In the Media: Professor of Economics Roberto Pedace Examines Hollywood Pay Gap in The Conversation

A bald, bearded man in an orange sweater and jeans smiles at the camera from a seated position

Professor of Economics Roberto Pedace examines Hollywood’s gender pay gap in an op-ed for The Conversation, arguing that discrimination plays a role in Hollywood salaries. Pedace’s research analyzes earnings in the film industry and examines the disparity between male and female film actors’ salaries. After controlling for different variables, such as movies’ budgets, genres, and box office revenue, as well as the number of Academy Awards an actor has earned, Pedace found that about $3.8 million, or approximately 71%, of the salary difference is unexplained by those variables. Pedace says: “[…] in the end, the evidence is clear to us: Discrimination plays a big role in Hollywood.”

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