Research

Working Papers

“Dynamics of the Gender Gap in Wage Growth” (Job Market Paper) slides  draft

Abstract: This paper investigates the extent to which wage gains from experience and different types of job mobility during the early careers of millennial parents in the United States explain the gender gap in wage growth. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I estimate a first difference regression model to account for individual heterogeneity and assess the contribution of different types of job transitions across parenthood to the gender gap. The results show that wage gains from voluntary job-to-job transitions widen after parenthood. Men experience significant wage increases through voluntary transitions, by 8 log points before parenthood and 12 log points afterward. In contrast, women experience wage increases of 5 log points from voluntary job-to-job transitions before parenthood but no significant gains after becoming parents. Using an application of Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition, I find that differences in wage gains from voluntary job-to-job transitions during parenthood account for approximately 30% of the gender gap in wage growth at ten years of potential experience among individuals who are employed. While differences in cumulative experience account for an additional 29% of the gender wage gap, the higher marginal returns to hours worked for women, resulting from their lower levels of cumulative experience and the concave nature of returns to human capital accumulation, partially offset the gender gap in returns to experience. Changes in women’s occupations and part-time status during parenthood suggest that mothers have a higher willingness to forgo wages for non-wage amenities. 

“Gender Balance and Risk Taking: Evidence from the US Banks” with Naomi N. Griffin and Bihong Huang 

“Work Hour Regulations and Spousal Hours of Work” (available upon request)

Work in Progress

“Closing the Gender Gap in Financial Sector Leadership” with Naomi N. Griffin and Bihong Huang

“What do Workers Learn: Evidence from Rehired Workers" with Xinyi Peng and Soojeong Jung