Gender Differences in Reservation Wages in Search Experiments

Andrew McGee and Peter McGee

No 16577, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Women report setting lower reservation wages than men in survey data. We show that women set reservation wages that are 14 to 18 percent lower than men's in laboratory search experiments that control for factors not fully observed in surveys such as offer distributions and outside options. This gender gap—which exists even controlling for overconfidence, preferences, personality, and intelligence—leads women to spend less time searching than men while accepting lower wages. Women—but not men—set reservation wages that are too low relative to theoretically optimal values given their risk preferences early in search, reducing their earnings.

Keywords: search experiments; gender wage gaps; reservation wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 J16 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2023-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-gen, nep-lab and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Labour Economics, 2025, 94, 102698

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Working Paper: Gender Differences in Reservation Wages in Search Experiments (2023)
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