We study how foreign firms strategically adapt to their local environment and make hiring decisions in a host country with differing deep-seated cultural norms. Using unique employer-employee matched data of the private sector in Saudi Arabia, we find that foreign firms hire a larger share of...

Through the custom of guardianship, husbands typically have the final word on their wives' labor supply decisions in Saudi Arabia, a country with very low female labor force participation (FLFP). We provide incentivized evidence (both from an experimental sample in Riyadh and from a national...

Through the custom of guardianship, husbands typically have the final word on their wives' labor supply decisions in Saudi Arabia, a country with very low female labor force participation (FLFP). We provide incentivized evidence (both from an experimental sample in Riyadh and from a national...

Through the custom of guardianship, husbands typically have the nal word on their wives' labor supply decisions in Saudi Arabia, a country with very low female labor force participation (FLFP). We provide incentivized evidence (both from an experimental sample in Riyadh and from a national...

Previous studies have argued that, relative to local firms, multinational firms may have an “outsider’s advantage” in hiring women. Using a large data set of executives in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in a region with some of the lowest rates of female labour force...

The labor market in Saudi Arabia has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, with rapid increases in women's employment in the private sector. We investigate the role of mentoring in helping female high school students navigate this new economic reality. We use a random-priority invitation...

We study the labor market outcomes at foreign firms in a host country with differing deep-seated cultural norms. We analyze employer-employee-matched-data of the private sector in Saudi Arabia and find that, relative to domestic firms, foreign firms pay higher wages but hire a smaller share of...