Job Market Paper

We Don't Talk About Boys: Masculinity Norms Among Adolescents in Brazil [pdf]

Project summary, AEA RCT Registration

Masculinity norms are cultural expectations around men's behaviors, such as the expectations that men should suppress their emotions or use violence. I measure masculinity norms among 2,608 adolescents in Rio de Janeiro and document large misperceptions about these norms: most boys and girls overestimate the share of peers that hold traditional views of masculinity. I examine whether a lack of horizontal communication or biased communication perpetuates misperceived norms through two field experiments in 25 schools. In the main experiment, I randomly assigned adolescents to a mediated discussion to learn peers’ opinions about masculinity or a placebo discussion about recycling. Masculinity discussions reduce misperceptions about classmates’ beliefs by at least 50% immediately, with effects persisting three weeks later. Discussions in which people self-select into speaking or are randomly asked to speak equally reduce misperceptions. This suggests that misperceptions were due to a lack of communication per se, as opposed to communication with only vocal types talking. In a second experiment, I find that adolescents do not talk about masculinity even with close peers as encouraging communication with chosen peers reduces misperceptions. Finally, I provide suggestive evidence that underestimating interest and comfort in these discussions might drive the lack of communication.

Working Papers

Masculinity Around the World, with Victoria Baranov, Ralph de Haas, and Pauline Grosjean 

This paper explores the socioeconomic roles of masculinity norms. We collect the first cross-cultural evidence on men's adherence to dominance masculinity norms from nationally representative, face-to-face surveys across 43 countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Our analysis unveils substantial variation in adherence to these norms, both across and within countries, and identifies three domains where they exert significant influence. In the economic domain, adherence to dominance masculinity correlates positively with behaviors supporting economic growth, such as labor supply at the intensive margin, but also generates frictions by constraining occupational choice to traditionally masculine sectors. In the health domain, adherence to dominance masculinity is linked to more risk-taking, higher rates of depression, and shorter lifespans among men. In politics, it predicts both individual demand for strongman populism and its political supply at the country level. Across all domains, dominance masculinity norms play a role distinct from, and sometimes opposite to, social norms about women and gender roles.

Expected Discrimination and Job Search, [pdf] with Deivis Angeli and Fernando Secco

The impacts of labor market discrimination depend not only on whether employers discriminate, but also on jobseekers’ responses to expected discrimination. To study these responses, we ran a set of field experiments in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (urban slums). In an audit study, we find little difference between callback rates for favela and non-favela resumes. Yet, over 87% of favela jobseekers in our study (N=2,167) expect discrimination in callbacks. Our main strategy to randomize expected discrimination is to vary whether favela jobseekers may expect an employer to know their address. We find that (i) removing the need to declare address encourages applications only among white jobseekers, and (ii) jobseekers perform on average worse in real job interviews when expecting interviewers to know their name and address, as opposed to only their name, the only information actually known by the interviewer. The effects on interview performance also concentrate on white jobseekers, likely because they can more easily pass as non-favela residents and ignore racial discrimination. Hence, expected discrimination can shape job market outcomes through interview performance and applicant pool composition.

Work in Progress

Ayahuasca Durably Improves Wellbeing, with Patrick Francois and Matt Lowe (draft coming soon!)

Masculinity Norms and Their Economic Consequences, with Victoria Baranov, Ralph de Haas, and Pauline Grosjean -- in preparation for the Annual Review of Economics

Women's Cognitive Load and Labor Market Outcomes in Brazil, with Jamie McCasland (Design stage -- in partnership with the Secretariat of Planning of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro) [Project Summary]

Wage Transparency Within and Across Firms: Experimental Evidence From Brazil, with Mayara Felix and Bobby Pakzad-Hurson (Design stage -- in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Planning) [Project Summary]

What do people value at work? with Mayara Felix (Design stage) [Project Summary]

Masculinity Norms and Social Learning: Theory and Evidence, with Marcos Ross

Pre-PhD Publications (in Portuguese)

Efeitos de Tamanho da Sala no Desempenho dos Alunos: Evidências Usando Regressões Descontínuas no Brasil (with Naercio Menezes Filho). Revista Brasileira de Economia 74 (2020): 352-401.

Determinantes da Distribuição da (Des) igualdade de Gênero entre os Estados Brasileiros (with Regina Madalozzo and Adriana Bruscato). Estudos Econômicos (São Paulo) 46 (2016): 161-188.

Reports

It's Not Gender as Usual: Guiding Questions for Transformative Intersectional Gender+ Research (with Hannah Sullivan Facknitz, Isha Mathur, Elaina Nguyen, and Claire Okatch)