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Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor
Abstract
Increasing returns from specialized human capital is a powerful force creating a division of labor in the allocation of time and investments in human capital between married men and married women. Moreover, since child care and housework are more effort intensive than leisure and other household activities, married women spend less effort on each hour of market work than married men working the same number of hours. Hence, married women have lower hourly earnings than married men with the same market human capital, and they economize on the effort expended on market work by seeking less demanding jobs. The responsibility of married women for child care and housework has major implications for earnings and occupational differences between men and women.
... Les analyses et les répliques féministes produites au fil des ans sur la question du care ont contribué à éroder les fondements de ces interprétations aussi réductrices que sexistes dans leur fondement (Anderson, 1999 ;Fineman, 2004;Folbre, 2001 ;Kittay, 1999). Assimiler l'aide informelle à un loisir, une préférence féminine, c'était ne pas prendre au sérieux la voix des aidantes et les plaintes formulent. ...
... Cette prise de conscience est au moins partiellement attribuable aux arguments élaborés par des philosophes politiques égalitaristes et des économistes féministes au cours des années quatre-vingt-dix et deux mille en faveur de la prise en compte de l'importance de l'ouvrage historiquement confié aux femmes, de l'éducation des enfants aux soins des personnes âgées malades. L'argument essentiel en la faveur de la reconnaissance économique des aidantes se retrouve entre autres dans les travaux d'Elizabeth Anderson (1999), Nancy Guberman (2003), Nancy Folbre (1994;1997) et Angelika Krebs (1998). Il consiste à mettre en évidence les répercussions publiques positives, l'apport à la fois social et économique (et non seulement privé) que représente l'engagement des aidantes auprès d'un proche vulnérable. ...
... Des philosophes politiques égalitaristes et sensibles aux questions de genre ont formulé des critiques convaincantes de cette approche. À ce sujet, on peut lire l'excellent article d'Elizabeth Anderson (1999). 11 La métaphore très éloquente de la cage pour illustrer le fonctionnement structurel de l'oppression est développée dans l'ouvrage qui fü beaucoup de bruit à sa sortie, 14 On peut en déduire que la présumée « dépendance » des femmes n'a jamais été fondamentale, naturelle, due à leur faiblesse féminine, contrairement à ce qu'ont traditionnellement prétendu les antiféministes. ...
Partant du constat que beaucoup de femmes quittent le marché du travail pour se consacrer à la prise en charge familiale des personnes âgées de leur entourage, j’interroge dans cet article l’idée selon laquelle le care, en tant que simili-profession, pourrait constituer une voie émancipatrice pour les femmes. Sur la base d’une révision de la littérature en économie féministe, philosophie féministe égalitariste et politique du care, j’examine les arguments normatifs qui soutiennent la proposition de fournir aux aidantes informelles une rétribution et je présente les problèmes que la mise en pratique d’une telle proposition poserait en matière d’émancipation et d’égalité entre les sexes.
... The second important idea of the human capital model is how the productivity of an individual in market and non-market activities is changed by investments in human capital (Becker, 1992). An individual's incentive to invest in human capital specific to an activity is positively related to the time he or she expects to spend in that activity over the life course (Becker, 1994(Becker, , 1991(Becker, , 1985. Expecting to drop out of the labour force or to dedicate more time to the household and children (for instance, by taking a part-time job) reduces lifetime work and hence the returns to human capital. ...
... Expecting to drop out of the labour force or to dedicate more time to the household and children (for instance, by taking a part-time job) reduces lifetime work and hence the returns to human capital. Furthermore, economies of scale from investments in activity-specific human capital encourage spouses to specialize in different types of investments and to allocate their time differently (Becker, 1991(Becker, , 1985. In early studies (Becker, 1985;Mincer and Polachek, 1974;Polachek, 1975a;Weiss and Gronau, 1981) this was used to explain why married women had lower returns than married men: women expected to participate less in the labour force and the traditional division of labour at home increases the incentive of married women to invest in less remunerable home activities and men to invest in more marketable skills. ...
