Research project Can we replicate the field in the lab?

Despite a broad convergence in labour force participation, education, working hours, occupations and hours of household work, a large body of literature still provides evidence of gender differences in economic outcomes of men and women, particularly in the labour market. For instance, compared to men, fewer women reach the top of the wage distribution, or the top of firm hierarchies. Consequently, in the light of this advancement, economists, alike in other fields, have long been puzzled as to why the gender gaps vanish so slowly.

In this project we explore two explanations behind this pattern: gender gaps in negotiation behaviour and gender gaps in the willingness to compete for promotion. Recent proceedings in both labour and behavioural economics have given insights to the role of these behaviours in explaining some of the gender gaps in labour market outcomes, especially the gender pay gap at the top of the pay distribution.

Less is however known on the mechanisms as to why negotiation or competitive behaviour differs by gender, and therefore what can be done to close the gender gap. This project aims to fill this gap by taking its stand in a new unique design of a laboratory experiment to be conducted in 2019 at the BLESS lab in Bologna with 900 participants.