Beliefs about the Gender Pension Gap

I conduct an online survey of 3,000 respondents in the United States to examine individuals’ beliefs about the gender pension gap. By including an information provision experiment in which treated respondents are informed about the size of the gender pension gap, I examine whether receiving this information causally affects respondents’ perceptions of the fairness and drivers of the gender pension gap and their support for policies aimed at reducing it. I find that most respondents underestimate the gender pension gap and that treated respondents are less likely to perceive the gender pension gap as fair. In addition, treated respondents perceive the unequal distribution of care work and gender differences in wages as more important drivers of the gap, and their demand for remedial policies such as targeted financial education increases significantly. In terms of heterogeneity, I find that female respondents are generally less affected by the treatment than male respondents when asked about their policy views, although the treatment affects male and female respondents’ beliefs and perceptions about the gender pension gap similarly.

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