Knowing When to Ask: The Cost of Leaning-in

Women's reluctance to negotiate is often used to explain the gender wage gap, popularizingthe push for women to "lean-in" and negotiate more. Examining an environmentwhere women achieve positive pro ts when they choose to negotiate, we fi nd that increasednegotiations are not helpful. Women know when to ask: they enter negotiations resultingin positive profi ts and avoid negotiations resulting in negative profi ts. While the findingsare similar for men, we fi nd no evidence that men are more adept than women at knowingwhen to ask. Thus, our results do not justify a greater push for women to negotiate.