Do gender differences in risk preferences explain gender differences in labor supply, earnings or occupational choice?
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The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 to teach economic theory as a truth of industrial life, and was very much concerned with applying economics to business and industry, particularly agriculture. Between 1910 and 1967 it showed the growing influence of other social studies, such as sociology, history, and political science. Today it encompasses the majors of Agricultural Business (preparing for agricultural finance and management), Business Economics, and Economics (for advanced studies in business or economics or for careers in financing, management, insurance, etc).
History
The Department of Economic Science was founded in 1898 under the Division of Industrial Science (later College of Liberal Arts and Sciences); it became co-directed by the Division of Agriculture in 1919. In 1910 it became the Department of Economics and Political Science. In 1913 it became the Department of Applied Economics and Social Science; in 1924 it became the Department of Economics, History, and Sociology; in 1931 it became the Department of Economics and Sociology. In 1967 it became the Department of Economics, and in 2007 it became co-directed by the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Business.
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1898–present
Historical Names
- Department of Economic Science (1898–1910)
- Department of Economics and Political Science (1910-1913)
- Department of Applied Economics and Social Science (1913–1924)
- Department of Economics, History and Sociology (1924–1931)
- Department of Economics and Sociology (1931–1967)
Related Units
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (parent college)
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
- College of Business (parent college)
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Abstract
This paper examines the extent to which differences in risk preferences between men and women explain why women have a lower entrepreneurship rate, earn less, and work fewer hours than men. Data from the NLSY79 confirms previous findings that women are more risk averse than men. However, while less risk averse men tend to become self-employed and more risk averse men are likely to choose paid-employment, there is no significant effect of risk preferences on women's entrepreneurship decisions. Similarly, more risk aversion is associated with higher earnings for male entrepreneurs, but it has no effect on female entrepreneurial earnings. Rising rates of risk aversion lower earnings for women, consistent with theoretical effects of risk preferences on labor earnings, but the effects are of modest magnitude. Risk preferences do not explain variation in hours of work for either men or women. These findings suggest that widely reported differences in risk preferences across genders play only a trivial role in explaining differences in labor market outcomes between men and women.