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on Gender |
| By: | Albrecht, James (Department of Economics, Georgetown University); Bronson, Mary Ann (Department of Economics, Georgetown University); Skogman Thoursie, Peter (Department of Economics, Stockholm University); Vroman, Susan (Department of Economics, Georgetown University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use matched worker-firm register data from Sweden to examine the career dynamics of high-skill women and men. Specifically, we track wages for up to 20 years among women and men born in the years 1960 - 70 who completed a university degree in business or economics. These women and men have similar wages and earnings at the start of their careers, but their career paths diverge substantially as they age. These men and women also have substantial differences in wage paths associated with becoming a parent. We look at whether firm effects account for the differences we observe between women's and men's wage profiles. We document differences between the firms where men work and those where women work. However, a wage decomposition suggests that these differences in firm characteristics play only a small role in explaining the gender log wage gap among these workers. We then examine whether gender differences in firm-to-firm mobility help explain the patterns in wages that we see. Men and women both exhibit greater mobility early in their careers, but there is little gender difference in this firm-to-firm mobility. We find that the main driver of the gender difference in log wage profiles are that men experience higher wage gains than women do both as "switchers" and as "stayers". |
| Keywords: | Wages; Earnings; Gender gaps; Firms |
| JEL: | J16 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2018_009&r=gen |
| By: | David Card (Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley; and National Bureau of Economic Research); A. Abigail Payne (Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research and Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne; and Department of Economics, McMaster University) |
| Abstract: | Women who graduate from university are less likely than men to specialize in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). We use detailed administrative data for a recent cohort of high school students in Ontario, Canada, combined with data from the province's university admission system to analyze the dynamic process leading to this gap. We show that entry to STEM programs is mediated through an index of STEM readiness based on end-ofhigh-school courses in math and science. Most of the gender gap in STEM entry can be traced to differences in the rate of STEM readiness; less than a fifth is due to differences in the choice of major conditional on readiness. We then use high school course data to decompose the gap in STEM readiness among university entrants into two channels: one reflecting the gender gap in the fraction of high school students with the necessary prerequisites to enter STEM, and a second arising from differences in the fractions of females and males who enter university. The gender gap in the fraction of students with STEM prerequisites is small. The main factor is the lower university entry rate by men -- a difference that is due to the lower fraction of non-science oriented males who complete enough advanced level courses to qualify for university entry. We conclude that differences in course-taking patterns and preferences for STEM conditional on readiness contribute to male-female differences in the rate of entering STEM, but that the main source of the gap is the lower overall rate of university attendance by men. |
| Keywords: | Post-secondary education, gender, STEM |
| JEL: | I23 |
| Date: | 2017–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2017n25&r=gen |
| By: | Bernardo Fanfani (Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino, Italy) |
| Abstract: | We study a model where wage differences between men and women arise from taste-based discrimination and monopsonistic mechanisms. We show how preferences against women affect heterogeneity in firms' pay policies in the context of an imperfect labour market, deriving a rigorous test for the presence of taste-based discrimination and of other firm-level mechanisms driving the gender wage gap, in particular compensating wage differentials. These results inform an analysis of sex pay differences in the Italian manufacturing sector showing that taste-based discrimination and preferences for workplaces providing more flexible schedules are two significant determinants of the gender wage gap. |
| Keywords: | Gender Wage Gap; Taste-Based Discrimination; Monopsonistic Discrimination; Compensating Wage Differentials; Firm Wage Policy; Matched Employer-Employee Data. |
| JEL: | J00 J16 J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tur:wpapnw:054&r=gen |
| By: | Steinhauer, Andreas |
| Abstract: | In this paper I provide empirical evidence that the strength of beliefs regarding the harm children suffer when their mothers work plays an important role in explaining gender gaps in labor market outcomes and fertility trends. I exploit a unique setting in Switzerland and compare outcomes of one cohort of Swiss women born in the 1950s either into the French or German ethno-linguistic group. This allows me to compare outcomes of women exposed to different norms regarding working mothers while holding constant typical confounding factors such as composition, labor market opportunities, and work-family policies. Consistent with the strong belief that children suffer with working mothers in the German region, I find that German-born women are 15-25% less likely to work as mothers and 20-20% more likely to remain childless compared to their French-born peers. Only the extensive margins show marked differences and especially among the highly educated. I argue that an identity framework along the lines of Akerlof and Kranton (2000) can rationalize these patterns in a tractable way. |
| JEL: | J13 J16 J22 Z10 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12929&r=gen |
| By: | Holden , Stein T. (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Tilahun , Mesfin (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | We assess the gender difference in mobile phone ownership among youth business group members, and how it affects election into leadership and group board positions in recently established rural youth business groups in northern Ethiopia. Based on data on 1125 youths from 119 youth business groups where 32% of the members were female, 37% of the females and 70% of the males owned mobile phones. Male members were twice as likely to become board members and five times as likely to become group leaders. While there was a strong gender effect, having a mobile phone had an even stronger effect enhancing the likelihood of members becoming board members by 17.4 percentage points. Male gender and mobile phone ownership had equally strong effects on members becoming group leaders. Male group members were on average older than female group members, and with there being a significant age effect, this also contributed to the male dominance in group boards and leadership positions. Education also increased the likelihood of members becoming leaders and board members but this did not increase the gender gap in selection into such positions, as females were equally well educated as males. |
