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on Gender |
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Issue of 2023‒03‒20
six papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Foliano, Francesca (UCL Institute of Education); Bryson, Alex (University College London); Joshi, Heather (University College London); Wielgoszewska, Bożena (University College London); Wilkinson, David (University College London) |
| Abstract: | We study the evolution of the gender wage gap among young adults in Britain between 1972 and 2015 using data from four British cohorts born in 1946, 1958, 1970 and 1989/90 on early life factors, human capital, family formation and job characteristics. We account for non-random selection of men and women into the labour market and compare the gender wage gap among graduates and non-graduates. The raw and covariate adjusted gender wage gaps at the mean decline over the period among nongraduates, but they rise among young graduates. The gender wage gap across the wage distribution narrows over time for lower wages. Adjusting for positive selection into employment increases the size of the gender wage gap in earlier cohorts, but selection is not apparent in the two most recent cohorts. Thus the rate of convergence in the wages of young men and women is understated when estimates do not adjust for positive selection in earlier cohorts. Differences in traditional human capital variables explain only a very small component of the gender wage gaps among young people in all four cohorts, but occupational gender segregation plays an important role in the later cohorts. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, birth cohorts, employment selection, graduates, occupational segregation |
| JEL: | J16 J2 J3 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15973&r=gen |
| By: | Giovanna Apicella (University of Udine; University of St. Gallen); Enrico G. De Giorgi (University of St. Gallen - SEPS: Economics and Political Sciences; Swiss Finance Institute); Emilia Di Lorenzo (CSEF - University of Naples Federico II - Faculty of Economics); Marilena Sibillo (Università degli Studi di Salerno) |
| Abstract: | Longevity crucially affects demand for pensions, insurance products and annuities. Consistent empirical evidence shows that women have historically experienced lower mortality rates than men. In this paper, we study a measure of the gender gap in mortality rates, we call “Gender Gap Ratio”, across a wide range of ages and for four countries: France, Italy, Sweden and USA. We show the stylized facts that characterize the trend of the Gender Gap Ratio, both in its historical evolution and future projection. Focusing on an example temporary life annuity contract, we give a monetary consistency to the Gender Gap Ratio. The evidence we provide about a Gender Gap Ratio that ranges between 1.5 and 2.5, depending on age and country, translate into a significant reduction of up to 25% in the benefits from a temporary life annuity contract for women with respect to men, against the same amount invested in the annuity. The empirical evidence discussed in this paper documents the crucial importance of working towards a more widespread demographic literacy, e.g., a range of tools and strategies to raise longevity consciousness among individuals and policy makers, in the framework of gender equality policies. |
| Keywords: | Gender gap in mortality, financial well-being, demographic literacy |
| JEL: | G53 J11 J16 |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2302&r=gen |
| By: | Giovanna Apicella (University of Udine); Enrico G. De Giorgi (University of St. Gallen - SEPS: Economics and Political Sciences; Swiss Finance Institute) |
| Abstract: | Financial risk and longevity risk are the main risks affecting pension income. This paper analyses gender differences related to how financial risk taking and survival expectations are correlated. We analyse data from the “Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe” (SHARE) database and find a significant gender gap in self-assessed risk tolerance, consistently with previous literature. Moreover, we show that individuals with realistic survival expectations (i.e., survival expectations that are close to their actuarial counterparts) tend to take more financial risk. Because women show a significantly higher underestimation of their survival compared to men (-17% vs. -6% on average), the co-existence of no risk taking and longevity risk mis-perception is much stronger among women than men, what we call the leveraged gender gap, with important economic implications in relation to post-retirement income. |
| Keywords: | gender pension gap, financial risk tolerance, longevity risk, demographic literacy |
| JEL: | D15 H31 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2309&r=gen |
| By: | Arpita Patnaik; Gwyn C. Pauley; Joanna Venator; Matthew J. Wiswall |
| Abstract: | What is the impact of male and female alumni speaker interventions in introductory microeconomics courses on student interest in economics? Using student-level transcript data, we estimate the effect of speakers on future course-taking in models which use untreated lectures as control groups, including professor and semester fixed effects and student-level covariates. Alumni speakers increase intermediate economics course take-up by 2.1 percentage points (11%). Students are more responsive to same-gender speakers, with male speakers increasing men’s course take-up by 36% and female speakers increasing women’s course take-up by 40%, implying that the effect of alumni speakers is strongly gendered. |
| JEL: | A22 C93 I23 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30983&r=gen |
| By: | Bethencourt, Carlos; Santos-Torres, Daniel |
| Abstract: | In the new era of economics of fertility, the identification of the determinants of fertility has become one of the major challenges. This paper analyzes how the fertility patterns of both female teenagers’ own families and peers’ families (measured as the number of siblings) affect their future fertility choices. Our analysis distinguishes between the extensive (becoming a mother or not) and the intensive (total number of children) margin of fertility. We provide five main results. First, neither own number of siblings nor peers’ number of siblings affect whether a woman becomes a mother or not. Second, women with more siblings and women whose peers had more siblings tend to have more children. Third, the peer effect is stronger for women who reported having a less close relationship with their mothers. Forth, women that were teenagers characterized by high scores and being involved in activities related to popularity experience a negligible peer effect. Further, more communication between teenagers’ parents increases the influence of women’s own family but reduces the peer effect. These results suggest that fertility patterns of both female teenagers’ own families and peers’ families are relevant in shaping women’s identitydefining role in fertility, specially in the intensive margin; and that the relative importance of these two patterns depends on the quality of the relationships between all actors (between teenagers, between teenagers and their parents, and between teenagers’ parents). |
| Keywords: | motherhood, fertility, peer effect, gender-role identity |
| JEL: | J13 Z10 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:116321&r=gen |
| By: | Joel Waldfogel |
| Abstract: | Women have traditionally participated in intellectual property creation at depressed rates relative to men. Book authorship is now an exception. In 1970, women published a third as many books as men. By 2020, women produced the majority of books. Adding new products can have significant welfare benefits, particularly when product quality is unpredictable. Using data on sales of 8.9 million individual titles at Amazon, 2018-2021, along with information on 200 million ratings of 1.8 million books by 800, 000 Goodreads users, I develop measures of both the supply of new books by male and female authors, as well as their usage by heterogeneous consumers. I show that growth in female-authored books has delivered a roughly equal proportionate increase in the female-authored shares of consumption, book awards, and other measures of success, indicating both that the additional female-authored books are useful to consumers and that product quality is unpredictable. I calibrate a simple structural model of demand with unpredictable product quality to quantify the welfare benefit from the additional female-authored books. While revenue gains to female authors come partly at the expense of male authors, gains to consumers from inclusive innovation are experienced by a wide range of consumers. |
| JEL: | J16 L82 O3 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30987&r=gen |