... Furthermore, economies of scale from investments in activity-specific human capital encourage spouses to specialize in different types of investments and to allocate their time differently (Becker, 1991(Becker, , 1985. In early studies (Becker, 1985;Mincer and Polachek, 1974;Polachek, 1975a;Weiss and Gronau, 1981) this was used to explain why married women had lower returns than married men: women expected to participate less in the labour force and the traditional division of labour at home increases the incentive of married women to invest in less remunerable home activities and men to invest in more marketable skills. Polachek (1975b) shows theoretically and empirically that within-family specialization causes differences in market productivity, which lead to opposite effects on the wage of wives and husbands. ...
Most migration decisions are not made by isolated individuals but by families or entire households. However, international family migration remains an understudied field. This article provides an overview of the literature on gender and family dynamics as a path to understanding the family decision to migrate internationally. The first three sections summarize the major historical trends and economic theories on the gender pay gap and give a brief overview of the neoclassical migration model and household models in economics. The central section of this article documents the models of family migration in economics and sociology. Despite the recent improvements, the analysis of family migration still lags far behind that of individual migration and can gain from incorporating gender-theories and the recent developments in household models.
... The reasons lie in the high involvement of women in the care economy, i.e. unpaid labour to care for children and vulnerable household members, as well as in household management. As a result, it is women who choose jobs that allow them to better balance family and work, but with lower pay and fewer career opportunities (Becker 1985;Goldin 2014). Spending time on household chores and caring for vulnerable household members may lead to women's lower productivity at work. ...
... The decomposition of the wage gap indicates at least three determinants of the differentials: 1) horizontal segregation ("female" vs. "male" occupations, a higher proportion of women in the poorly protected informal employment sector, etc.) and vertical segregation (differences in the representation of women and men at levels of the vertical career ladder) (Blau et al. 2013;Pan 2015;Cortés and Pan 2018); 2) women's human capital lag, for example, due to a relatively low level of education (Mincer and Polachek 1974;Becker 1985;Blau and Kahn 2017); 3) direct gender discrimination in the labour market, where employers pay different wages for the same work (Stanley and Jarrel 1998;Black and Strahan 2001;Flabbi 2010). ...
... Such discrimination makes women choose jobs with characteristics that allow them to better balance family and work, but with lower remuneration and fewer opportunities for labour market participation and career advancement. This, in turn, negatively affects the amount of time they can afford for paid work (overtime hours, business trips, training, etc.) and possibly the work intensity in the workplace (Becker 1985;Goldin 2014;Angelov et al. 2016;Budig and England 2001;Gallen 2024). Moreover, even the level of human capital is related to the initial opportunities to acquire it. ...
Numerous empirical studies show that mothers are often paid less than women without children, who have similar profiles. This paper presents the results of a meta-analysis of existing estimates of the motherhood wage penalty (over 2,000 estimates on data for 38 countries).
A statistically significant publication bias was found towards a higher penalty estimate. However, the motherhood penalty persists even after correcting for the bias. Many sources of heterogeneity of the current estimates of the motherhood penalty were shown to exist, including technical characteristics of the model, precision of the estimate, and inclusion of information on women’s human capital, employment, and other individual characteristics in the regression model.
The analysis confirmed the significance of such sources of the motherhood penalty as losses caused by employment interruptions and underinvestment in human capital, exchange of part of the wage for more convenient working conditions, reduced work effort, including due to high involvement in unpaid domestic work. The hypothesis of mothers’ lower productivity is not supported.
Controlling for regional variables revealed a relatively higher motherhood penalty in Western Europe and the United States and a relatively lower one in Latin America. This provides some empirical evidence in favour of the study’s hypothesis of a possible relationship between the size of the motherhood penalty and fertility concentration. In countries with a significant heterogeneity in the distribution of women by the number of births (high prevalence of childlessness and/or multiple children), employers may favour smaller gender pay gaps along with a higher motherhood penalty.
