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on Gender |
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Issue of 2023‒04‒03
two papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Bazen, Stephen (Aix-Marseille University); Charni, Kadija (ESSCA School of Management) |
| Abstract: | In contrast to the UK, the USA and Germany, the majority of students in economics in France are female. Using a national survey of three cohorts of French university graduates in economics, we examine the gender differential in early career earnings. There is a significant raw differential in favour of male economics graduates in both starting pay and earnings three years after graduation, and the latter is wider than the former. Between 1998 and 2013 both gaps have narrowed but have not disappeared. The raw male-female pay differential stood at 10% for economics graduates in 2013. An Oaxaca decomposition reveals that nearly all of the gap is due to a persistent unexplained component. The gender differential among economics graduates is compared to that in two scientific subject areas: the female-dominated life sciences, and physics and chemistry (taken together) where a majority of graduates are male. The gender pay gap is smaller and the general level of earnings is lower in both science subject areas compared to economics. The decomposition attributes the limited gap in life sciences mainly to a composition effect, whereas in economics and physics and chemistry it is almost entirely due to the unexplained component. Gender differences in occupation suggest that female economics graduates are under-represented in more technical roles where two in five male graduates are found and where pay tends to be higher. However, even when occupation and sector are included as controls in an Oaxaca decomposition, two thirds of the gender differential remain unexplained. |
| Keywords: | gender earnings differentials, graduate labour market |
| JEL: | J31 J71 |
| Date: | 2023–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15954&r=gen |
| By: | Israel García (University of Marburg); Bernd Hayo (University of Marburg) |
| Abstract: | Do gender differences matter for politicians’ budgetary behaviour when confronted with an exogenous change in the institutional framework? After the 2013 Spanish municipal reform, municipalities with more than 20, 000 inhabitants were no longer responsible for managing the provision of social services. Using a difference-in-differences estimator in a sample of municipalities from the Madrid region for 2010−2019, we compare gender differences in social services spending before and after the reform between municipalities below 20, 000 inhabitants (control group) and above 20, 000 inhabitants (treatment group). Although social spending was, on average, significantly reduced in the treatment group post-reform, we observe significant differences between municipalities conditional on the gender composition of local governments, i.e. council and mayor. Whereas male-dominated governments cut social expenditure by about 20% of the total budget, gender-balanced and female-dominated governments did not. Moreover, gender-balanced governments combined with female mayors increased social services spending by 40% more than gender-balanced governments combined with male mayors. This finding supports the claim that social spending is, on average, of particular importance to female politicians, as they are willing to bend the law to uphold their interests. |
| Keywords: | Gender, Difference–in–differences, Exogenous reform, Political budget cycles, Spanish municipalities, Madrid region |
| JEL: | C23 E61 D72 H75 I38 J16 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:202306&r=gen |