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Gender-based price discrimination in the annuity market: Evidence from Chile

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  • Bello, Piera

Abstract

This paper provides the first evidence for discriminatory behaviour against female consumers in the annuity market. It focuses on Chile, where an electronic bidding system allows retirees to receive offers, simultaneously from several firms in the market for the same standardised annuity product. By exploiting within-individual variation in initial offers across firms, this analysis shows that firms with market power offer more unfairly priced annuities to women than to men. This result is driven by highly rated firms. Gender differences in financial literacy can explain why firms find it profitable to offer higher prices to women.

Suggested Citation

  • Bello, Piera, 2023. "Gender-based price discrimination in the annuity market: Evidence from Chile," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:151:y:2023:i:c:s0014292122002367
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2022.104356
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Annuity market; Insurers; Gender; Financial literacy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • G52 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Insurance
    • G53 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Financial Literacy

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