... According to both human capital theories (Becker 1975(Becker , 1985 and theories of labor market segregation (Polachek 1981), several mutually reinforcing mechanisms contribute to this phenomenon. Firstly, women tend to invest less in workplace training due to lower anticipated returns on such investments. ...
... They often expect career interruptions due to motherhood and parenthood more than men. Secondly, employers recognize this potential for career interruption and, thus, lower returns on their own investment, making them less inclined to support and sponsor training for female employees (Becker 1975(Becker , 1985. Additionally, the unequal division of labor at home results in women having more unpaid work obligations outside their jobs (Schober and Zoch 2019), which poses a significant barrier to their participation (Massing and Gauly, 2017;Vacul ıkov a et al. 2021). ...
... These findings support earlier large-scale analyses of PIAAC data from a decade ago (D€ ammrich et al., 2015) and more detailed analyses using German panel data (Zoch, 2023). They also align with general theories of gender inequality in AET (Becker, 1985;Polachek, 1981), which argue that interrupted and segmented career paths negatively affect women's chances of participating in job-related and employersponsored training. Factors such as parenthood interruptions, higher degrees of part-time employment in small-sized companies, and less stable career paths influence not only women's current careers and employment but also their participation in AET, which, in turn, affects their future prospects. ...
This study explores gender-related inequality in participation in Adult Education and Training (AET) in four countries with vastly different adult learning systems and support measures for women’s AET. Our examination of the data from an original international survey conducted in 2022 has found that the participation of men and women clearly differs among types of AET. Despite the frequently reported equal gender participation rates, the presented findings show that men participate more in job-related and employer-sponsored non-formal education (NFE), while women manage to develop more general skills in non-job-related and non-employer-sponsored NFE. Furthermore, our findings reveal that the primary reasons for participation in NFE are remarkably similar between men and women and, therefore, cannot be used as a source of explanation for different participation patterns. In addition, the extent of gender inequality in job-related and employer-sponsored NFE across countries exhibits minimal variation. All this implies that countries with vastly different adult learning systems currently display a degree of similarity in gender inequality regarding NFE, which could be determined more by characteristics of the labor market than the welfare regime.
... La explicación neoclásica del TDNR se remite fundamentalmente a los trabajos de Gary Becker (1965, 1985, Reuben Gronau (1977Gronau ( , 1986 y Patricia Apps (Apps, 2004;Apps y Rees, 1996, 1997. El punto de partida de esta explicación es el individualismo metodológico y el comportamiento optimizador de los agentes. ...
... En trabajos neoclásicos posteriores se ha teorizado el impacto negativo del TDNR sobre la productividad del trabajo asalariado y, en consecuencia, los salarios (Becker, 1985). Posteriormente, gran parte de la literatura empírica se ha basado en dicho marco teórico para intentar estimar el impacto de la brecha de TDNR sobre la brecha salarial (Herrera et al., 2019;Maani y Cruickshank, 2010;Qi y Dong, 2016). ...
El objetivo de esta tesis es explicar los principales determinantes de la magnitud y la distribución del trabajo doméstico no remunerado (TDNR) en los hogares obreros mexicanos. En nuestro marco teórico –basado en la literatura marxista-feminista y la teoría económica de Marx–, ambos problemas son diferentes y están determinados secuencialmente. En primer lugar, la magnitud del TDNR estaría determinada por el déficit de bienes de subsistencia (DBS) que enfrentan los hogares al tener ingresos salariales por debajo de sus requerimientos de reproducción social. En segundo lugar, la distribución del TDNR responderían a determinadas relaciones desiguales de género al interior de la propia clase trabajadora. A partir de las anteriores hipótesis, construimos varios modelos teóricos cuantitativos y aplicamos varios análisis econométricos con el fin de corroborar y evaluar sus distintas predicciones teóricas. Así, empleando datos de la ENUT México 2014, se estimaron cuatro modelos econométricos de corte transversal encontrando un efecto positivo y estadísticamente significativo del DBS sobre la magnitud del TDNR. Respecto a la distribución del TDNR, y siguiendo las principales hipótesis de la literatura, se realizó un análisis econométrico de corte transversal con dos modelos (MCO y PROBIT). Se encontró evidencia empíricamente robusta del efecto directo del salario familiar masculino sobre las brechas de género en el TDNR, así como evidencia de que la magnitud del TDNR no tiene un efecto estadísticamente significativo sobre el grado de desigualdad en su distribución. Finalmente, se propuso un marco analítico que integra la dinámica del TDNR dentro de la teoría de acumulación de capital de Marx y, empleando técnicas econométricas de series de tiempo, se evaluaron algunos determinantes de la evolución temporal de las amas de casa. Nuestros resultados tienen implicaciones relevantes para la literatura heterodoxa sobre TDNR, así como para las discusiones de política pública sobre economía del cuidado y equidad de género.