| Keywords: | Mobile phone ownership; gender gap; education; group leadership; youth business groups; Ethiopia. |
| JEL: | D23 D83 J16 P13 |
| Date: | 2018–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2018_005&r=gen |
| By: | Ferrari, Giulia (INED, France); Ferraro, Valeria (Boston College); Profeta, Paola (Bocconi University); Pronzato, Chiara D. (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | From business to politics and academia, the economic effects of the introduction of gender quotas are under scrutiny. We provide new evidence based on the introduction of mandatory gender quotas for boards of directors of Italian companies listed on the stock market. Comparing before and after the reform within firms, we find that quotas are associated with a higher share of female board directors, higher levels of education of board members, and a lower share of older members. We then use the reform period as an instrument for the share of female directors and find no significant impact on firms' performance. Interestingly, the share of female directors is associated with a lower variability of stock market prices. We also run event studies on the stock price reaction to both the announcement and the introduction of gender quotas. A positive effect of the quota law on stock market returns emerges at the date of the board's election. Our results are consistent with gender quotas giving rise to a beneficial restructuring of the board, which is positively received by the market. |
| Keywords: | education, age, financial markets |
| JEL: | J20 J48 J78 |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11462&r=gen |
| By: | Paul Ryan; Clare Branigan |
| Abstract: | A substantial literature in economics and finance has found that women tend to be more risk averse than men. In addition, compared to their male counterparts they tend to shy away from competitive situations. However, there are no extant studies exploring the relative degree of risk aversion and competitive behaviour of men vs. women in a bubble market context. Bubble markets provide a rich context to explore the potential impact of behavioural biases and emotions in investors’ decision making processes (e.g. Shiller, 2000, 2008, 2014; Kindleberger and Aliber, 2011). Drawing on auction data from the Irish residential real estate market, in the middle of a real estate bubble, we find that female winning bidders are no less risk averse or less likely to shy away from competition than their male counterparts. Our results have implications for how gender impacts on decision making in highly charged emotional contexts. |
| Keywords: | bubble market; Competition; Gender; risk aversion |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2017–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2017_23&r=gen |
| By: | Camargo, Juliana; Lima, Lycia Silva e; Riva, Flavio Luiz Russo; Souza, André Portela Fernandes de |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the results from the evaluation of the Student Training Scholarship ('Bolsa Formação Estudante'), a public policy that offers scholarships to current and former high school students of the public educational system in Brazil so that they can attend technical and vocational education courses free of charge. We base our analysis on a waiting list randomized controlled trial in four municipalities and use survey and administrative data to quantify the effects of the program on educational investments, labor market outcomes, noncognitive skills and self-reported risky behaviors. Our intention-to-treat estimates suggest substantial gender heterogeneity two years after program completion. Women experienced large gains in labor market outcomes and noncognitive skills. In particular, those who received the offer scored 0.63σ higher on an extraversion indicator, but, surprisingly, reported more frequently that they were involved in argument or fights and binge drinking. We find no effects of the program on the male sub-sample. The findings corroborate the evidence on gender heterogeneity in the literature on technical and vocational education programs, and also extend it to additional dimensions. |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fgv:eesptd:480&r=gen |
| By: | Nicola D. Coniglio; Rezart Hoxhaj |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the role of firms with global ties – foreign firms and exporters – in shaping the ‘twin’ gender gaps in employment opportunities and wages in Vietnam for both skilled and unskilled workers. Our analysis shows that foreign firms contribute by boosting employment opportunities in the formal sector for unskilled female workers. Although foreign firms, and in particular exporters, pay lower average wages to unskilled workers – both male and female – we find evidence that they significantly contribute in narrowing the gender wage gap. The presence of foreign firms has, meanwhile, only limited effects on gender gaps in employment for skilled workers. Finally, we show that the negative gaps in wages are entirely due to differences in productivities between female and male workers. Not only do we reject the hypothesis of discrimination, but we find evidence of sizable wage subsidies (for unskilled female workers) |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, gender discrimination, FDI, Globalization, Vietnam |
| Date: | 2018–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2018/18&r=gen |
| By: | Carolina V. Zuccotti |
| Abstract: | Gender role views have long been a matter of great interest to researchers. In part, this is connected to the negative part that traditional gender role views can play in the social and economic integration of women. In Western Europe, this topic has gained additional attention with the arrival of migrants from countries where gender inequality is greater and where individuals hold more traditional views on the social roles of men and women. Research shows that, though gender role views become less traditional over time and through the generations, differences with respect to the majoritarian white population remain. This study explores one of the possible mechanisms behind the persistence of traditional gender role views among migrants and their children in the UK (i.e. ethnic minority groups): neighbourhood ethnic concentration. Neighbourhoods are spaces of interaction, as well as of transmission of beliefs and ways of doing, and this can affect individuals more or less coercively. This study employs data from Wave 2 of Understanding Society, in combination with aggregated Census data. Using this data I explore the extent to which ethnic minority groups residing in areas with a higher concentration of members of the same group have a higher probability of holding more traditional gender role views. The article finds some evidence of this for Indians and Bangladeshis, but not for Pakistanis. Problems of self-selection and endogeneity are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Ethnicity, England and Wales, Gender role views, Neighbourhood effects, Neighbourhood ethnic concentration |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2018/11&r=gen |