We were fortunate to present our research on gender discrimination and fertility at the Workshop in Labor Economics at Trier. The event gathers top researchers from Europe and provides lively discussions, even in the online format.

In thi research we try to find evidence on the presence of statistical discrimination. This form of discrimination is regarded as rational, as employers use the information that is available to them when negotiating wages with prospective employees. If employers perceive that potential employers might become parents during the tenure, they can discount potential costs on wages. If this potential costs differ by genders, then this could give rise to a gender wage gap.

Using an instrumental variable approach, we find that an postponing birth by one year leads to a fall in the gender wage gaps of around 3 pp, or around one fourth of the overall wage gap. This finding is consistent with presence of statistical discrimination.

We are grateful to organizers for accepting our paper, and for putting together an awesome session.