Sexual orientation, competitiveness and income: Gay men compete less than straight men. Lesbians compete as much as straight women

Sexual orientation, competitiveness and income. Thomas Buser, Lydia Geijtenbeek, Erik Plug. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2018.03.017

Highlights
•    We ask whether differences in preferences for competition can explain why gays earn less than other men and lesbians earn more than other women.
•    We conduct an experiment on a Dutch online survey panel to measure the competitive preferences of gay, lesbian and straight panel members.
•    We link our experimental measure of competitiveness to earnings and education data.
•    Gay men compete less than straight men. Lesbians compete as much as straight women.
•    Competitiveness predicts earnings and education levels and differences in competitive preferences can partially explain the gay earnings penalty.

Abstract: Do gays earn less than other men because they are less competitive? Do lesbians earn more than other women because they are more competitive? To answer these questions, we conduct an experiment on a Dutch online survey panel to measure the competitive preferences of gay, lesbian and straight panel members. We find that gay men compete less than straight men, while lesbians compete as much as straight women. Linking our experimental measure of competitiveness to earnings and education data, we find that competitiveness predicts earnings and education levels and that differences in competitive preferences can partially explain the gay earnings penalty but not the lesbian premium.