nep-gen New Economics Papers
on Gender
Issue of 2023‒04‒10
four papers chosen by
Jan Sauermann
Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering

  1. Gender-targeted transfers by default? Evidence from a child allowance reform in Sweden By Lindahl, Erica; Rosenqvist, Olof; Selin, Håkan
  2. How Are Gender Norms Perceived? By Bursztyn, Leonardo; Cappelen, Alexander; Tungodden, Bertil; Voena, Alessandra; Yanagizawa-Drott, David
  3. The role of gender and coauthors in academic publication behavior By Schmal, W. Benedikt; Haucap, Justus; Knoke, Leon
  4. Social Norms and Female Labor Force Participation in Bangladesh: The Role of Social Expectations and Reference Networks By Bellani, Luna; Biswas, Kumar; Fehrler, Sebastian; Marx, Paul; Sabarwal, Shwetlena; Al-Zayed Josh, Syed Rashed

  1. By: Lindahl, Erica (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Rosenqvist, Olof (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy); Selin, Håkan (IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy)
    Abstract: We exploit a sharp birthday discontinuity in a large and universal Swedish cash transfer program, creating plausibly exogenous variation in the default disbursement option, while holding entitlements and other financial incentives constant. When the cash transfer is paid out to the mother by default, instead of a 50/50 default, it has a huge effect on the probability that the transfer is deposited in the mother’s bank account also in the long run. Surprisingly, we find that the default policy redistributes resources to separated low-income mothers. We find no indications that the 100%-to-the-mother default induces mothers to work less or to take more responsibility for the children.
    Keywords: Gender targeting; family transfers; default; child allowance; gender equality;
    JEL: D91 H31 J12
    Date: 2023–03–09
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:ifauwp:2023_004&r=gen
  2. By: Bursztyn, Leonardo (University of Chicago); Cappelen, Alexander (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Tungodden, Bertil (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Voena, Alessandra (Stanford University); Yanagizawa-Drott, David (Zurich University)
    Abstract: Actual and perceived gender norms are key to understanding gender inequality. Using newly-collected, nationally representative datasets from 60 countries covering 80% of the world population, this paper studies gender norms on two policy issues: basic rights, allowing women to work outside of the home, and affirmative action, prioritizing women when hiring for leadership positions. Misperceptions of gender norms are pervasive across the world, and the nature of the misperception is context-dependent. In less gender-equal countries, people underestimate support for both policies, particularly support among men; in more gender-equal countries, people overestimate support for affirmative action, particularly support among women, and underestimate support for basic rights. Gender stereotyping and overweighting of minority views are potential drivers of the global patterns of misperceptions. Our findings indicate how misperceptions of gender norms may obstruct progress toward gender equality and contribute to sustaining gender policies that are not necessarily favored by women.
    Keywords: Social norms; misperceptions; gender
    JEL: J00 J16
    Date: 2023–03–22
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2023_005&r=gen
  3. By: Schmal, W. Benedikt; Haucap, Justus; Knoke, Leon
    Abstract: We use the negotiations for large-scale open-access agreements between German research institutions and leading academic publishers to study how changes in the attractiveness of various journals affect the publication behavior of researchers in economics and adjacent fields. First, as German universities canceled their subscriptions to Elsevier, we study how this affected German economists' incentives to publish in its journals. Second, Springer and Wiley entered into open-access agreements so that researchers in Germany are eligible to publish articles open-access without additional charges for them. Using 243, 757 articles published between 2015 and 2022, we find a shift toward included journals, which is most pronounced among women. For Elsevier, the effect is negative and women have a higher tendency to opt out than men. In mixed teams, the dominant gender drives behavior. We conclude that men tend to seek reputation, women visibility. Thereby, female researchers contribute more to the public good of open science. Our findings provide a new explanatory channel of the academic gender gap.
    Keywords: academic publishing, journal choice, gender differences, DEAL, Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, transformative agreements
    JEL: A14 I23 J16 L86 Z11
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:dicedp:397&r=gen
  4. By: Bellani, Luna (University of Konstanz); Biswas, Kumar (World Bank); Fehrler, Sebastian (University of Bremen); Marx, Paul (University of Bonn); Sabarwal, Shwetlena (World Bank); Al-Zayed Josh, Syed Rashed (World Bank)
    Abstract: About 50% of Bangladesh's female youth working-age population is not in employment, education, or training (NEET). Reducing this number is an important policy goal. However, there is a broad consensus that pervasive gender norms hamper this goal in Bangladesh and other countries from the Global South. In this study, we analyze the social basis of support for young working women. It departs from a theoretical understanding of norms as conditional upon expectations in one's reference network. Based on vignette experiments, we show that manipulating expectations about acceptance of female employment by others influences personal support for women taking up work. Moreover, we address the question of whose views matter. Manipulating the expectation that fathers (or husbands in the case of married NEETs) support the employment of their daughters (wives) has a particularly strong effect on respondents' support. In contrast, the stance of religious authorities and peers has surprisingly little relevance. Our evidence suggests that (expectations about) traditional views of fathers and husbands regarding the role of females are a key obstacle to a higher labor force participation of young women in Bangladesh.
    Keywords: Bangladesh, female labor force participation, gender norms, social expectations, survey experiments
    JEL: D91 J22 J16 Z10
    Date: 2023–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16006&r=gen

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