Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Women report setting lower reservation wages than men in survey data. We show that women set reservation wages that are 14 to 18 percent lower than men's in laboratory search experiments that control for factors not fully observed in surveys such as offer distributions and outside options. This gender gap—which exists even controlling for overconfidence, preferences, personality, and intelligence—leads women to spend less time searching than men while accepting lower wages. More risk tolerant women set reservation wages that are too low early in search relative to theoretically optimal reservation wages given their risk preferences, reducing their earnings.