Piera Bello, (University College London)

Abstract:

"By using transaction-level data on the universe of Chilean annuity contracts, I document gender differences in the annuity rate adjustment negotiated off the initial quote. Specifically, I show that unmarried women negotiate larger adjustments in the payout of their annuity offers compared to their male counterparts. Gender differences are larger at the top tail of the adjustment distribution. Women's adjustment rates are characterized by higher dispersion. This is consistent with the presence of sellers' statistical inference about the buyers' reservation price distributions and with women receiving higher-priced initial quotes than men. The observed discrimination is much more pronounced among individuals accessing the market through a sales agent, namely, when the level of competition among insurance companies is low."

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