The paper below made me think about the wage gap between males & females (sorry I hate the use of the word "gender" there) & to wonder does behavioural/neuro econ' have anything to say about it.In the asymmetric version of Nash co-operative bargaining, power can be thought of as coming from discount rates: higher discount rates means lower bargaining power.I wonder is this a plausible explanation of sex based differences in bargaining? I'm also curious to know what parts of the brain show activation during the bargaining process for example reward circuits.Maybe some people like the process and hence "hang tough".
Are Women Asking for Low Wages? Gender Differences in Wage Bargaining Strategies and Ensuing Bargaining Success.Säve-Söderbergh, Jenny (Swedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University). http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sofiwp:2007_007&r=cbe
Men and women’s labor market outcomes differ along pay, promotion and competitiveness. This paper contributes by uncovering results in a related unexplored field using unique data on individual wage bargaining. We find striking gender differences. Women, like men, also bargain, but they submit lower wage bids and are offered lower wages than men. The adjusted gender wage gap is lower with posted-wage jobs than with individual bargaining, although less is ascribable to the term associated with discrimination. Both women and men use self-promoting, or competitive bargaining strategies, but women self-promote at lower levels. Employers reward self-promotion but the larger the self-promotion, the larger is the gender gap in bargaining success. Women therefore lack the incentives to self-promote, which helps to explain the gender disparities.
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That's an interesting proposition. But I'd suspect that any full explanation for more assertive and successful self-promoting goes well beyond 'gender' and womens's lack of incentive to play the game. Seizure of the strategic direction of new economy initiatives must surely be a major factor here. And the subsequent management of opportunity that this allows.
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