Women aren’t as competitive-natured as men, and that’s why they end up in lower-paying jobs, according to a new study.
Feminists have long claimed that women get paid less than men mostly because of discrimination. Others say most women choose to go into lower-paying professions, work fewer hours and have their careers interrupted more often by family concerns.
In any event, some combination of factors has produced a situation in which all women, on average, earn less than all men earn, on average. A new working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that part of the pay gap — at least among MBA graduates — can be explained by women seeking out less competitive jobs.
“We find that, among MBA graduates from a prestigious business school, competitive individuals obtain higher earnings at graduation,” researchers write in the working paper. “Importantly, differences in taste for competition account for a significant share of the gender gap in earnings.”
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The paper was authored by Ernesto Reuben, with Columbia University, Paola Sapienza, with Northwestern University, and Luigi Zingales, with the University of Chicago.
The trio of researchers first sought to find out whether “competitive” people earn more than their less ambitious counterparts. Indeed, they found that competitive people earn about 9 percent more. “If a majority of people find that working under competitive conditions is inherently distasteful, then there can be a compensating wage differential to work in firms or industries with competitive corporate cultures,” researchers write.
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That conclusion, combined with a finding that women are less cutthroat than men, explains about one-tenth of the gender pay gap, the researchers say. “Gender differences in taste for competition explain around 10 percent of the overall gender gap,” they write. “Female MBAs are 8 percent more likely to work in low-paying industries at graduation and 12 percent more likely to work in such industries seven years later.”
Take the study’s results with a grain of salt, because researchers only examined a sample of MBA graduates. “Our sample is clearly not representative of the general population or even of the average individual in business,” they write. Still, the authors say that a large gender gap is prevalent in top business positions, and their research may explain why.
Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
