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Constructing Gender in the Economics Lab

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Author Info
Boschini, Anne () (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University)
Muren, Astri () (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm University)
Persson, Mats () (Institute for International Economic Studies)

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Abstract

Several experimental studies on altruism have found women to be more generous than men. We investigate whether observed gender gaps in generosity can be explained by experimental setting, where some settings are more conducive than others to activating gender identity and social norms. In a dictator game we study priming along two dimensions: 1) some subjects enter their gender on the first page of the questionnaire (Pre) while others enter their gender on the last page (Post) and 2) some subjects are seated in single-sex rooms (Homogeneous) while others are seated in gender-mixed rooms (Mixed). It turns out that gender differences occur (women are more generous than men) only for the combination Pre and Mixed. The effect is driven by males: men are sensitive to priming, while women are not.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Stockholm University, Department of Economics in its series Research Papers in Economics with number 2009:15.

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Length: 50 pages
Date of creation: 25 Jul 2009
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:sunrpe:2009_0015

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Postal: Department of Economics, Stockholm, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 16 20 00
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Web page: http://www.ne.su.se/
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Related research
Keywords: Gender roles; social norms; altruism; generosity; dictator game; priming;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism
J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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