Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/336503 
Year of Publication: 
2026
Series/Report no.: 
Discussion Papers No. 1033
Publisher: 
Statistics Norway, Research Department, Oslo
Abstract: 
This paper examines how an often-overlooked source of pay transparency-the public disclosure of tax information-affects gender wage gaps. We exploit a 2001 change in Norway that made individual tax returns searchable online. Using matched employer-employee data and a differencein-differences design, we find that within-firm gender wage gaps fell by 2.2 percentage points (8.7 percent), driven by rising female wages. Effects are strongest in private-sector firms, industries with initially larger gaps, and municipalities that previously lacked easy access to printed tax lists. Wage gains are concentrated among job-changing women, suggesting that broad-based transparency mainly operates through improved information for job search.
Subjects: 
Gender Wage Gap
Income Transparency
Public Disclosure of Tax Information
JEL: 
J16
J31
J38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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