Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/234589 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper Series in Economics No. 400
Publisher: 
Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Institut für Volkswirtschaftslehre, Lüneburg
Abstract: 
To investigate the role of gender norms in household specialisation choices, I conduct a lab experiment with real hetero-sexual couples playing a battle of the sexes game. The salience of gender norms varies across treatments: the Norm group chooses between strategies labelled as a family specialisation game (Career vs. Family), the Neutral group chooses A vs. B. Women respond strongly to the salience of Norms; they opt for Career at a significantly lower rate compared to Neutral, regardless of familiarity with their partner. By contrast, men's response is weak and heterogeneous across partner and stranger pairings. Additional analyses suggest that the pattern is not explained by differential beliefs, but is consistent with marriage market motives, i.e. some men may want to signal progressive gender attitudes to their partner.
Subjects: 
experiment
labour division
battle of the sexes
norms
gender
JEL: 
D13
J16
J22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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