... The new family economy hypothesis raised by Becker contends that increasing returns from specialized human capital is a powerful force creating a division of labor in allocating time and investments in human capital between married men and married women. The overwhelming dominance of women in care work stems largely from their role as mothers, who always had primary responsibility for child care and other housework (Becker, 1985). However, some empirical studies' findings are inconsistent with these two hypotheses. ...
... In order to have enough time for daily household chores and child caring, women with more robust family responsibilities tend to have more limits on searching for a job. Becker (1985) confirms that more effort spent on household chores will result in less effort, lower wages at work, and even occupational gender segregation. This result will further increase the imbalance in relative resources and lead to the ''feminization'' of care work. ...
Asserting the value of care work within a family is not only a significant issue that affects the quality of marital life, but it also lays the groundwork for supporting the sustainable development of society and, ultimately, the country. Constantly, the theory of surplus value is employed to help understand the value of care work. However, it still lacks a macro-construction from a gender perspective. This article analyzes 15 judicial cases after introducing the Civil Code and compares the condition of application, the amount, and the factor considered in recognition of care work compensation under Chinese law. It concludes that in practice, the amount of compensation for care work remains relatively modest, with the division of the community property division heavily influencing it. At the macro level, the recognition of the economic value of the care work compensation must be emphasized from a gender construction. In contrast, at the micro level, a balance must be struck between the possibility of the other spouse benefiting from “the opportunity cost.”
... These aversive consequences may arise because the HEED and STEM occupations are associated with different rewards in the labour market, with STEM occupations being systematically better paid. Hence, the humanities bias may be associated with the petrification of the stereotypical perception of gender roles because it is believed that partners with less-demanding and lower-paid jobs should take on more childcare and household chores (Akerlof & Kranton, 2010;Becker, 1985). This calls into question whether the mere reversal of the educational gender gap could serve as an indicator of attenuating the stereotypical perceptions of gender roles, leading to an increasing level of gender equality. ...
... However, contrary to the standard economic expectations regarding women's comparative advantage in caregiving, this unequal division persists even among couples in which women earn more or are the sole earners. Generally, the gap between household chores and childcare is wider than the gap in earnings (Akerlof & Kranton, 2010;Becker, 1985). In addition to the economic consequences, including limited women's career opportunities and the gender wage gap, men's underrepresentation in childcare also results in lower well-being of children and of the men themselves (Meeussen et al., 2020;Olsson et al., 2023). ...
