Preference for the Workplace, Investment in Human Capital, and Gender

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IZA Seminar

Place: Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 9, 53113 Bonn

Date: 09.03.2017, 12:15 - 13:30

   

Presentation by 

Basit Zafar (University of Michigan)
   

Abstract:

We use a hypothetical choice methodology to estimate preferences for workplace
attributes and quantify how much these preferences influence pre-labor market human
capital investments. This method robustly identifies preferences for various job attributes,
free from omitted variable bias and considering the equilibrium job match.
Women on average have a higher willingness-to-pay (WTP) for jobs with greater work
flexibility and job stability, and men have a higher WTP for jobs with higher earnings
growth. These job preferences relate to college major choices and actual job choices,
and explain as much as 25 percent of the gender wage gap.

   
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