Claire Bolam (Fairfax County Government) has posted Posted Prices, Unequal Bargains: Pay Transparency Laws and the Gender Negotiation Gap on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Existing studies generally find that pay transparency laws narrow the gender pay gap. Using Current Population Survey data (2018-2026) and a staggered difference-in-differences design, I first show a narrowing effect, then show this is driven by a selection artifact: adopting states have structurally smaller gender gaps. Under proper identification, the gap widens by 4.3 percentage points. I test two channels that could explain this result: labor market mobility and individual negotiation. The evidence points to negotiation: the widening is concentrated among salaried workers, whose pay is individually bargained, and absent among hourly workers, whose pay is not. Absent additional institutional constraints on wage-setting, mandatory salary disclosure may unintentionally reinforce gendered differences in negotiation, achieving the opposite of its intended effect.
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