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How Do Beliefs about the Gender Wage Gap Affect the Demand for Public Policy?

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  • Sonja Settele

Abstract

I conduct a survey experiment to study the relationship between people's beliefs about the size of the gender wage gap and their demand for policies aimed at mitigating it. Beliefs causally affect support for equal pay legislation and affirmative action programs, but cannot account for the polarization in policy views by partisanship and gender. Changes in policy demand seem to be driven by changes in beliefs about discrimination in labor markets and fairness concerns, while self-interest appears less important. I provide evidence that pessimism about the effectiveness of government intervention limits the elasticity of policy demand to perceived wage differentials.

Suggested Citation

  • Sonja Settele, 2022. "How Do Beliefs about the Gender Wage Gap Affect the Demand for Public Policy?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 14(2), pages 475-508, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aejpol:v:14:y:2022:i:2:p:475-508
    DOI: 10.1257/pol.20200559
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    Cited by:

    1. Boneva, Teodora & Golin, Marta & Kaufmann, Katja Maria & Rauh, Christopher, 2022. "Beliefs about Maternal Labor Supply," IZA Discussion Papers 15788, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Angerer, Silvia & Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela & Lergetporer, Philipp & Rittmannsberger, Thomas, 2023. "How does the vaccine approval procedure affect COVID-19 vaccination intentions?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    3. Riccardo Bruni & Alessandro Gioffré & Maria Marino, 2022. ""In-group bias in preferences for redistribution: a survey experiment in Italy"," IREA Working Papers 202223, University of Barcelona, Research Institute of Applied Economics, revised Nov 2023.
    4. Chantal Pezold & Simon Jäger & Patrick Nüss, 2023. "Labor Market Tightness and Union Activity," NBER Working Papers 31988, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Hermes, Henning & Lergetporer, Philipp & Mierisch, Fabian & Schwerdt, Guido & Wiederhold, Simon, 2024. "Does Information about Inequality and Discrimination in Early Child Care Affect Policy Preferences?," IZA Discussion Papers 16759, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Aljosha Henkel & Ernst Fehr & Julien Senn & Thomas Epper, 2024. "Beliefs about Inequality and the Nature of Support for Redistribution," Working Papers 2024-iRisk-02, IESEG School of Management.
    7. Jana Schuetz, 2024. "Beliefs about the Gender Pension Gap," Jena Economics Research Papers 2024-004, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    8. Lergetporer, Philipp & Woessmann, Ludger, 2022. "Income Contingency and the Electorate's Support for Tuition," IZA Discussion Papers 14991, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Engel, Julia F. & Huber, Christoph & Nüß, Patrick, 2022. "Replication Report: How Do Beliefs About the Gender Wage Gap Affect the Demand for Public Policy?," I4R Discussion Paper Series 12, The Institute for Replication (I4R).
    10. Andrea Pogliano, 2024. "Born That Way: Beliefs about Genetics’ Importance and Redistribution Preferences," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-017/I, Tinbergen Institute.
    11. Backhaus, Teresa & Schäper, Clara & Schrenker, Annekatrin, 2023. "Causal misperceptions of the part-time pay gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    12. Grewenig, Elisabeth & Lergetporer, Philipp & Simon, Lisa & Werner, Katharina & Woessmann, Ludger, 2023. "Can internet surveys represent the entire population? A practitioners’ analysis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Muhammed Bulutay, 2024. "Better than Perceived? Correcting Misperceptions about Central Bank Inflation Forecasts," Berlin School of Economics Discussion Papers 0034, Berlin School of Economics.
    14. Golin, M. & Rauh, C., 2022. "The Impact of Fear of Automation," Janeway Institute Working Papers 2229, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    15. Lasse J. Jessen & Sebastian Koehne & Patrick Nüß & Jens Ruhose, 2024. "Socioeconomic Inequality in Life Expectancy: Perception and Policy Demand," CESifo Working Paper Series 10940, CESifo.
    16. Lergetporer, Philipp & Woessmann, Ludger, 2023. "Earnings information and public preferences for university tuition: Evidence from representative experiments," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    17. Giuliano, Paola & Spilimbergo, Antonio, 2024. "Aggregate Shocks and the Formation of Preferences and Beliefs," IZA Discussion Papers 17110, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Filip Pertold & Sofiana Sinani & Michal Soltes, 2023. "Gender Gap in Reported Childcare Preferences among Parents," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp770, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    19. Vod Vilfort & Whitney Zhang, 2023. "Interpreting TSLS Estimators in Information Provision Experiments," Papers 2309.04793, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2024.
    20. Alessandra Casarico & Jana Schuetz & Silke Uebelmesser, 2024. "Gender Inequality over the Life Cycle, Information Provision and Policy Preferences," CESifo Working Paper Series 10916, CESifo.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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