nep-gen New Economics Papers
on Gender
Issue of 2018‒01‒29
six papers chosen by
Jan Sauermann
Stockholms universitet

  1. Gender and Peer Effects in Social Networks By Julie Beugnot; Bernard Fortin; Guy Lacroix; Marie-Claire Villeval
  2. Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship and Firm Performance in Developing Countries By Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso
  3. Education Effects on Days Hospitalized and Days out of Work by Gender: Evidence from Turkey By Tansel, Aysit; Keskin, Halil Ibrahim
  4. Returns to Education and Female Participation Nexus: Evidence from India By Kanjilal-Bhaduri, Sanghamitra; Pastore, Francesco
  5. Women’s Empowerment, the Gender Gap in Desired Fertility, and Fertility Outcomes in Developing Countries By Matthias Doepke; Michèle Tertilt
  6. Persistent Effects of Teacher-Student Gender Matches By Jaegeum Lim; Jonathan Meer

  1. By: Julie Beugnot (Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, CRESE); Bernard Fortin (Université Laval, CRREP, CIRANO); Guy Lacroix (Université Laval, CRREP, CIRANO); Marie-Claire Villeval (Université de Lyon, CNRS, GATE, IZA)
    Abstract: We investigate whether peer effects at work differ by gender and whether the gender difference in peer effects –if any- depends on work organization, precisely the structure of social networks. We develop a social network model with gender heterogeneity that we test by means of a real effort laboratory experiment. We compare sequential networks in which information on peers flows exclusively downward (from peers to the worker) and simultaneous networks where it disseminates bi-directionally along an undirected line (from peers to the worker and from the worker to peers). We identify strong gender differences in peer effects, as males’ effort increases with peers’ performance in both types of network, whereas females behave conditionally. While they are influenced by peers in sequential networks, females disregard their peers’ performance when information flows in both directions. We reject that the difference between networks is driven by having one’s performance observed by others or by the presence of peers in the same session in simultaneous networks. We interpret the gender difference in terms of perception of a higher competitiveness of the environment in simultaneous than in sequential networks because of the bi-directional flow of information.
    Keywords: Gender, peer effects, social networks, work effort, experiment
    JEL: C91 J16 J24 J31 M52
    Date: 2017–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crb:wpaper:2017-03&r=gen
  2. By: Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso (Dept of Economics and Center for Statistics, Georg-August Universitaet Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany & Dept of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain)
    Abstract: This paper uses firm-level data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys (WBES) to investigate productivity gaps between female and male-managed companies in developing countries. We depart from the previous literature by using the gender of the top manager as target variable, which is newly available in the 2016 version of the WBES. The main results indicate that it is crucial to distinguish between female management and female ownership and also the confluence between both. We find that when the firms are managed by females and there are not female owners, they show a higher average labour productivity and total factor productivity. However, if females are among the owners and a female is the top manager, then their productivity is lower than for other firms. These results are very heterogeneous among regions. In particular, results in South Saharan Africa, East Asia and South Asia seems to be driving the general results
    Keywords: firm performance, gender gap, developing countries, top manager, TFP
    JEL: J16 O15 O44
    Date: 2017
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2017/14&r=gen
  3. By: Tansel, Aysit (Middle East Technical University); Keskin, Halil Ibrahim (Cukurova University)
    Abstract: The strong relationship between various health indicators and education is widely documented. However, the studies that investigate the nature of causality between these variables became available only recently and provide evidence mostly from developed countries. We add to this literature by studying the causal effect of education on days hospitalized and days out of work for health reasons. We consider two educational reforms. One is the educational expansion of the early 1960s and the other is the 1997 increase in compulsory level of schooling from five to eight years. However, due to the possibility of weak instruments we do not further pursue this avenue. We focus on individuals in two cohorts namely, 1945–1965 which is an older cohort and 1980–1980 which is a younger cohort. We estimate Tobit models as well as Double Hurdle models. The results suggest that an increase in years of education causes to reduce the number of days hospitalized for both men and women unambiguously and the number of days out of work only for men while an increase in education increases the number of days out of work for a randomly selected women.
    Keywords: education, days hospitalized, days out of work, education reform, Tobit model, double hurdle model, gender, Turkey
    JEL: I15 J16 J18 C34 C36
    Date: 2017–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11210&r=gen
  4. By: Kanjilal-Bhaduri, Sanghamitra (University of Calcutta); Pastore, Francesco (Università della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli)
    Abstract: In this paper, we make an attempt to understand whether low labour market returns to education in India are responsible for low female work participation. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) Employment Unemployment Survey (EUS) unit level data of India for the year 2011–12 is used to examine the relationship between educational attainment and labour market participation through gender lens. Results show that women's education has a U-shaped relationship with paid work participation. The probability to participate in the paid labour market shows an increasing trend with education levels higher than compulsory secondary schooling. The labour market returns to education are insignificant and low for lower levels of education. The returns increase significantly along with the increase in educational levels. However, females have a significant lower rate of return for each year of education as compared to men in rural and urban labour markets as well. Though it has been said that increase in female enrolment in schooling is one of the reasons of the recent declining phenomenon of female participation, but our study shows that the low returns to education is another reason for their less participation. The findings therefore suggest that, women need to be educated above secondary level to become visible in the labour market.
    Keywords: female labour force participation, market returns to education, development, India
    JEL: J16 J21 J82 O12 O15
    Date: 2017–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11209&r=gen
  5. By: Matthias Doepke (Northwestern University); Michèle Tertilt (Universität Mannheim)
    Abstract: We document evidence on preferences for childbearing in developing countries. Across countries, men usually desire larger families than women do. Within countries, we find wide dispersion in spouses’ desired fertility: there are many couples whose ideal family size differs by five children or more. This disagreement between spouses suggests that the extent to which women are empowered should matter for fertility choices. We point to evidence at both the macro and micro levels that this is indeed the case. We conclude that taking account of household bargaining and women’s empowerment in analyses of fertility is an important challenge for research.
    Keywords: women's empowerment, desired fertility, marital bargaining
    JEL: J12 J13 J16 O10
    Date: 2018–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2018-001&r=gen
  6. By: Jaegeum Lim; Jonathan Meer
    Abstract: We exploit data from middle schools in Seoul, South Korea, where students and teachers are randomly assigned to classrooms, and find that female students taught by a female versus a male teacher score higher on standardized tests compared to male students even five years later. We also find that having a female math teacher in 7th grade increases the likelihood that female students take higher-level math courses, aspire to a STEM degree, and attend a STEM-focused high school. These effects are driven by changes in students' attitudes and choices.
    JEL: I20
    Date: 2017–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24128&r=gen

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