In this paper, we use twin birth as an instrument to estimate the effects of fertility on female labor force participation using 70 censuses from 36 countries in 1990–2010. We document a strong relationship between the gender wage gap and the size of the motherhood penalty. The penalty is...

Does personality affect earnings? If so, are there gender differences in personality that explain part of the gender wage gap? We use survey data collected from over 2,600 Russian employees between 2000 and 2003 to evaluate the impact on earnings of two personality traits: locus of control...

We use data from an employee survey conducted in Russia, Armenia and Kazakhstan to investigate how much of the gender difference in pay in former socialist economies can be explained by personality. We consider a commonly used personality measure, locus of control (LOC), and find that among the...