Work

Relationship of gender differences in preferences to economic development and gender equality

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Preferences concerning time, risk, and social interactions systematically shape human behavior and contribute to differential economic and social outcomes between women and men. We present a global investigation of gender differences in six fundamental preferences. Our data consist of measures of willingness to take risks, patience, altruism, positive and negative reciprocity, and trust for 80,000 individuals in 76 representative country samples. Gender differences in preferences were positively related to economic development and gender equality. This finding suggests that greater availability of and gender-equal access to material and social resources favor the manifestation of gender-differentiated preferences across countries.

Source: Science

DOI: 10.1126/science.aas9899

Authors: Armin Falk, Johannes Hermle

Institutions: University of Bonn, BRIQ Institute on Behavior and Inequality, University of California, Berkeley

Language: English

Topic: Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies

Subfield: Safety Research

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Research Council, FP7 Ideas: European Research Council