Abstract

Transgender people are an understudied population in economics but it has become clear that they face economic disparities: it is worth investigating the causal mechanisms of these in the interest of social justice and equity. This paper looks at potential relationships between legislation restricting the rights of transgender people in the past three years in the United States, bias against transgender people, and their economic outcomes. I used data from the U.S Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and the Trans Legislation Tracker from 2021 – 2023, as well as conducting a survey with transgender people to investigate possible relationships. I did not find any statistically significant relationships in the interaction term between transgender people and anti-trans legislation. However, the transgender variable was significant in the negative direction for public insurance presence and in the positive (no job loss) direction for a recent job loss variable. I found qualitatively that transgender people implement avoidance strategies in hostile environments that could decrease their pool of economic opportunities.

Advisor

Long, Melanie

Department

Economics

Disciplines

Behavioral Economics | Income Distribution | Other Economics | Social Influence and Political Communication

Keywords

United States, transgender, discrimination, economic disparities

Publication Date

2024

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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