Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Information Asymmetry in Job Search

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。在受过同等教育的人中，不同种族和性别之间的工资差距依然存在，这在很大程度上被归因于求职过程中行为的差异。经济学理论表明，获得有关劳动力市场的信息会影响行为。如果不同群体的信息在数量或质量上不同，这可能会导致工作选择的不同。在种族和性别方面，不平等地获得网络和指导已被证明是造成这些信息差距的原因。为了测试获取信息是否有助于不同的求职结果，该项目将进行一项信息干预实验，首先评估不同种族和性别的学生是否对劳动力市场有不同的信息。该项目将进一步探索信息干预是否可以改变他们的求职行为，并帮助弥合工资差距。该项目将在将信息干预视为缩小性别和种族工资差距的低成本过程中产生潜在的政策影响。该项目将以即将进入求职过程的大四学生为中心进行和试验。治疗组将被提供关于前几年学生按专业分配起薪的信息，以及关于找工作截止日期的提醒。控制组将只收到截止日期提醒。然后，该项目将检查待遇信息是否会改变求职行为：特别是被接受的工作的工资、被拒绝的工作的数量和工资、谈判行为以及非工资便利设施的估值。为了考虑人口统计学的异质性，将使用跨种族、性别和专业的分层随机分配来将参与者分为治疗组和对照组。这项研究的结果将有助于理解信息对劳动力寻找行为的影响，以及信息在不同人口群体中的不同影响。研究结果还将有助于将信息不对称的劳动力搜索模型参数化，其中系统性的信息差异会导致保留工资的差异。该模型将允许估计反事实情景，重点关注在不同劳动力市场条件下缩小群体之间的信息差距的影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Wage gaps across race and gender persist among equally educated individuals, and have been attributed in significant part to differences in behavior during job search. Economic theory suggests that access to information about the labor market influences behavior. If information differs across groups, either in quantity or quality, this can lead to differences in job choice. Across race and gender, unequal access to networks and mentoring has been shown to give rise to these information gaps. To test whether access to information contributes to different job search outcomes, the project will conduct an information intervention experiment to assess first whether students of different races and genders have differential information about the labor market. The project will further explore whether an information intervention could change their job search behavior and help bridge the gap in wages. The project will have potential policy implications in considering information intervention as a low-cost process for decreasing gender and racial wage gaps.The project will conduct and experiment that will center on college students in their senior year, who are about to enter the job search process. The treatment group will be provided with information about the starting salary distributions of students from prior years by major, along with reminders about deadlines for employment searches. The control group will only receive the deadline reminders. The project will then examine whether the treatment information changes job search behavior: in particular, the salary of the accepted job, the number and salary of jobs rejected, negotiation behavior, and valuation of non-wage amenities. To account for heterogeneity across demographic groups, stratified random assignment across race, gender, and major will be used to split participants into treatment and control. The results of the study will inform the understanding of both the effect of information on labor search behavior, as well as of the differential impact of information across demographic groups. The results will also help parameterize a labor search model with information asymmetry, where systematic informational differences lead to differences in the reservation wage. The model will allow for estimation of counterfactual scenarios focusing on the impact of narrowing information gaps across groups under heterogeneous labor market conditions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.