Social Norm Obedience and the Gender Competitiveness Gap

15:40-17:00, Wednesday, May 22, 2024

I-206, Boxue Building, DUFE

Dr. Jianxin Wang is now an Associate Professor at Business School, Central South University. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University in 2021 and his Ph.D. in Management Science and Engineering from Central South University in 2012. His research interests include Behavioral and Experimental Economics. He has his paper published in PNAS, Experimental Economics, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Economics Letters.

We shed new light on the source of the gender competitiveness gap by exploiting alcohol’s ability to suppress norm obedience. We randomly administer to volunteer participants drinks containing either alcohol or a placebo before tasks measuring competitiveness. While we successfully replicate the gender gap among sober participants, among intoxicated participants we observe the gap to vanish. A separate elicitation indicates gender-norm obedience among sober participants and no change in competitiveness norms among intoxicated men or women, suggesting that intoxicated people do not conform to social norms. Our analysis reveals that if neither gender adhered to social competitiveness norms, the gender gap would only be one-third as large.

For more information of the seminar, scan the following QR code(s) to join Tencent QQ group (904 544 292) or WeChat group named "IAER Seminar (5)", please.

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