The present paper investigates female and male students' perceptions of descriptive and prescriptive gender norms in Slovakia and their expectations of and preferences for unpaid domestic work in the students' future family lives. We explore the Slovak subset of the 'Understanding Communal Orientation in Men' (UCOM) project, which aims to better understand the social-psychological factors associated with students' interest in taking care-oriented roles and occupations. Data were collected at several universities across Slovakia in 2018 at psychology (as an example of the HEED field of study) and STEM departments traditionally dominated by female and male students, respectively. Our final sample consisted of 129 psychology students (106 females) and 124 STEM students (39 females). The results point to differences between female and male students' perceptions of gender norms regarding unpaid domestic work, with male students reporting both descriptive and prescriptive norms as being more equal than what female students note. Interestingly, the men and women agreed in their preferences and expectations of how unpaid work should and will be distributed in their future family lives. Regardless of biological sex, the students wanted-and expected-women to take on more of unpaid work, indicating that the decision to study does not foster the desire for gender equality in either female or male students. Next, we explored the associations between the decision to study traditionally gender-incongruent majors and our dependent variables. Because of the limitations of the sample and country-specific conditions, we can only cautiously suggest that the gender-incongruent major choices may become a meaningful indicator of the changing dynamics in how gendered roles and norms are understood in society.
... First, differences in human capital accumulation (e.g., education, experience) across genders may lead individuals to seek jobs suited to their characteristics (Mincer & Polachek, 1974). Second, job choices are influenced by preferences and job characteristics, with cultural norms and stereotypes reinforcing traditional gender roles (England, 2010;Becker, 1985;Bergmann, 1974). Third, gender discrimination exists, with only firms or sectors that do not discriminate employing women (Becker, 1985). ...
... Second, job choices are influenced by preferences and job characteristics, with cultural norms and stereotypes reinforcing traditional gender roles (England, 2010;Becker, 1985;Bergmann, 1974). Third, gender discrimination exists, with only firms or sectors that do not discriminate employing women (Becker, 1985). Recent literature highlights that women's job satisfaction increases with the number of women in a specific occupation. ...
This study investigates gender differences in overeducation and employee engagement among employees in Jammu, India. Overeducation, a situation where individuals have higher educational qualifications than required for their current roles, is particularly pronounced among female employees in this region, reflecting a significant mismatch between educational attainment and job requirements. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research surveyed 623 participants from various public sector institutions in Jammu, with results indicating that women experience higher levels of overeducation compared to men. Interestingly, despite the prevalence of overeducation, female employees exhibited higher levels of engagement than their male counterparts. These findings suggest that while overeducation is more common among women, it does not necessarily decrease their work engagement, potentially pointing to adaptive strategies or resilience factors at play.
... From a microeconomic perspective, women's allocation of time and energy between paid work, unpaid work and leisure is influenced by market-oriented human capital, which increases the incentives for labour market participation (Becker 1985). Market-oriented human capital refers to the productive capacities of individuals as income-producing agents in the economy (Rosen 1989). ...
... Market-oriented human capital refers to the productive capacities of individuals as income-producing agents in the economy (Rosen 1989). This type of human capital is positively linked to education and time spent on the labour market (Becker 1985;Kitterød and Rønsen 2013), making women with lower educational levels and limited job experiences less likely to participate (Kan 2007). Job experiences' source and recency also play a role; women with foreign or long-past job experiences are less likely to re-enter due to international mismatches in human capital (Zwysen 2019) and human capital depreciation over time (Gorlich and De Grip 2009). ...
Despite their potential vulnerability and untapped work potential, research on the group of women without a paid job and social benefits is limited. This study is the first to identify profiles among women in this group based on their intersecting economic, sociodemographic and contextual characteristics. A cluster analysis conducted on Dutch population register data from 2019 challenges previous research that lumped women without a paid job and social benefits into a single group. Rather, we reveal three distinct profiles: ‘Dutch empty nesters (i.e., mothers with adult children) in affluent households’, ‘Migrant women in urban living areas’ and ‘Dutch, educated mothers with affluent partners’. The identification of these three profiles can mark a significant step in developing tailored active labour market policies for women without a paid job and social benefits.
... Many researchers [26][27][28] have confirmed the existence of the "motherhood wage penalty", they pointed out that women's fertility behavior has a significant negative impact on their labor participation and salaries. The impact of children on women's labor market outcomes is widespread, affecting in terms of labor force participation, working hours, and wages [29]. ...
