4 ms·

It is true that in a purely rational system, there would be no pay gap (controlling for ability and impact). But guess what...

• thehardsphere 9y ago
  There's no pay gap?
  • skj 9y ago
    Your conclusion is, then, that all people are rational?
    • thehardsphere 9y ago
      No. Rationality has very little to do with it. How rational the participants are doesn't itself change the fact that there is a competitive labor market and that salary offers thus must be competitive. If women choose to forgo higher salaries in favor of something else, that's a different issue and it doesn't immediately mean that they are being "irrational", it just means they favor different things than men do.
      • skj 9y ago
        The rationality of the players is central to any argument you make in the line of "there is a competitive labor market and that salary offers thus must be competitive". If the hiring managers (of any gender) have an irrational bias towards thinking that women are not as effective as their male counterparts, this will affect the respective pay scales even within a competitive market. Note that I'm not providing evidence or making a claim about the gender pay gap. I'm just saying that the claims you've made have many possible consistent explanations, including irrational bias against women.
• PixelB 9y ago
  Corporations are rational. They care about one thing, dollars. If you are making them money, they will keep you no matter what. If you are not making them money, they will get rid of you. Pretty rational I think.
  • matthewmacleod 9y ago
    That's just ludicrous. Corporations routinely do astoundingly stupid, financially damaging things for all sorts of reasons.
    • lostboys67 9y ago
      Seconded I have seen many occasions of outstandingly dumb decisions
  • skj 9y ago
    As my sibling post states, you're being silly here. Corporations are run by people, and they draw on a huge variety of sources to make their decisions. Including, obviously, some that are not rational.