Testosterone and the Gender Wage Gap

Anne Gielen, Jessica Holmes () and Caitlin Myers
Additional contact information
Jessica Holmes: Middlebury College

No 7575, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Testosterone, which induces sexual differentiation of the male fetus, is believed to transfer from males to their littermates in placental mammals. Among humans, individuals with a male twin have been found to exhibit greater masculinization of sexually dimorphic attributes relative to those with a female twin. We therefore regard twinning as a plausible natural experiment to test the link between prenatal exposure to testosterone and labor market earnings. For men, the results suggest positive returns to testosterone exposure. For women, however, the results indicate that prenatal testosterone does not generate higher earnings and may even be associated with modest declines.

Keywords: twins; gender wage gap; testosterone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 52 pages
Date: 2013-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
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Forthcoming - published in: Journal of Human Resources, 2016, 51 (1), 30-61

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Working Paper: Testosterone and the gender wage gap (2013)
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