Research
Working Papers
Abstract: This paper examines how mandated maternity leave policies impact the gender gap in promotions. I present a model of the gender gap in promotions where firms must choose whether to invest in the training of their employees, but they are uncertain about their employees' future choice of hours of work. If women are more likely than men to reduce their hours of work during child-rearing years, firms will invest less in women early in their careers, leading to a gender gap in promotions. In the presence of asymmetric information about workers' future preferences, mandated maternity leave policies can exacerbate this gap. Using the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I test the predictions of the model in the context of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA). Women hired after the enactment of the FMLA are five percent more likely to remain employed but eight percent less likely to be promoted than those who were hired before the FMLA. Furthermore, I find evidence suggesting that information asymmetry, in addition to selection, is driving the increase in the gender gap in promotions.
Abstract: Using the historical random assignment of MBA students to peer groups at a top business school in the United States, I study the effect of the gender composition of a student's peers on the gender pay gap at graduation and on long-term labor market outcomes. I find that a 10 percentage-point increase in the share of male peers leads to a 2.1 percent increase in the relative earnings of female students at graduation, closing the gender gap in earnings at graduation by two-thirds. The effects on women's long-term earnings grow even larger with time. Using novel data on job offers, I find that two different mechanisms drive the effects on short- and long-term earnings. Women with a greater share of male peers take more quantitative coursework in business school and receive job offers at graduation in occupations, industries, and firms associated with higher wages, longer hours, and greater earnings growth. However, the effect of peers on the gender gap at graduation is primarily driven by female students' increased willingness-to-accept the maximum salary offered within their offer set. In contrast, peer-induced effects on human capital, alone, place female students on dramatically different long-term expected earnings paths due to changes in the initial occupation, initial industry, and initial firm accepted at graduation. This change in the characteristics of the first job at graduation largely explains the effect of peer gender composition on long-term outcomes.
“Explaining Earnings Inequality: Estimating the Value of Non-Wage Amenities” joint with Alexandre Mas [Slides - new draft coming soon!]
Abstract: This paper studies whether inequality in earnings across firms can be explained, in part, by differences in the non-wage amenities of a job. We develop and implement an empirical framework to measure the value to workers of the non-wage amenity component of firm pay – in dollar terms. We find that the variance of total compensation at the firm level is twenty times that of firm pay. At the individual level, we find that the variance in total job value is six times larger than the variance of wages alone. Using a simple model where wage and non-wage amenity components of firm pay are determined endogenously by cost-minimizing firms, we construct a counterfactual exercise to measure the role of compensating differentials in inequality in firm pay. We find that while there is evidence for compensating differentials, shutting down the compensating differentials motive increases the variance in firm pay for reasonable parameter values, rather than decreases it. Compensating differentials therefore work to compress the wage distribution. Examining implications for the gender gap, we find that the gender gap in total utility compensation is augmented four-fold by taking into account the role of compensating differentials and the value of non-wage amenities.
Research in Progress
“Outsourcing Domestic Labor: On-the-Job Training and the Gender Gap in Higher Educational Attainment” with Patricia Cortes
“Explaining the College Gender Gap: Early Versus Late-Life Investments and the Career Choices of Women”
“Employer Learning, Labor Market Signaling, and the Value of Information on Grades: Effects of a Grade Non-Disclosure Policy on the Allocation of Job Interviews and Job Offers”
“The Value of a Job Interview: the Role of Luck in Long-Term Labor Market Outcomes” joint with Alexandre Mas
“Getting a Foot in the Door: Differential Effects of Receiving a Job Interview on Initial Job Placement and Long-Term Labor Market Outcomes by Race and Gender”
“The Gender Pay Gap and the Responsiveness of Women's Early Career Choices to Information About Ability”
“Banning the Grade: The Effect of Grade Non-Disclosure on Job Interviews and Offers for Minority Students”