We report the results of laboratory experiments on rent-seeking contests with endogenous participation. Theory predicts that (a) contest entry and rent-seeking expenditures increase with the size of the prize; and (b) earnings are equalized between the contest and the outside option. While the...

Single-sex classes within coeducational environments are likely to modify students' risk-taking attitudes in economically important ways. To test this, we designed a controlled experiment using first year college students who made choices over real-stakes lotteries at two distinct dates....

Women and men may differ in their propensity to choose a risky outcome because of innate preferences or because their innate preferences are modified by pressure to conform to gender-stereotypes. Single-sex environments are likely to modify students' risk-taking preferences in economically...

Written self-promotion is crucial in numerous decision-making scenarios, including job applications, securing funds for start-ups, or academic grant proposals. In two experiments, we study the effects of written self-promotion on decision quality and gender bias. We show that, if anything,...

The beauty premium in the labor market has been presented in many previous studies. Some researchers have used standardized ratings of attractiveness to avoid peer effects. In this study, we examine if there are indeed peer effects on the influence of external appearance on employability, and...

Camerer and Lovallo (1999; henceforth CL) present thought-provoking experimental evidence that overconfidence might lead to excess entry into markets. As their findings are based on the majority of sessions exclusively consisting of male participants, we conduct two experiments in an attempt to...

Individuals often need to self-promote for professional recognition and career success. In this paper, we investigate the existence of a gender gap in self-promotion and its causal link with modesty norms. Using a novel experiment, we show that women are significantly less likely to self-promote...

Gender inequality in access to resources remains persistent in rural areas in developing countries. To better understand the mechanisms responsible for gender inequality, we start from the observation that access to resources in rural villages is largely determined by within-village resource...

We conduct a laboratory experiment to study the impact of affirmative action on the choice to compete in a multistage elimination contest. In particular, we assess whether gender quotas imposed in the final stage increase the share of female entrants and winners already in the first round of the...

Individuals often make decisions based on perceived social norms and widely-held stereotypes. It is often difficult to elicit such beliefs, since subjects commonly give inaccurate or “politically correct” responses to subjective, sensitive topics. This paper compares two methodological...