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Confidence Men? Evidence on Confidence and Gender among Top Economists

Author

Listed:
  • Heather Sarsons
  • Guo Xu

Abstract

Using data from economists working in top US universities, we find that women are less confident than men along three margins. When asked about their level of agreement on survey questions about the economy, women are less likely to provide a judgment than their male counterparts. Conditional on providing a judgment, women are less likely to give "extreme" answers in which they strongly agree or disagree. Women are also less confident in the accuracy of their answer. We show that the confidence gap is driven by women being less confident when asked questions outside their field of expertise.

Suggested Citation

  • Heather Sarsons & Guo Xu, 2021. "Confidence Men? Evidence on Confidence and Gender among Top Economists," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 111, pages 65-68, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:111:y:2021:p:65-68
    DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20211086
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Adamecz-Völgyi, Anna & Shure, Nikki, 2022. "The gender gap in top jobs – The role of overconfidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Spencer Bastani & Thomas Giebe & Oliver Gürtler, 2023. "Overconfidence and Gender Equality in the Labor Market," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 220, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    3. Thaler, Michael, 2021. "Gender differences in motivated reasoning," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 501-518.
    4. Smith, Sarah & Sievertsen, Hans, 2022. "Male and female voices in economics," CEPR Discussion Papers 17166, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Charness, Gary & Dao, Lien & Shurchkov, Olga, 2022. "Competing now and then: The effects of delay on competitiveness across gender," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 612-630.
    6. Abraham, Lisa, 2023. "The gender gap in performance reviews," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 459-492.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A14 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Sociology of Economics
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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