2022), « From Pink-Collar to Lab Coat : Cultural Persistence and Diffusion of Socialist Gender Norms ». IZA DP 2022.

Lippmann Q. and C. Senik, (2018), « Math, Girls, and Socialism ». Journal of Comparative economics.

Lippmann Q., Georgieff A. and C. Senik, (2020), « Undoing gender with institutions. Lessons from the German division and reunification ». The Economic Journal.

Nollenberger, N., Rodriguez-Planas, N., A. Sevilla, (2016), « The Math Gender Gap : The Role of Culture ». American Economic Review.

Gender and Negotiation – Nagore Iriberri

Overview
Women are expected to negotiate less often and get worse deals from negotiations than men. In this course, we review the work in psychology and economics with regard to gender differences in entry into negotiation and gender differences in bargaining outcomes. Ambiguity seems to be the key factor in understanding these differences : ambiguity with respect to whether it is appropriate to negotiate, as well as ambiguity with respect to what one should expect out of the negotiation.

Structure

Gender and negotiations : From “Women don´t ask” to gender differences in negotiation.
Laboratory methods : how to use the laboratory elicitation to study gender and negotiation.
Ambiguity : key element to understand gender differences in negotiation.
Usual suspects : risk preferences, confidence and stereotypes.

Selected key references
Babcock, L., S. Laschever, (2009), « Women dont ask. In Women Dont Ask ». Princeton University Press.

Exley, C. L., & Kessler, J. B, (2022), « The gender gap in self-promotion ». The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 137(3), 1345-1381.

Hernandez-Arenaz, I., N. Iriberri. « A review of gender differences in negotiation ».

« Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance », 2019.

Hernandez-Arenaz, I., N. Iriberri, (2018), "Gender differences in alternating-offer
bargaining : An experimental study". Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Hernandez-Arenaz, I., N. Iriberri, (2018), « Women ask for less (only from men) : Evidence from bargaining in the field ». Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization.

Hospido, L., Laeven, L., & Lamo, A, (2022), « The gender promotion gap : evidence from central banking ». Review of Economics and Statistics, 104(5), 981-996.

Leibbrandt, A., & List, J. A, (2015), « Do women avoid salary negotiations ? Evidence from a large-scale natural field experiment ». Management Science, 61(9), 2016-2024.

Niederle, M., & Vesterlund, L, (2011), « Gender and competition ». Annual Review of Economics, 3(1), 601-630.

Gender inequality in the Labour Market –Thomas Breda

Overview
This introductory lecture will provide a general overview on the extent of gender inequality in the labor market, its evolution over the past decades and its main possible determinants. Starting from a description of unconditional and conditional gender wage gaps in various countries, it will discuss in turn the possible causes of these gaps : discrimination, segregation across occupations and firms, working time and career trajectories around child birth, differences in preferences or “psychological traits”, etc. Existing and possible policy interventions will finally be discussed along with their justification.

Structure

Overview of gender inequality at work across countries and time
Review of possible explanations
General discussion of possible policy intervention

Selected key references
Blau, F. D., L. M. Kahn, (2000), « Gender differences in pay ». Journal of Economic perspectives.

Blau, F. D., L. M. Kahn, (1992), « The gender earnings gap : learning from international comparisons ». The American Economic Review.

Blau, F. D., L. M. Kahn, (2020), « The gender pay gap : Have women gone as far as they can ? ». In Inequality in the United States : A Reader. Routledge.

Breda, T., Dutronc-Postel, P., Parraud, J. S., M. Tô, (2021), "Gender pay gaps within
companies". IPP brief.

Goldin Claudia, (2014), « A Grand Gender Convergence : Its Last Chapter ». American Economic Review.

Women in Academia – Nagore Iriberri

Overview
Women are underrepresented in many disciplines in academia. This course will present the latest findings of gender differences in scholar output, editorial process, peer recognition and representation in the top scientific societies. The main focus will be in the field of economics, where female representation has been historically low and only recently has reached 20%. Then, we will compare economics with other fields such as psychology and mathematics. Academia offers
a big advantage over other labor sectors : productivity measures (in the form of accumulated publications and citations) can be observed and measured.

Structure

Women in academia : gender differences in editorial process and peer recognition.
Methodology : data construction through web scraping, new research opportunities.
From economics to other disciplines.

Selected key references
Card, D., DellaVigna, S., Funk, P., N. Iriberri, (2020), « Are referees and editors in economics gender neutral ? ». The Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Card, D., DellaVigna, S., Funk, P., N Iriberri, (2022), « Gender differences in peer recognition by economists ». Econometrica.

Card, D., DellaVigna, S., Funk, P., N. Iriberri, (2022), « Gender Gaps at the Academies ». National Bureau of Economic Research WP.

