This session of the Interdisciplinary Experimental Working Group features two presentations by SPS researcher, Marius Ghincea and ECO researcher, Josep Amer Mestre.
"How Strong is the Nuclear Taboo? Experimental Evidence from Romania"
Presenter: Marius Ghincea (SPS)
Abstract:
Nuclear weapons have not been used since 1945. Why? IR scholars have formulated competing claims. First, constructivists talk about strong international norms - a taboo - that makes nuclear use normatively abhorrent and even unthinkable. Second, rationalists claim that nuclear non-use can be explained by a long-respected 'tradition' of prudence driven by fears of potential consequences. However, recent scholarship has put under question the very premise that an 'aversion' against the use of nuclear weapons exists, showing that at least in the U.S. this may not necessarily be the case. Moreover, scholars have not provided systematic evidence in support of the sociological or rationalist microfoundations of the purported 'aversion'.
This paper takes the 'nuclear aversion' question outside its 'natural' North-American environment, where most of the current literature seems to be situated by testing the major claims present in the debate on a rather unusual case and population: Romanian political elites. By de-centering the 'American' focus of the current literature, we seek to include peripheral actors as relevant in the nuclear landscape both as part of an international audience that is said to play a key role in the mechanisms of maintaining the 'taboo' or the 'tradition' and as relevant stakeholders in multilateral security formats, such as NATO.
"A survey for Gender Differences in Early Occupational Choices: Evidence from Medical Specialty Selection"
Presenter: Josep Amer Mestre (ECO)
Abstract:
Empirical evidence shows that men and women hold different types of occupations. It is however difficult to disentangle the channels via which these differences come about because observed equilibrium outcomes arise from preferences of agents on both sides of the market, and search and matching frictions. This paper relies on a unique labour market setting allowing to isolate the supply side factors driving gender-based occupational segregation. We find that supply-side factors are important. Female and male medical students facing the same pool of available positions make drastically different occupational decisions, even at the top of the performance distribution. Women prefer occupations characterised by lower expected earnings and time requirements, less competition, and a higher social contribution. We also find evidence suggesting that when constrained in their choices, women have a stronger preference for the location in which they are going to live compared to their male counterparts. To understand the mechanisms behind the gender differences we uncover, we will administer a survey to a representative sample of medical students. We will present and discuss such a survey.
Co-author: Agnès Charpin