John McClung

ECON 496
Reaction Paper
November 5, 2014
Gender and Generosity
The topic of gender differences pertaining to altruism is covered by Andreoni and
Vesterlund in Which is the Fair Sex? Gender Differences in Altruism, as well as by Aguiar et al
in Are Women Expected to Be More Generous? These papers look at both actual and expected
generosity between genders.
Andreoni and Vesterlund observed whether there are systematic differences in altruism
by sex. They made predictions from models based on charitable giving, bargaining, and
household decision making (Andreoni 293). Their research found that Men are more likely to
be either perfectly selfish or perfectly selfless, whereas women tend to be equalitarians who
prefer to share evenly- a result that echoes psychological findings (Andreoni 293).
Aguiar et al covered expectations of gender differences in altruism. This is not
evaluating whether or not there are gender differences in altruism but if there is a perceived
behavioral difference between men and women (Anguir 94). The result of this study was that
women consider that they are more generous but males do not reveal any gender bias
(Anguiar 96).

Anguiar posits that if there are different expectations about the actions of men and
women [This] could influence labor market behavior in at least two different ways. First, if
women are expected to be less competitive, this may result in less job opportunities for women
in highly competitive environments (usually the most well-paid). Second, if women are
perceived to be more generous, this may lead to labor segregation (with women predominantly
being offered caretaker jobs) and a higher number of parental leaves taken by women
(Anguiar 97). Overall, these effects would lead to women making less, accounting for a portion
of the gender wage gap.