Research

Perceptions of what potential partners value may shape major life choices, from career investments to the division of household labor. Yet little is known about whether these perceptions are accurate. We study this question using a lab-in-the-field experiment on a Swiss online dating platform, combining incentive-compatible elicitation of individuals’ preferences over partner characteristics with beliefs about what potential partners desire. We uncover large and systematic misperceptions. While revealed preferences are relatively progressive, beliefs remain strongly anchored in traditional gender norms. Most strikingly, women overestimate men’s preference for traditional domestic roles by roughly 500%. Men, in turn, substantially underestimate women’s valuation of egalitarian partners and incorrectly believe that high income can compensate for traditional gender attitudes. These misperceptions imply that both women and men may make suboptimal career and domestic investment decisions, potentially perpetuating gender inequality. In a follow-up field experiment, we test whether correcting these beliefs causally affects signaling behavior, match formation, and skill investment choices.

This paper explores the long-run relationship between average adult height and several socio-economic development indicators using time series techniques. We use information from national identification cards for nearly 13 million individuals born between 1910 and 1989 in Colombia. The results indicate that improvements in the availability of better-quality food, and the reduction in food prices, as well as better economic conditions lead to increases in average height throughout the century. Regarding gender inequality, we find that height dimorphism in absolute terms decreased during the time period. However, the downward trend observed until the end of 1950s reversed at the beginning of the 1960s, despite the advances in the living conditions of women during this period. This result suggests that earlier improvements in the economic conditions benefited women more, given the considerable gender gap in education, health, and income at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the rise in GDP during the second half of the century benefited average male height more than women's.

This paper explores the relationship between the physical stature of Colombians born during the 20th century and several socio-economic and demographic variables at the individual level. Using a dataset of more than 225,000 individuals built with information from judicial background certificates, we found a sustained growth of the average height of women and men during the 20th century. The results show significant differences in stature according to gender, level of education, occupation, and place and date of birth. Similarly, health conditions and access to aqueducts significantly affect height. We found that departmental average height disparities decreased and the gap across regions closed throughout the century.

The female workforce was an important part of Colombian industrialization. In 1945, Colombian female factory workers earned 60% of their male colleague’s wages on average. I use data from the 1945 Colombian Industrial Census to analyze the gender wage gap distribution across sectors of Colombian industry. I evaluate three possible causes for the wage gap: differences in literacy rates, career interruption after marriage, and differences in productivity. I develop a model that measures the share of the gender wage gap that is not due to differences in productivity between female and male workers for each industrial sector. The results indicate that neither differences in level of education or marital status, nor differences in productivity account for the large wage gap.