Anti-Harassment Policy and the Startup Labor Market

Jun Chen, Song Ma and Feng Zhang

No 35187, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: This paper examines how anti-harassment reforms that weaken non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in sexual harassment cases affect the startup labor market. Using a staggered difference-in-differences design and LinkedIn data on over 50,000 U.S. VC-backed startups from 2014--2022, we find that NDA reforms reduce female hiring by about 8% annually without affecting male hiring, with effects concentrated among junior women and in small or male-dominated startups. Treated firms also experience more male manager departures, promote more women, and receive less VC funding. While NDA-weakening laws raise perceived legal risk and reduce female hiring, they trigger organizational restructuring that advances women into leadership.

JEL-codes: G0 J0 K0 M14 M5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-hea, nep-hrm and nep-law
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