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Does Increasing Risk Widen Gender Gaps?

Author

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  • Hirshman, Samuel D.

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

  • Willén, Alexander

    (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration)

Abstract

We examine the response to an exogenous change in the risk profile of an important educational choice – requesting a regrade. We demonstrate how ostensibly gender-neutral policies can generate gaps across men and women because they differ in their perceptions of risk. Specifically, we show that an exogenous shift in the risk of requesting a regrade augmented the regrade request gap by nearly 100 percent. We show that this has consequential implications for students through its impact on their grade points. These findings reveal how gender differences identified in the lab manifest when men and women make real world decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hirshman, Samuel D. & Willén, Alexander, 2022. "Does Increasing Risk Widen Gender Gaps?," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 20/2022, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2022_020
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    risk; gender gaps; educational choices; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General

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