Cluster-Seminar Öffentliche Finanzen und Lebenslagen

Newspaper coverage of firms’ CEOs is highly gendered. This presents a bias in itself but it might also have consequences for investments into the firm. In a survey experiment (N=tbd), we identify the causal impact of differential newspaper coverage for female and male CEOs on four outcomes: expected firm performance, investment into the firm, expected CEO ‘survival’, and expected performance in CEO rankings. More specifically, we experimentally vary whether the family of a male or female CEO is ever mentioned or not based on real newspaper coverage of the CEO, and whether this mention relates to a trade-off between career and family for women.