Question A:
All else equal, if corporations throughout Europe set quotas for a minimum number of women board members, the shareholder value of European companies would increase.
Responses
Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
Question B:
Taking into account the likely effects on investments in human capital by men and women, setting quotas throughout Europe for a minimum number of women board members would generate substantial net benefits for Europeans.
Responses
Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
Question A Participant Responses
| Participant | University | Vote | Confidence | Bio/Vote History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Philippe Aghion |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Franklin Allen |
Imperial College London | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I am not knowledgeable about the evidence in this area. Setting quotas is a good idea in my view but not because of value increase.
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 Pol Antras |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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The answer would surely depend on what the quota is set to! I think a quota is reasonable but empirical evidence
for externalities is scant
-see background information here |
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 Timothy J. Besley |
LSE | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Olivier Blanchard |
Peterson Institute | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Different perspectives are typically useful. Whether there is a sufficiently large pool of qualified women today is not obvious.
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 Nicholas Bloom |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Regulating firms behavior usually reduces profits and this is unlikely to be an exception. However, it still could be good for society.
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 Richard William Blundell |
University College London | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Agnès Bénassy-Quéré |
Paris School of Economics | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I think there are already quotas in a number of countries.
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 Elena Carletti |
Bocconi | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Jean-Pierre Danthine |
Paris School of Economics | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Paul De Grauwe |
LSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I have no expertise in this issue
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 Jan Eeckhout |
UPF Barcelona | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Ernst Fehr |
Universität Zurich | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Xavier Freixas |
Barcelona GSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln |
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Jordi Galí |
Barcelona GSE | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Luis Garicano |
LSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Positive: breaking open old boys network, fairer promotions, visibility of mentors. Negative: choice set is more restricted
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 Francesco Giavazzi |
Bocconi | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Rachel Griffith |
University of Manchester | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Veronica Guerrieri |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Valuable women otherwise discriminated could become board members, but stigma could have negative effects in the longer run
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 Luigi Guiso |
Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Martin Hellwig |
Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Patrick Honohan |
Trinity College Dublin | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Henrik Kleven |
Princeton | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Jan Pieter Krahnen |
Goethe University Frankfurt | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Even if more women on boards meant better decisions, the effect on shareholder value in general equilibrium is likely non-positive.
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 Per Krusell |
Stockholm University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Initially the reaction may be the opposite but my belief is that over the longer run it would be a plus. No data to back it up though!
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 Botond Kőszegi |
Central European University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Eliana La Ferrara |
Harvard Kennedy | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Christian Leuz |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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In short run, evidence suggests negative effects likely bc supply of qualified women is not yet large enough. Not much evidence on long-run.
-see background information here -see background information here |
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 Costas Meghir |
Yale | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Peter Neary |
Oxford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I am in favour of this kind of measure in principle but do not want to claim that it would affect shareholder value for the better; no worse
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 Kevin O'Rourke |
Oxford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Marco Pagano |
Università di Napoli Federico II | Bio/Vote History | ||
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No strong evidence for this: e.g. see "Women on boards: The superheroes of tomorrow?" by Renee Adams .
-see background information here |
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 Lubos Pastor |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Constrained maximization is less efficient than unconstrained. Gender-based discrimination, if any, would have to be strong to offset this.
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 Torsten Persson |
Stockholm University | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Christopher Pissarides |
London School of Economics and Political Science | Bio/Vote History | ||
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It will ensure more diversity in the views expressed and potential shareholders will have more confidence in the board as a supervisory body
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 Richard Portes |
London Business School | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I have seen empirical research that appears to support this assertion, and I have not seen any that contradicts it. But it’s not my field!
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 Canice Prendergast |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Lucrezia Reichlin |
London Business School | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Rafael Repullo |
CEMFI | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Hélène Rey |
London Business School | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Diversity improves outcomes in a complex world.
