ICES Experimental Economics Brown Bag Lecture
Gender as a Strategy
Friday, October 24, 2025 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM EDT
Vernon Smith Hall (formerly Metropolitan Building), Room 5075
The Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science (ICES) presents an ICES Brown Bag Lecture featuring:
George Mason University
Gender as a Strategy
Abstract
We propose an experimental "battle of the sexes" game to investigate gender as a strategic coordination device. In this setup, players must coordinate on one of two colors to earn rewards. To aid in coordination, players are represented by gendered portraits. Varying information about others' portraits allows us to separate behavior that reflects genuine beliefs about men's and women's innate tendencies from stereotypes that function solely as coordination devices; varying color sets allows us to observe interactions between represented gender, payoff coordination, and color coordination. Finally, repeated games within groups may allow us to observe the dynamic formation of equilibrium coordination strategies (norms) that increase aggregate welfare at the expense of gender equity.
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