Are men less generous to a smarter woman? Evidence from a dictator game experiment
Takahashi,Yuki
Takahashi,Yuki
Abstract
Although evidence suggests men are more generous to women than to men, it may stem from paternalism and could reverse when women excel in important skills for one’s career success, such as cognitive skills. Using a dictator game, this paper studies whether male dictators allocate less to female receivers than to male receivers when these receivers have higher intelligence quotients (IQs) than dictators. By exogenously varying the receivers’ IQ relative to the dictators’, I do not find evidence consistent with this hypothesis; if anything, male dictators allocate slightly more to female receivers with higher IQs than to male receivers with equivalent IQs. The results hold both in mean and distribution and are robust to the so-called “beauty premium.” Also, female dictators’ allocations are qualitatively similar to male dictators. These findings suggest that women who excel in cognitive skills may not receive less favorable treatment than equally intelligent men in the labor market.
Description
Date
2025-07
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Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
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Keywords
dictator game, gender, IQ, laboratory experiment, D91 - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making, C91 - Laboratory, Individual Behavior, J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination, SDG 5 - Gender Equality
Citation
Takahashi, Y 2025, 'Are men less generous to a smarter woman? Evidence from a dictator game experiment', Journal of the Economic Science Association. https://doi.org/10.1017/esa.2025.9