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Gender effects in the credence goods market: An experimental study

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  • Agrawal, Anjali
  • Green, Ellen P.
  • Lavergne, Lisa

Abstract

In this paper, we offer further explanation for differences in earnings across genders. We investigate difference in preferences in payment systems for credence goods. We find that women were no less likely to select variable rate payment schemes as compensation for providing credence goods than men. However, overall earnings remained higher for men than for women. Disaggregating behavior by type of payment and gender reveals that women who chose fee-for-service provided significantly fewer units of services paid for than men who chose fee-for-service. This difference accounts for the lower overall earnings for women in our experiments.

Suggested Citation

  • Agrawal, Anjali & Green, Ellen P. & Lavergne, Lisa, 2019. "Gender effects in the credence goods market: An experimental study," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 195-199.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:174:y:2019:i:c:p:195-199
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2018.11.019
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    Cited by:

    1. Bardey, David & Kembou, Samuel & Ventelou, Bruno, 2021. "Physicians’ incentives to adopt personalised medicine: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 686-713.
    2. Perodaud, Maxime & Hanaki, Nobuyuki & Yamada, Takashi, 2022. "An experimental analysis of gender discrimination in a credence goods market," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    3. Green, Ellen P. & Kloosterman, Andrew, 2022. "Agent sorting by incentive systems in mission firms: Implications for healthcare and other credence goods markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 408-429.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender; Credence goods; Selection; Payment scheme; Experimental economics; Health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C9 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments
    • I - Health, Education, and Welfare

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