Gender Differences in Negotiation: Evidence from Real Estate Transactions

35 Pages Posted: 9 Jun 2020 Last revised: 22 Feb 2023

See all articles by Steffen Andersen

Steffen Andersen

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Finance; CEPR

Julie Marx

Copenhagen Business School

Kasper Nielsen

Copenhagen Business School

Lise Vesterlund

University of Pittsburgh - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: June 2020

Abstract

We investigate negotiations over real estate and find that men secure better prices than women when negotiating to buy and sell property. However, the gender difference declines substantially when improving controls for the property’s value; and is eliminated when controlling for unobserved heterogeneity in a sample of repeated sales. Rather than evidence of gender differences in negotiation, the initial difference in prices is evidence that men and women demand different properties. Consistently we find no gender difference in the sales price secured for property inherited from a deceased parent. Provided appropriate controls men and women fare equally well when negotiating over real estate. Our study demonstrates that inference on gender differences in negotiation relies critically on controlling for the value of the negotiated item.

Suggested Citation

Andersen, Steffen and Marx, Julie and Nielsen, Kasper and Vesterlund, Lise, Gender Differences in Negotiation: Evidence from Real Estate Transactions (June 2020). NBER Working Paper No. w27318, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3621823

Steffen Andersen (Contact Author)

Copenhagen Business School - Department of Finance ( email )

Solbjerg Plads 3
Frederiksberg C, DK - 2000
Denmark

CEPR ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Julie Marx

Copenhagen Business School ( email )

Solbjerg Plads 3
Frederiksberg C, DK - 2000
Denmark

Kasper Nielsen

Copenhagen Business School

Lise Vesterlund

University of Pittsburgh - Department of Economics ( email )

4T18 WW Posvar. Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/faculty/vesterlund/

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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