Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Papers,
Lund University, Department of Economics

No 2024:6: Gender Identity and Economic Decision Making

Anne Ardila Brenøe (), Zeynep Eyibak (), Lea Heursen (), Eva Ranehill () and Roberto A. Weber ()
Additional contact information
Anne Ardila Brenøe: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Postal: Schonberggasse 1, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
Zeynep Eyibak: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Postal: Schonberggasse 1, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland
Lea Heursen: Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin,, Postal: Spandauer Straße 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany
Eva Ranehill: Department of Economics, Lund University, Postal: School of Economics and Management, Box 7080, S-220 07 Lund, Sweden
Roberto A. Weber: Department of Economics, University of Zurich, Postal: Blumlisalpstrasse 10, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract: Economic research on gender gaps in preferences and economic outcomes has focused on variation with respect to sex —a binary classification as either a “man” or “woman.” We validate a novel and simple measure of self-reported continuous gender identity (CGI) and explore whether gender identity correlates with variation in economic decisions and outcomes beyond the relationship with binary sex. We use four datasets (N=8,073) measuring various dimensions of economic preferences and educational and labor market outcomes for which prior research has documented gaps between men and women. Our analysis rejects the null hypothesis that CGI has no relationship with behaviors and preferences beyond the relationship with binary sex, particularly for men, and suggests that incorporating self-reported measures of gender identity may have value for understanding gender gaps and for targeting policy. However, when considering specific domains, the relationships vary in statistical significance and are often small.

Keywords: Gender identity; non-binary gender; economic preferences; economic outcomes

JEL-codes: C91; J16; J20

Language: English

207 pages, September 4, 2024

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