Chari, A., & Goldsmith-Pinkham, P, (2017), « Gender representation in economics across topics and time : Evidence from the NBER summer institute » (No. w23953). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Ginther, D. K., & Kahn, S, (2004), « Women in economics : moving up or falling off the academic career ladder ? ». Journal of Economic perspectives, 18(3), 193-214.

Hengel, E, (2022), « Publishing while female : Are women held to higher standards ? Evidence from peer review ». The Economic Journal, 132(648), 2951-2991.

Hospido, L., & Sanz, C, (2021), « Gender gaps in the evaluation of research : evidence from submissions to economics conferences ». Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 83(3), 590-618.

Sarsons, H., Gërxhani, K., Reuben, E., & Schram, A, (2021), « Gender differences in recognition for group work ». Journal of Political Economy, 129(1), 101-147.

Women in STEM – Thomas Breda

Overview
Fewer women than men specialize in Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Why women do not enter math-intensive fields such as physics or computer science ? Is this due to underlying discrimination, or to gender differences in academic performance, or to differences in educational choices made by students earlier on ? What is the role of gender norms in explaining these facts ?

Structure
Why should we care about the underrepresentation of women in STEM ?
Are women particularly discriminated against in STEM careers (in and outside academia) ?
Have women and men different abilities for math and science ? When do these differences emerge and can they explain differences in educational choices ?
Do female and male students of similar abilities make different educational choices and why is this the case ?
What are the possible policies to foster female participation in STEM ?

Selected key references
Ceci, S. J., Ginther, D. K., Kahn, S., W. M. Williams, (2014), « Women in academic science : A changing landscape ». Psychological science in the public interest.

Breda T, Grenet J, Monnet M, C. Van Effenterre, (2021), « Do female role models reduce the gender gap in science ? Evidence from French high schools ». Economic Journal, forthcoming.

Breda T, M. Hillion, (2016), « Teaching accreditation exams reveal grading biases favor women in male-dominated disciplines in France ». Science.

Breda T, Jouini E, C. Napp, (2018), « Societal inequalities amplify gender gaps in math ». Science.

Breda T, Jouini E, Napp C, G. Thebault (2020), « Gender stereotypes can explain the gender-equality paradox ». Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Breda T, C. Napp, (2019), « Girls’ comparative advantage in reading can largely explain the gender gap in math-related fields ». Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Gender Biases and Stereotypes : research methods – Elena Stancanelli

Overview
This course will focus on new recent research methods deployed in the economics literature to measure and possibly, affect implicit gender biases and stereotypes, providing a discussion of the pros and cons of these methods a well as illustrating how to implement them in practice. The focus will be in Implicit Association Tests and Anchoring Vignettes (this lecture will take place in the laboratory).

Structure

How does randomizing female participation to teams at work affect men’s gender attitudes ?
Why are female financial advisers who make mistakes being punished much stronger than their male counterparts in the financial sector ?
Why are female speakers getting more questions at economics seminars ?
How to detect, measure, and change implicit gender biases ?
Designing Implicit Association Test and Anchoring Vignette Studies

Selected key references
Carlana, Michela, (2019), « Implicit Stereotypes : Evidence from Teachers’ Gender Bias ». The Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Dupas, Pascaline, Alicia Sasser Modestino, Muriel Niederle, Justin Wolfers, and The Seminar Dynamics Collective, (2021), « Gender and the Dynamics of Economics Seminars ». NBER WP 2021.

Gordon Dahl, Andreas Kotsadam, and Dan-Olof Rooth, (2021), « Does Integration Change Gender Attitudes ? The Effect of Randomly Assigning Women to Traditionally Male Teams ». Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Egan Mark L., Gregor Matvos, Amit Seru, (2021), « When Harry Fired Sally : The double standard in punishing misconduct ». NBER WP, 2021.

Greenwald, Anthony G., Debbie E. McGhee, and Jordan L. K. Schwartz, (1998), « Measuring Individual Differences in Implicit Cognition : The Implicit Association Test ». Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Henning Finseraas, Åshild A. Johnsen, Andreas Kotsadam, Gaute Torsvik, (2016), « Exposure to female colleagues breaks the glass ceiling—Evidence from a combined vignette and field experiment ». European Economic Review.

King, G., Murray, C. J. L., Salomon, J. and A. Tandon, (2004), « Enhancing the validity and cross-cultural comparability of measurement in survey research ». American Political Science Review.

Kübler, Dorothea, Julia Schmid, Robert Stüber, (2018), « Gender discrimination in hiring across occupations : a nationally-representative vignette study ». Labour Economics.

The costs of Gender Inequality and the Efficacy of Gender Quotas – Elena Stancanelli

Overview
Gender inequality is not only problematic for fairness reasons but also economically costly, as documented in the literature on the costs of foregone diversity, workplace harassment and domestic violence. How effective are targeted policies such as gender quotas at reducing gender inequality ?

