The Gay Wage Penalty—and Premium

That’s the type of question that Michael Martell, Assistant Professor of Economics at Bard College, looks to answer, as a scholar who focuses on how identity affects economic outcomes. Finding older theories like the “specialization hypothesis” (that women are better suited for work in rather than outside the home) to be unsubstantiated, Martell’s research probes how other factors, like anti-discrimination laws, affect wages.