Do women react differently to incentives? Evidence from experimental data and payroll records

We consider the response to incentives as an explanation for observed productivity differences within a firm that paid its workers piece rates. We provide a framework within which the observed productivity differences can be decomposed into two parts: One due to differences in ability and the other due to differences in the response to incentives. We apply this decomposition to male and female workers from a tree-planting firm in British Columbia, Canada. Our evidence (both experimental and nonexperimental) suggests that there was no difference in the reaction to incentives between male and female planters. The productivity differential male planters enjoyed arose because of differences in ability, interpreted as strength in our application. r 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. JEL classification: D2; J16; J3; L2