Structure

How to quantify the costs of gender inequality
The economics costs of workplace harassment and domestic violence
The effectiveness of gender quotas and other gender-targeted interventions
A debate on quota (participants will play gender-quota defendants and opponents)

Selected key references
Aizer A, (2010), « The gender wage and domestic violence ». American Economic Review.

Besley, Timothy, Folke, Olle, Persson, Torsten, Johanna Rickne, (2017), « Gender Quotas and the Crisis of the Mediocre Man ». American Economic Review.

Bagues Manuel, Mauro Sylos Labini, and Natalia Zinovyeva, (2017), « Does the Gender Composition of Scientific Committees Matter ». American Economic Review.

Beaman, Lori, Esther Duflo, Rohini Pande, and Petia Topalova, (2012), « Female Leadership Raises Aspirations and Educational Attainment for Girls : A Policy Experiment in India ». Science.

Bertrand, Marianne, Sandra E. Black, Sissel Jensen, and Adriana Lleras-Muney, (2019), « Breaking the Glass Ceiling ? The Effect of Board Quotas on Female Labour Market Outcomes in Norway ». Review of Economic Studies.

Bowlus, Audra J. and Shannon Seitz, (2006), « Domestic Violence, Employment and Divorce ». International Economic Review.

Cevat G. Aksoy, Christopher S. Carpenter, Ralph De Haas, Kevin Tran, (2020), « Do Laws Shape Attitudes ? Evidence from Same-Sex Relationship Recognition Policies in Europe ». European Economic Review.

Chang‐Tai Hsieh, Erik Hurst, Charles I. Jones, Peter J. Klenow, (2019),« The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth ». Econometrica.

Folke, Olle and Johanna Rickne, (2022), « Sexual Harassment and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market ». Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Wu, Alice, (2020), « Gender Bias in Rumors Among Professionals : An Identity-based Interpretation ». Review of Economics and Statistics.

Gender, economics, and Covid-19 – Libertad González

Overview
The Covid-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted households and some of its effects have not yet resumed. In particular, gender inequality has increased along many dimensions during the pandemic as often, women lost more jobs than men did, but also women performed most of the burden of additional care and domestic work during the lockdowns.

Structure

How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect gender inequality in the labour market ?
How did parents share on paid and unpaid work tasks during the pandemic ?
How did the impacts vary across different countries ?

Selected key references
Albanesi, Stefania and Kim Jiyeon, (2021), « The Gendered Impact of the Covid-19 Recession on the US Labor Market ». NBER Working Paper.

Alon, Titan, Matthias Doepke, Jane Olmstead-Rumsey, and Michele Tertilt, (2020), « The Impact of Covid-19 on Gender Equality ». NBER Working Paper.

Alon, Titan, Sena Coskun, Matthias Doepke, David Koll, and Michèle Tertilt, (2021), « From Mancession to Shecession : Women’s Employment in Regular and Pandemic Recessions ». NBER WP.

Goldin Claudia, (2022), « Understanding the economic impacts of covid-19 on women ». NBER WP, 2022.

Farré, Lídia, Yarine Fawaz, Libertad González, and Jennifer Graves, (2021), « Gender Inequality in Paid and Unpaid Work during Covid-19 Times ». Review of Income and Wealth.

Profeta, Paola, (2020), « Gender Equality and Public Policy during COVID-19 ». CESifo Economic Studies.

Fertility, family, and parental leave policies -Libertad González

Overview
The course will present the Becker model of parental investment in children, together with recent literature on fertility and law changes, and conclude with a discussion of the effects of paternity leave policies on gender inequality.

Structure

Becker’s theory of parental investment in children
How did abortion law changes affect fertility and other outcomes for women ?
Do father’s parental leave policies reduce gender inequality ?

Selected key references
Becker, Gary S, (2021), « A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, Mass : Harvard University ».

Doepke M, (2015), « Gary Becker on the Quantity and Quality of Children ». Journal of Demographic Economics.

Folke, Olle and Johanna Rickne, (2020), « All the Single Ladies : Job Promotions and the Durability of Marriage ». American Economic Journal : Applied Economics.

Bursztyn, Leonardo, Fujuwara, Thomas, and Amanda Pallais, (2017), « Acting Wife, Marriage Market Incentives and Labor Market Investments ». American Economic Review.

González, Libertad, Sergi Jiménez, Natalia Nollenberger and Judit Vall, (2022), « The Effect of Abortion Legalization on Fertility, Marriage, and Long-Term Outcomes for Women ». Economic Journal.

González, Libertad, & Hosny Zoaby, (2021), « Does Paternity Leave Promote Gender Equality within Households ? », CESifo Working Paper.

Kleven, Henrik, Camille Landais and Jakob Egholt Sogaard, (2019), « Children and Gender Inequality : Evidence from Denmark ». American Economic Journal : Applied Economics, 2019.

Contents - The Economics of Gender