The gender wage gap and the role of reservation wages: New evidence for unemployed workers
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The gender wage gap and the role of reservation wages : New evidence for unemployed workers. / Caliendo, Marco; Lee, Wang-Sheng; Mahlstedt, Robert.
I: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Bind 136, 04.2017, s. 161-173.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The gender wage gap and the role of reservation wages
T2 - New evidence for unemployed workers
AU - Caliendo, Marco
AU - Lee, Wang-Sheng
AU - Mahlstedt, Robert
PY - 2017/4
Y1 - 2017/4
N2 - This paper examines the importance of differences in reservation wages for the gender wage gap. Based on two waves of rich survey data for a sample of newly unemployed individuals in Germany, we perform a decomposition analysis including measures for reservation wages, detailed information on education, socio-demographics, labor market history, as well as personality traits. In order to address the potential endogeneity of reservation wages we exploit a generated instrumental variable strategy that relies on heteroscedasticity of the error terms. Our findings indicate that the gender wage gap becomes small and statistically insignificant once we control for reservation wages. Moreover, we perform a subgroup analysis that provides valuable insights about the importance of potentially unobserved characteristics that affect reservation wages and realized wages simultaneously. Reasons for differences in reservation wages could arise from productivity differences, the fact that women anticipate discrimination and different unobserved traits or preferences.
AB - This paper examines the importance of differences in reservation wages for the gender wage gap. Based on two waves of rich survey data for a sample of newly unemployed individuals in Germany, we perform a decomposition analysis including measures for reservation wages, detailed information on education, socio-demographics, labor market history, as well as personality traits. In order to address the potential endogeneity of reservation wages we exploit a generated instrumental variable strategy that relies on heteroscedasticity of the error terms. Our findings indicate that the gender wage gap becomes small and statistically insignificant once we control for reservation wages. Moreover, we perform a subgroup analysis that provides valuable insights about the importance of potentially unobserved characteristics that affect reservation wages and realized wages simultaneously. Reasons for differences in reservation wages could arise from productivity differences, the fact that women anticipate discrimination and different unobserved traits or preferences.
KW - Wages
KW - Gender gap
KW - Reservation wages
KW - Decomposition
KW - Discrimination
U2 - 10.1016/j.jebo.2017.02.011
DO - 10.1016/j.jebo.2017.02.011
M3 - Journal article
VL - 136
SP - 161
EP - 173
JO - Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
JF - Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
SN - 0167-2681
ER -
ID: 181994262