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on Demographic Economics |
| By: | Tullio Jappelli (Università di Napoli Federico II, CSEF and CEPR); Carmela Anna Nappi (ANVUR); Roberto Torrini (ANVUR) |
| Abstract: | The literature on the gender gap in science reveals differences in wages, productivity, access to funding and impact on the scientific community that disadvantage women. This paper contributes to work on the gender gap in science by investigating issues such as the presence of differences in research quality between genders, the effect of family responsibilities on research quality, differences in collaborations and international co-authorships, the effect of evaluation methodology, i.e. whether bibliometric evaluation disadvantages women, and the presence of discrimination defined by referees’ gender. We use the data from the National Research Assessment (VQR 2004-2010) conducted by the Italian Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes. These rich data allow us to control for individual variables, research output characteristics and university and scientific sector fixed effects. We find that gender differences in research quality are reduced if we control for researchers' observable characteristics, evaluation method, and referees. In particular, we find that maternity and the intensity of research collaborations and international co-authorships play no role in explaining research quality differences. Further analysis of a random sample of papers evaluated using bibliometric indicators and peer review reveals that bibliometric evaluation does not penalize women with respect to men. |
| Keywords: | household saving, household debt, financial fragility, pension reforms |
| Date: | 2015–10–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:418&r=dem |
| By: | Luca Flabbi (Inter-American Development Bank); Mario Macis (Johns Hopkins University); Andrea Moro (Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia); Fabiano Schivardi (Bocconi University) |
| Abstract: | We analyze a matched employer-employee panel data set and find that female leadership has a positive effect on female wages at the top of the distribution, and a negative one at the bottom. Moreover, performance in firms with female leadership increases with the share of female workers. This evidence is consistent with a model where female executives are better equipped at interpreting signals of productivity from female workers. This suggests substantial costs of under-representation of women at the top: for example, if women became CEOs of firms with at least 20% female employment, sales per worker would increase 6.7%. |
| Keywords: | executives’ gender, gender gap, firm performance, glass ceiling, statistical discrimination |
| JEL: | M5 M12 J7 J16 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lui:celegw:1507&r=dem |
| By: | Do, Quy-Toan; Levchenko, Andrei A.; Raddatz, Claudio |
| Abstract: | We analyze theoretically and empirically the impact of comparative advantage in international trade on fertility. We build a model in which industries differ in the extent to which they use female relative to male labor, and countries are characterized by Ricardian comparative advantage in either female-labor or male-labor intensive goods. The main prediction of the model is that countries with comparative advantage in female-labor intensive goods are characterized by lower fertility. This is because female wages, and therefore the opportunity cost of children are higher in those countries. We demonstrate empirically that countries with comparative advantage in industries employing primarily women exhibit lower fertility. We use a geography-based instrument for trade patterns to isolate the causal effect of comparative advantage on fertility. |
| Keywords: | comparative advantage; fertility; trade integration |
| JEL: | F16 J13 O11 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10903&r=dem |
| By: | Nicolaas Groenewold; Anping Chen |
| Abstract: | China?s pension system is in need of comprehensive reform in that it is fragmented in its coverage and significantly under-funded. Attempts to improve the coverage will likely exacerbate the financial strains. Thus it is urgent to improve the financial sustainability of the system and one policy which has been proposed is to increase the retirement age. There have been similar proposals in many other countries and they are in line with improved health and life-expectancy. In China?s case the partial coverage of the system is related to industry structure with much the best coverage being for government and SOE employees. Since this structure differs considerably across the regions in China, it is likely that a change in retirement age will have significantly different effects across China?s regions. Inter-regional disparities are already very substantial in China and it will be important to know whether changes in pension arrangements will widen or narrow these disparities. It is the object of the research reported in this paper to throw light on this question. We construct a small theoretical model of two regions (coast and interior) having some Chinese characteristics. We distinguish between an informal sector in which workers have no pension coverage and a formal sector in which some workers are covered. In addition we distinguish between skilled and unskilled workers. There are two levels of government: a central government and two regional governments. Behaviour is based on utility maximisation by households and profit-maximisation by firms, with governments being exogenous. The model is solved numerically with parameter values based on recent Chinese data. Within this framework we model the effects of various shocks to the retirement age, the initial effects of which are changes in the labour supplied by skilled households. In the base case we find that in the short run an equi-proportionate increase in the retirement age in the two regions elicits substantially different labour supply responses in the two regions. These differences flow through to relative wage changes, output changes and, eventually, welfare changes. Effects through the budgets of the two regional governments are also important transmission channels. We find that welfare increases in both regions, with the improvement being substantially greater in the interior than in the coast, reflecting the greater relative importance of SOE and government employment in inland provinces. In the long run skilled labour is allowed to migrate from one region to another with the result that inter-regional differences are generally ameliorated. |
| Keywords: | China; pension system; retirement age; regional impacts |
| JEL: | R10 R23 R28 H70 H75 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p182&r=dem |
| By: | Chu, Luke Yu-Wei; Linz, Susan J. |
| Abstract: | Do non-cognitive traits contribute to the gender gap in supervisory status and promotion? We use a large linked employer-employee dataset collected from six former socialist countries to assess the link between non-cognitive traits and upward mobility. Controlling for on workplace heterogeneity, we find that gender differences in locus of control, the preference for challenge versus affiliation, and adherence to work ethic together can explain about 7–18% of the gender gap in supervisory status and promotions Overall, non-cognitive traits provide an important, though incomplete, explanation for the gender gap in upward mobility. |
| Keywords: | Gender gap, Non-cognitive traits, Workplace heterogeneity, Workplace, Upward mobility, Workplace personality traits, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:4778&r=dem |
| By: | Angela Stefania Bergantino; Leonardo Madio |
| Abstract: | The aim of this study is focus on the role of positive and negative monetary incentives in stimulating infra and inter-regional mobility in UK (through commuting behavior). We consider a simple theoretical model and develop an empirical application using data from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) 2004-2011. According to the theory, workers who commute from one labor market to another should require earning grants able to compensate, at least, monetary and non-monetary moving costs and individual evaluation of the trade-off between the latter and the value of the monetary incentive. First, we estimate the predicted wage in the region of current residence through OLS and then we verify the increase in the probability of moving to other UK GORs (Government Office Regions, representing the UK regions and the six Metropolitan Areas) due to greater hourly wages w.r.t. that predicted for the region of current residence through a Multinomial Logit model (MLM). We consider four different cases: living and working in the same region (or territorial agglomeration) which represent the baseline outcome of the MLM; working in a region whose travel distance is less than 30 minutes from the residence; working in a region whose distance is between 30 and 45 minutes from the residence; working in a region at 45 minutes of travel distance. In our analysis, we find that earnings, sex differences and individual characteristics play an important role in explaining commuting behavior, as well as the length of the employment within the same workplace. We find that ? on average ? wages 20% greater than those for the region of residence lead to an increase in probability of 2.2-3.2% (according to gender differences) to move to other regions commuting more than 45 minutes. Moreover, we find support also for the ?household responsibility hypothesis, confirming that women are less willing to commute longer and to move outside their own region of residence compared to their male counterparts. Finally, for robustness check and for taking into account possible biases in the model due to the role played by the capital, we develop the two-stage model without considering the region of Greater London, concluding. We find that, excluding the region of Greater London from the sample, there is a raise from 1% to 1.6% in the gender gap in the probability of commuting more than 45 minutes, with the consequence that female workers working in London are more willing to commute than their national counterpart. |
| Keywords: | commuting; travel-to-work; gender; household responsibility; multinomial logit |
| JEL: | R23 R40 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa15p888&r=dem |