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on Gender |
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Issue of 2022‒10‒24
three papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | José J. Bercoff (Universidad Nacional de Tucumán); Osvaldo Meloni (Universidad Nacional de Tucumán) |
| Abstract: | Since women were given the right to vote in the first half of the 20th century, several studies verify the existence of noticeable differences in women and men voting conduct. Theories explaining such behavior rely mainly on stereotypes, differences in values as well as disparities in self perceptions of men and women This paper, using a unique and unusual gender-segregated voting booths that was in use in Argentina until 2007, suggests that labor market incentives play a key role explaining the electoral gender gap. Our estimations, that come out from a panel data of five presidential elections at district level, show that the voting gender gap reduces as women acquire the head of household status. That is, as women face analogous incentives to men, their evaluation of the incumbent performance and their policies tend to be similar to males leading to a reduction in the gender gap. |
| Keywords: | Gender gap; Economic voting; Elections; Sociotropic voting; Argentina |
| JEL: | D72 J16 P16 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aoz:wpaper:183&r= |
| By: | Marta Morazzoni; Andrea Sy |
| Abstract: | We document and quantify the effect of a gender gap in credit access on both entrepreneurship and input misallocation in the US. We show that female-owned firms are more likely to be rejected when applying for a loan and have a higher average product of capital, a sign of gender-driven capital misallocation across firms. Calibrating a heterogeneous agents model of entrepreneurship to the US economy, we establish that such gap in credit access explains the bulk of the gender differences in capital allocation across firms, and more than a third of their disparities in entrepreneurial rates. In a counterfactual exercise, we illustrate that eliminating this credit imbalance leads to a 4% increase in output, and that fiscal policies affect differently female and male entrepreneurial margins in the presence of gender gaps in financial access. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, misallocation, aggregate productivity, gender differences, Financial constraints |
| JEL: | O11 E44 D11 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1299&r= |
| By: | Arenas, Andreu (University of Barcelona); Calsamiglia, Caterina (IPEG) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the effect of increasing the weight of standardized high-stakes exams at the expense of high school grades for college admissions. Studying a policy change in Spain, we find a negative effect of the reform on female college admission scores, driven by students expected to be at the top. The effect on admission scores does not affect enrolment, but the percentage of female students in the most selective degrees declines, along with their career prospects. Using data on college performance of pre-reform cohorts, we find that female students most likely to lose from the reform tend to do better in college than male students expected to benefit from the reform. The results show that rewarding high-stakes performance in selection processes may come along with gender differences unrelated to the determinants of subsequent performance. |
| Keywords: | college admissions, high-stakes exams, gender gaps |
| JEL: | J16 I23 I24 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15550&r= |