Does the level of testosterone, which is associated with more aggressive and competitive behavior, explain why men earn more than women? In anew IZA Discussion Paper,Anne C. Gielen, Jessica Holmes andCaitlin Knowles Myersstudy this question by looking at the labor market careers of twins. Biologists suggest that embryos with a male twin are exposed to higher levels of testosterone in utero than embryos with a female twin. As a consequence, individuals with a twin brother have been found to exhibit more masculine characteristics than those with a twin sister. Hence, the authors analyze the wages of more than 80,000 twins born in the Netherlands between 1959 and 1979 and compare the earnings of individuals with a male twin to the earnings of individuals with a female twin. The results suggest that the effect of testosterone differs by gender: While men with a male twin earn higher wages than men with a female twin, there is no such effect for women. In fact, the findings indicate that women with a male twin, and thus a higher exposure to testosterone, may even earn a little less than women with a twin sister.
高睾酮、高工资?
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