... This observation can be linked to several theories. According to the theory of human capital [26], the motherhood wage gap is caused by differences in the standard human capital characteristics between mothers and non-mothers (such as differences in age and education), as well as the loss and non-accumulation of human capital during employment breaks or reduced working hours related to children [40,41]. Besides, based on the compensating wage differentials theory [42], mothers are not only likely to work less and have lower work experience, but may also choose different kinds of jobs. ...
Based on China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data from 2012 to 2020, we estimate the effect of the "Universal Two-Child" (UTC) policy on women’s employment income in China by the Difference-in-Difference (DID) model. Our results show that the UTC policy leads to an average decrease of 20.86% in women’s employment income. Moreover, we reveal the mediation effect in the impact of the UTC policy on women’s income and find that the UTC policy leads to a decrease in women’s income by reducing their working hours and hourly wages. Furthermore, we find that the negative impacts of the UTC policy on women’s employment income are greater among women under 35 years old and those without a bachelor’s degree.
... El interés en este enfoque recae en la distribución del tiempo laboral y en el concepto del tiempo total de trabajo (tiempo de trabajo remunerado y no remunerado) (Bittman y Wajcman, 2000). Sin embargo, la existencia de la división sexual del trabajo provoca interpretaciones contrarias: 1) el argumento de que los sexos se complementan para explicar el motivo por lo cual los hombres se especializan en trabajo remunerado y las mujeres en el no remunerado (Becker, 1985), y 2) la interpretación feminista que afirma que la división sexual del trabajo tiene sus raíces en un sistema de poder desigual entre hombres y mujeres (Berk, 1985;England, 1982;Oppenheimer, 1994), donde la asignación del trabajo no remunerado se establece por género y no por una asignación racional de recursos. ...
El capítulo tiene como objetivo analizar la forma en cómo construyen el tiempo libre las mujeres y los hombres en contextos urbanos. El estudio se realizó con la información recolectada a través de 178 entrevistas semiestructuradas en zonas urbanas de Ciudad de México, Estado de México, Oaxaca y Tamaulipas, la investigación fue elaborada mediante codificación abierta y análisis del discurso. Los resultados muestran que independientemente del estatus laboral de las mujeres, la mayoría de las actividades realizadas en su tiempo libre, durante y en el fin de semana, ocurren en el hogar, con un rango reducido de libertad y autonomía. A diferencia de los hombres, quienes pueden gozar de tiempo libre fuera de su hogar y/o sin la compañía de su familia. Nuestros hallazgos ponen de realce dos aspectos: el primero, las brechas de género en el tiempo libre y la importancia de diseñar políticas públicas para disminuir estas desigualdades; la segunda, la relevancia de incorporar la categoría de tiempo libre al medir el bienestar.
... Since women are traditionally more likely than men to work intermittently, especially after having children, they are less motivated to invest in training and education that would improve their income and work skills. Lower investment in individual human capital at the education level would explain the lower earnings gap for women compared to men (Becker, 1985). On human capital theory, most studies suggest that it plays an important role in explaining the gender wage gap. ...
... This study is based on theories of gender equality in fertility (Goldscheider et al., 2015;McDonald, 2000McDonald, , 2013. These theories propose that as women enter the labor force and assume paid employment, they experience a "second shift" of unpaid household and childcare responsibilities, leading to a decrease in family size (Becker, 1985;Goldscheider et al., 2015;Hochschild & Machung, 2012). This is attributed to persistent gender inequality within the family, despite relative equality between men and women in public spheres like education and employment (McDonald, 2000). ...
Drawing on the Gender Revolution Framework, this research uses data from Canada General Social Survey and binary logistic regression to examine how the gender division of housework influences fertility intentions among partnered women aged 18–39 ( N = 1589), across various employment and education levels. Unadjusted results showed that women who shared household routine tasks (cooking, cleaning, dishes, and laundry) and intermittent tasks (grocery shopping, organizing social life, finance, and bill paying) with their partner had higher intentions to have children. The adjusted findings revealed that women’s employment status moderated the relationship between gender division of household routine tasks and fertility intentions, while education had no significant moderating effect. Employed women who did not share equally household routine tasks with their spouse had a lower probability of intention to have children (0.22), compared to their unemployed counterparts (0.48). The findings have significant implications for social and family policies that are discussed in detail.
