When Harry Fired Sally: The Double Standard in Punishing Misconduct

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2022
Volume: 130
Issue: 5
Pages: 1184 - 1248

Authors (3)

Mark Egan (not in RePEc) Gregor Matvos (not in RePEc) Amit Seru (Stanford University)

Score contribution per author:

2.681 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We examine gender differences in misconduct punishment in the financial advisory industry. There is a “gender punishment gap”: following an incident of misconduct, female advisers are 20% more likely to lose their jobs and 30% less likely to find new jobs, relative to male advisers. The gender punishment gap is not driven by gender differences in occupation, productivity, nature of misconduct, or recidivism. The gap in hiring and firing dissipates at firms with a greater percentage of female managers and executives. We also explore the differential treatment of ethnic minority men and find similar patterns of “in-group” tolerance.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/718964
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-29