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on Gender |
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Issue of 2026–01–19
two papers chosen by Jan Sauermann, Institutet för Arbetsmarknads- och Utbildningspolitisk Utvärdering |
| By: | Tho Pham; Daniel Schaefer; Carl Singleton |
| Abstract: | National payroll data reveal that men are paid more than women when they enter firms in Great Britain. Although this hiring wage gap has narrowed over the past two decades, it still accounts for over two-thirds of the steady-state gender pay gap – the wage gap that would eventually prevail under constant employment levels. We find that a significant amount of this hiring wage gap is not explained by men and women working in different firms and occupations. Even when a firm hires men and women into the same specific occupation at roughly the same time, and accounting for previous work experience, there remains an unexplained hiring wage gap within jobs that favours men by 2.4 log points. These findings suggest that gender pay gap reporting laws that focus exclusively on the overall gaps within employers miss an important margin. |
| Keywords: | Gender segregation, Occupation-specific wages, Employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J70 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jku:econwp:2026-01 |
| By: | Jose Joaquin Lopez (University of Memphis); Ashantha Ranasinghe (University of Alberta) |
| Abstract: | We analyze micro-scale businesses in Mexico and find large gender gaps in sales, profit, and access to finance. Accounting for differences in education and entrepreneurial commitment, women-owned firms perform worse and receive less financing than comparable men-owned firms. We interpret these patterns in a model economy where individuals with different managerial abilities choose between wage work and entrepreneurship, while women face discrimination in labor and credit markets. The model replicates observed gender differences in occupations and capital use. Equalizing credit access sharply reduces gender gaps in entrepreneurial earnings, but implies only modest aggregate gains on productivity and output. Size-dependent taxes or income subsidies generate smaller impacts or far more costly gains. |
| Keywords: | informality; gender; micro-firms; misallocation; finance |
| JEL: | J16 O10 O40 O50 |
| Date: | 2025–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:albaec:021996 |