• AEA in the news
  • January 14, 2016

The True Story of the Gender Pay Gap

lightpoet/Bigstock

A recent episode of the Freakonomics podast about the gender pay gap cited past AEA president Claudia Goldin's 2014 presidential address. In A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter, Goldin blames the bulk of the gender pay gap on firms' tendency to disproportionately reward employees who work very long hours, and who work particular hours. Certain sectors, like technology, science, and health, have been quicker to adopt new compensation schemes that are more flexible and less disadvantageous for part-time workers.