... One way education empowers women is by increasing their productivity, labor force, and political participation. According to the literature, the relationship between education and labor force participation depends on the impact of education on the reservation wage of women relative to the market wage rate (see, for example, Becker 1985;Caliendo et al. 2017;Goldin 2014;Lam and Duryea 1999;Lincove 2008;Schultz 1960). If education increases the productivity of women at home rather than in the labor market, the opportunity cost of working outside the home is higher, and female labor force participation may not increase. ...
Women’s education and empowerment have engaged the interest of policymakers and academics for many years. We employ individual-level data from Ghana and Uganda in this paper to offer a comparative analysis of the impact of women’s education and empowerment on six household welfare indicators: child labor, child school enrollment, female labor force participation, fertility rate, household food expenditure, and nutrition intake. Comparing the two countries is insightful due to their distinct socio-economic structures and cultural contexts, which might influence the dynamics of women’s empowerment differently. The study utilizes the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Instrumental Variables (IV) regressions and provides a battery of robustness tests. The empirical results show that in a household, the woman’s and man’s education levels are significant determinants of household welfare. However, contrary to common assumptions, the woman’s education does not have a stronger effect than the man’s, and her relative bargaining position has negligible effects on the welfare indicators studied, at least for the cases of Ghana and Uganda. Further sensitivity checks support these findings, suggesting that female education can improve household welfare, but its impact may not necessarily operate through enhanced bargaining power within the household.
... Researchers concerned with labor market gender inequality commonly base their hypotheses on human capital theory. A basic assumption, developed by Gary Becker (1985Becker ( , 1991, is that women -but not men -accommodate family responsibilities in their human capital investment strategies, choosing jobs that require less skill development, less time commitment, and less effort than men's jobs, thereby compromising their labor market prospects. The underlying idea is that families benefit economically if spouses specialize such that one spouse invests more time and effort in paid work while the other focuses on care work in the family. ...
Immigrant women are widely portrayed as facing a serious labor market disadvantage, yet gender differences in immigrants’ occupational mobility have been little explored. The article studied gender gaps in immigrants’ occupational entrapment, defined as entering and remaining in low-skilled/low-prestige work rather than moving on to more skilled/prestigious work. The analyses were based on longitudinal register data and followed five immigrant cohorts arriving in Sweden in the early 2000s over a 12-year period. The results show that immigrant women were more likely than men to start out in a low-skilled/low-prestige job and less likely to experience occupational mobility. However, tertiary education strongly mitigated these gender gaps. At the same time, the differences between high- and low-educated individuals widened more among women than among men. Family-related factors and country-specific human capital did not explain these patterns, but the findings indicate that occupational gender segregation can be crucial to immigrants’ mobility prospects.
... Furthermore, because women expect shorter and more intermittent working lives, they have less incentive to invest in market-oriented formal education and on-the-job training; and their lower investment in human capital will result in lower earnings relative to men's earnings. The longer time women spend on housework may also reduce the effort they put into their market-oriented work relative to men, given the hours worked, and hence also reduce their productivity and wages (Becker, 1985). To the extent that women choose occupations for which on-the-job training is less important, gender differences in occupations can also be expected. ...
The gender pay gap (GPG) is a very relevant issue in Italy, but also in the international context, and it generates significant political and social debate. This study contributes to this discussion by presenting the empirical results of an analysis of the impact of the new provisions set out in Law No. 162/2021 for Italian companies that are required, with more than 50 employees, to submit a periodic report on the GPG. This significant change in progress requires companies to understand both which indicator to use to calculate the level of the pay gap and how to report the information, especially in the non-financial report.
