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on Gender |
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Issue of 2023‒05‒08
four papers chosen by Jan Sauermann Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Magda, Iga (Warsaw School of Economics); Cukrowska-Torzewska, Ewa (University of Warsaw); Palczyńska, Marta (Institute for Structural Research (IBS)) |
| Abstract: | Using data from "Generation and Gender Survey" for Poland, we study the relationship between women's relative income within the household, as measured by the female share of total household income, and women's involvement in housework. We find that households in which the woman contributes more to the total household income are more likely to share housework equally. We also find that individual gender norms matter both for women's involvement in unpaid work at home and for the observed link between the female share of income and inequality between the partners in the division of housework. Women from less traditional households are found to be more likely to share housework equally. However, this negative relationship between the female share of household income and female involvement in housework is not observed among more traditional couples. |
| Keywords: | household income, income inequality, housework, gender norms |
| JEL: | D10 D13 D31 J12 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16045&r=gen |
| By: | Spencer Bastani; Thomas Giebe; Oliver Gürtler |
| Abstract: | Gender differences in overconfidence have been extensively documented in the empirical literature, but the implications for labor market outcomes are not well understood. In this paper, we analyze how men’s relatively higher overconfidence, combined with competitive job incentives, affects gender equality in the labor market and discuss policy implications. The vehicle of analysis is a promotion-signaling model in which wages are realistically determined by market forces. We find that overconfident workers exert more effort to be promoted, and even though they have lower expected ability conditional on promotion, they are more likely to be promoted and experience superior wage growth. Because overconfident workers compete fiercely, they incur higher effort costs and discourage their peers, and we find that overconfidence can be either self-serving or self-defeating. |
| Keywords: | overconfidence, promotion, competition, gender gap, tournament, theory |
| JEL: | C72 D91 J16 J24 M51 M52 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10339&r=gen |
| By: | Sigurdsson, Jósef (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Men have fallen behind women in education in developed countries. Why? I study the impact of a transitory increase in the opportunity cost of schooling on men's and women's educational attainment. I exploit a reform in Iceland that lowered income taxes to zero for one year and compare teenagers above and below the compulsory schooling age. This earnings opportunity increased the dropout rate and led to a permanent loss in years of education for young men, but had no effect on the education of women. Male dropouts suffer substantial losses in lifetime earnings, slow career progression, and reduced marriage and fertility outcomes. The results cannot be explained by negative selection of dropouts or low returns to education but can be reconciled by gender differences in nonpecuniary costs of school attendance, myopia, or perceived returns to education. The findings suggest that due to these gender differences, economic booms misallocate young men away from school, entrenching the gender gap in education. |
| Keywords: | educational attainment, opportunity cost, gender gap, labor supply, tax reform |
| JEL: | H24 I21 I26 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16050&r=gen |
| By: | Kristin F. Butcher; Patrick McEwan; Akila Weerapana |
| Abstract: | Many observers argue that diversity in Economics and STEM fields is critical, not simply because of egalitarian goals, but because who is in a field may shape what is studied by it. If increasing the rate of majoring in mathematically-intensive fields among women is a worthy goal, then understanding whether women’s colleges causally affect that choice is important. Among all admitted applicants to Wellesley College, enrollees are 7.2 percentage points (94%) more likely to receive an Economics degree than non-enrollees (a plausible lower bound given negative selection into enrollment on math skills and major preferences). Overall, 3.2 percentage points—or 44% of the difference between enrollees and non-enrollees—is explained by college exposure to female instructors and students, consistent with a wider role for women’s colleges in increasing female participation in Economics. |
| JEL: | I23 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31144&r=gen |