Working Papers
Personal Characteristics, Sexual Behaviors, and Male Sex Work: A Quantitative Approach
Abstract: To date, the vast majority of scholarship on male sex workers is qualitative. We therefore know little about the population size, commercial value of characteristics, and geography of male sex work, and how these may interact with one another. Since male sex workers serve multiple social groups (gay-identified men, heterosexually-identified men, as well as their own private sexual partners) they are a unique source to test theories of gender and sexuality. We assemble a rich dataset from the largest online male sex worker website to produce the first quantitative analysis of male escorts in the United States. We find that the distribution of male sex workers is more strongly correlated with the general population distribution than the gay population distribution. Further, we estimate the value of sexual behaviors and personal characteristics in this market. We find male escorts who advertise traditionally masculine behavior charge higher prices for services, while those who advertise less traditionally masculine behavior charge significantly less, a differential on the order of 17%. We also find that race and sexual behavior interactions have a strong influence on the prices charged by male sex workers. Overall, the results confirm aspects of hegemonic masculinity and intersectionality theory.
Face Value: Information and Signaling in an Illegal Market
(with Manisha Shah)
NBER Working Paper No. 14841
Abstract: Economists argue that rich information environments and formal enforcement of contracts are necessary to prevent market failures when information asymmetries exist. We test for the necessity of formal enforcement to overcome the problems of asymmetric information by estimating the value of information in an illegal market with a particularly rich information structure: the online market for male sex work. We assemble a rich dataset from the largest and most comprehensive online male sex worker website to estimate the effect of information on pricing. We show how clients of male sex workers informally police the market in a way that makes signaling credible. Using our institutional knowledge, we also identify the specific signal male sex workers use to communicate quality to clients: face pictures. We find that the premium to information is large and that it is due entirely to face pictures. More importantly, the premium is in the range of premiums to information estimated for legal markets. We also show that the evidence is inconsistent with alternative explanations such as beauty premiums. The findings provide novel evidence on the ability of rich information environments to overcome the problems of asymmetric information without formal enforcement, and show that the value of information in illegal markets is similar to its value in legal markets.
On the Heterogeneity of Dowry Motives
(with Raj Arunachalam)
Revised Version of NBER Working Paper No. 12630
Abstract: Dowries have been modeled as pre-mortem bequests to daughters or as groom-prices paid to inlaws. These two classes of models yield mutually exclusive predictions, but empirical tests of these predictions have been mixed. We argue that the heterogeneity of findings can be explained by a heterogeneous world—some households use dowries as a bequest and others use dowries as a price. We estimate a model with heterogeneous dowry motives and use the predictions from the competing theories in an exogenous switching regression to place households in the price or bequest regime. Our empirical strategy generates multiple, independent checks on the validity of regime assignment. Using retrospective marriage data from rural Bangladesh, we find robust evidence of heterogeneity in dowry motives in the population; that bequest dowries have declined in prevalence and amount over time; and that bequest households are better off compared to price households on a variety of welfare measures.
Is there Dowry Inflation in South Asia?
(with Raj Arunachalam)
NBER Working Paper No. 13905
Abstract: This paper is the first systematic attempt to measure the existence and degree of dowry inflation in South Asia. The popular press and scholarly literature have assumed dowry inflation in South Asia for some time, and there are now a number of theoretical papers that have attempted to explain the rise of dowries in South Asia. Despite these advances, there has been no systematic study of dowry inflation. Using large-sample retrospective survey data from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal, we assess the empirical evidence for dowry infllation. We find no evidence that real dowry amounts have systematically increased over time in South Asia.
Factor Endowments and the Returns to Skill: New Evidence from the American Past
(with Joseph Kaboski)
NBER Working Paper No. 13589
Abstract: The existing literature on skill-biased technical change has not considered how the technological endowment itself plays a role in the returns to skill. This paper constructs a simple model of skill biased technical change which highlights the role that resource endowments play in the returns to education. The model predicts variation in returns to education with skill biased technological change if there is significant heterogeneity in resource endowments before the technological change. Using a variety of historical sources, we document the heterogeneous technology levels by region in the American past. We then estimate the returns to education of high school teachers in the early twentieth century using a new data source. a report from the U.S. Commissioner of Education in 1909. Overall, we find significant regional variation in the returns to education that match differences in resource endowments, with large (within-occupation) returns for the Midwest and Southwest (7%), but much lower returns in the South (3%) and West (0.5%). We also show that our results are generalizable to returns to education in the United States and that returns to education for teachers tracked quite closely with the overall returns to education from 1940 onward.
On Family Allocation Strategy in the Late Nineteenth Century
Abstract: I analyze the intrahousehold allocation of resources among nineteenth century industrial families. The narrative record and economic theory suggest that we should find allocation differences by gender. Using a large survey of industrial households in the late nineteenth century, I find no evidence of gender bias in household allocations to children, nor can I reject the hypothesis that allocations were efficient. These findings cannot be explained by parental egalitarianism. I find that parents were strategic out of necessity—the future cooperation of children was unknown and highly uncertain, tempering any desire for gender bias in household allocations. Narrative and quantitative evidence supports this conclusion.