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 Antoinette Schoar |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 John Van Reenen |
LSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 John Vickers |
Oxford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Hans-Joachim Voth |
University of Zurich | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Beatrice Weder di Mauro |
The Graduate Institute, Geneva | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Karl Whelan |
University College Dublin | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Charles Wyplosz |
The Graduate Institute Geneva | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Diversity is good, but not sure that the impact will be significant.
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 Fabrizio Zilibotti |
Yale University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Question B Participant Responses
| Participant | University | Vote | Confidence | Bio/Vote History |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Philippe Aghion |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Franklin Allen |
Imperial College London | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I think there would be long term benefits of quotas for this kind of reason.
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Pol Antras |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Again I am broadly supportive. But a 25% vs a 40% quota could generate very distinct effects. The 40% quota in Norway didn't seem to do much
-see background information here |
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Timothy J. Besley |
LSE | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Olivier Blanchard |
Peterson Institute | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Nicholas Bloom |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Richard William Blundell |
University College London | Bio/Vote History | ||
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In terms of potential earnings and productivity growth, increasing the female share could have a large overall gain.
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Agnès Bénassy-Quéré |
Paris School of Economics | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Elena Carletti |
Bocconi | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Jean-Pierre Danthine |
Paris School of Economics | Bio/Vote History | ||
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A voluntary push to increase the number of women board members would be beneficial but it should be progressive and adapted to startingpoint
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Paul De Grauwe |
LSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Jan Eeckhout |
UPF Barcelona | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Ernst Fehr |
Universität Zurich | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Xavier Freixas |
Barcelona GSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln |
Goethe-Universität Frankfurt | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Jordi Galí |
Barcelona GSE | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Luis Garicano |
LSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Increased diversity eads to more equality of opportunity in society and better decisions (taking better into account all preferences)
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Francesco Giavazzi |
Bocconi | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Rachel Griffith |
University of Manchester | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Veronica Guerrieri |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Quotas may give the incentive to women to invest more in human capital, but again stigma may backfire in the longer run
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Luigi Guiso |
Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Martin Hellwig |
Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Patrick Honohan |
Trinity College Dublin | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Henrik Kleven |
Princeton | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Jan Pieter Krahnen |
Goethe University Frankfurt | Bio/Vote History | ||
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The sum of two marginal effects - one positive (women), the other negative (men) - is likely to be positive in this case.
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Per Krusell |
Stockholm University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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It's about making use of the talents of the entire population: good for prosperity. Much of management is (male) networking.
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Botond Kőszegi |
Central European University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Eliana La Ferrara |
Harvard Kennedy | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Christian Leuz |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Even if effects on firm value were negative, could still make sense for society to do it. But GE & long run effects are very hard to judge.
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Costas Meghir |
Yale | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Peter Neary |
Oxford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Benefits yes; more openings for women, encouraging human capital acquisition, better decisions. I am not sure they would be "substantial"
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Kevin O'Rourke |
Oxford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Marco Pagano |
Università di Napoli Federico II | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Lubos Pastor |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Torsten Persson |
Stockholm University | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Christopher Pissarides |
London School of Economics and Political Science | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Incentives to create more jobs for qualified women will encourage more education and will increase the pool of qualified people overall
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Richard Portes |
London Business School | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Canice Prendergast |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Lucrezia Reichlin |
London Business School | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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Rafael Repullo |
CEMFI | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Hélène Rey |
London Business School | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I could see many positive spillover effects.
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Antoinette Schoar |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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John Van Reenen |
LSE | Bio/Vote History | ||
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John Vickers |
Oxford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Hans-Joachim Voth |
University of Zurich | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Beatrice Weder di Mauro |
The Graduate Institute, Geneva | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Karl Whelan |
University College Dublin | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Charles Wyplosz |
The Graduate Institute Geneva | Bio/Vote History | ||
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In the long run, removing discrimination can only be good. But how good?
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Fabrizio Zilibotti |
Yale University | Bio/Vote History | ||
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