PILAR GOMEZ

Gender and Performance in Collaborative Research: Evidence From Student Teams

Zoom link:  https://unibocconi-it.zoom.us/j/97894178705

Abstract

Research is increasingly a collaborative team exercise involving multiple researchers, yet little is known about how the composition of such teams affects their research output. This paper examines how the gender composition of research teams influences their performance. We take advantage of a field experiment in which first-year economics students are randomly paired together and perform research-like tasks. We find large differences in research performance, as measured by the grades they receive, by gender composition. All-male teams are significantly outperformed by both mixed and all-female research teams. These differences remain even when comprehensively controlling for the individual research aptitude of the group members. No comparable compositional effect is found for other characteristics, such as ethnicity and socio-economic status.

Bio

I am an Associate Professor at the Erasmus School of Economics in the Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands). I am a Research Fellow of the Tinbergen Institute and also affiliated to Netspar (Network on Aging, Retirement and Savings).  My main research interests are in the area of Health and Labour Economics. The research questions I am currently interested in are related to i) the impact of disability insurance policies on labour and health of the disabled and their families; ii) the impact of other labour market policies on health; iii) how care is provided to elderly dependent individuals and the effects that providing informal care has on female labour participation; iv) the measurement of inequality and inequity in health, health care and long-term care; v) the impact of policies and behaviours early in life on maternal outcomes, children health and other outcomes later in life; vi) the effects of cost sharing on health care use and health.