Pink Papers: Economics Research on LGBTQ+ Communities
Paper Session
Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 3:45 PM - 5:45 PM (EST)
- Chair: Lee Badgett, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
'What's the tea' with gender nonconformity?
Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between gender nonconformity and long-term life outcomes. To do so, we take advantage of a unique longitudinal dataset comprising administrative records and surveys that follows the entire cohort born in 1953 in Stockholm, Sweden. We use a rich barrage of survey questions on behaviors and preferences collected in primary school to construct an index of early gender conformity. We find evidence indicating a strong link between gender nonconformity during early adolescence and life outcomes. Female nonconformers have substantially better school careers, labor market outcomes and are more likely to end up in male dominated occupations as compared to their gender conforming counterparts. The opposite pattern is found for male gender nonconformers; they perform substantially worse at school, earn less as adults and are more likely to be unemployed relative to their gender conforming male peers. We also see a positive correlation between gender nonconforming boys and mental health and addiction issues later in life. Furthermore, we find that gender nonconforming girls tend to delay childbearing in adulthood. Furthermore, we find evidence that gender nonconforming students make classroom social networks more cohesive and less fractured.Same-Sex Couples and Parental Earnings Dynamics
Abstract
Existing work has shown that the birth of children results in a large and sustained increase in the earnings gap between male and female spouses in different-sex couples. We examine the earnings of same-sex couples in the U.S. around the time of birth of their first children in order to contribute to our understanding of the labor market and earnings dynamics of all parents – same-sex, different-sex, and uncoupled. This paper uses linked survey and administrative data to identify same-sex and different-sex couples, their fertility timing, and their earnings dynamics around the date of birth of their first child. Using event-study methodology, we find divergent and informative patterns of within-couple earnings dynamics around their first child's birth date for same-sex versus different-sex couples that are not explained by differences in pre-child characteristics of the couples.#IamLGBT: Social Networks and Coming Out in a Hostile Environment
Abstract
Recent decades have witnessed a remarkable increase in the number of people disclosing their LGBTQ identity. We propose a model of a binary-action supermodular game on a network with social learning to investigate the role of peer effects in coming out decisions. We collected unique data on over 1,700 coming outs which occurred during two spontaneous Twitter actionsin Poland. We use these data to empirically test the hypothesis that observing peers coming out increases the probability that an individual will make a decision to disclose their LGBTQ identity. We find significant peer effects regardless of gender or level of user activity on Twitter. The spread of information about the existence of the action through networks does not explain
the results. Instead, we argue that these effects are due to changing beliefs about the costs of disclosure and peer pressure.
Discussant(s)
Christopher Carpenter
,
Vanderbilt University
Mike Martell
,
Bard College
JEL Classifications
- J1 - Demographic Economics