... According to this theory, couples are expected to combine their resources to increase household utility rather than individual utility (Becker, 1991). This theory suggests that the most efficient method for optimizing household economic benefits is to separate unpaid and paid work between spouses (Becker, 1985(Becker, , 1991. The decision to specialize in an area is determined by comparing each person's productivity in each area (Pepin et al., 2018). ...
This study aims to analyze Asian marriage migrant women’s participation in the labor market, focusing on the case of Korean husbands in Korea, who have an interaction effect between resources and couple’s gender role attitudes. Data on 4,610 couples consisting of Asian marriage migrant women and Korean husbands were extracted from the Survey on the Actual Conditions of Multicultural Families (2018). Logistic regression models and average marginal effects were tested. The results indicated that Asian marriage migrant women with high-income husbands who believe in gender egalitarianism have a negative impact on labor market participation, including the interaction effect of resources and gender role attitudes. The findings indicate that traditional gender divisions of labor are deeply rooted among Asian marriage migrant women and Korean husbands.
... Waldfogel (1997) estimated a wage penalty of 5% to 15% between mothers and non-mothers, while Zhang (2009) estimated an average hourly earnings gap of 30%, as of age 40, between women without children and mothers with more than three years of career interruption. Several mechanisms can account for the drop in mothers' income even after controlling for observable characteristics; employer discrimination (Correll et al., 2007;Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004), adjustments in human capital investment (e.g., Hill, 1979;Budig & England, 2001;Budig & Hodges, 2010, Becker, 1985, family structure and resources Budig and Hodges (2010), and even shifts in occupations (Goldin, 2014, Adda et al. 2017Cortes & Pan, 2018). ...
This study estimates the heterogeneous effects of the first childbirth on mothers’ annual income, using data from several waves (1979-2018) of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Women usually experience an immediate decrease in their income after childbirth, compared to what they would have earned if they had not become mothers. This gap closes somewhat over time, though mothers never fully catch up to their counterfactuals. Previous work tried to explain this “motherhood penalty” by estimating the average treatment effect of children on women’s income; however, these effects can be quite heterogeneous across mothers with different observable characteristics. Instead, our analysis centers on the distribution of the individual-level effects of the first childbirth on mothers’ income, using the Changes-in-Changes model and quantile regression. Identifying the features of this distribution is a challenging task as it requires knowledge of joint distribution. We find that around 73% of mothers have lower income after their first childbirth than they would have had if they had not had a child. These adverse effects are particularly pronounced among 10–20% of mothers. Our quantile regression analysis indicates that the first childbirth most negatively affects older, single/divorced, white, and more educated mothers.
... During maternity leave, women will experience occupational downward, long-term wage decline, and a low re-employment probability, even after only a few months (Angrist and Evans 1996;Stone 2007;Qi and Dong 2016). After giving birth, the wage gap is even more prominent because mothers are more inclined to seek part-time instead of full-time jobs or switch their work to more flexible, less labour-intensive, less committed, or lower-skilled employment (Becker 1985;Juhn and Mccue 2017). Such translations often disadvantage their wages (Adair et al 2002). ...
On 1 January 2016, China further relaxed its family planning policy and adopted the universal two-child policy, which allows any Chinese couple to have two children to address the country’s increasingly severe ageing problems and low fertility. With this shift comes a direct and profound impact on society, especially women; this paper evaluates the effect of the universal two-child policy on the gender wage gap and its mechanism. Several major conclusions emerge from this analysis. The policy significantly expands the urban gender wage gap by 12.86% in the low-policy-fertility-rate (PFR) provinces versus high-PFR provinces. Evidently, it increases the gap among younger or lower-educated people. Moreover, the severity of gender discrimination in the labour market after the implementation of the universal two-child policy is rising, and deserves further attention.
... Since women are traditionally more likely than men to work intermittently, especially after having children, they are less motivated to invest in training and education that would improve their income and work skills. Lower investment in individual human capital at the education level would explain the lower earnings gap for women compared to men (Becker, 1985). On human capital theory, most studies suggest that it plays an important role in explaining the gender wage gap. ...
The global economy is currently facing many challenges, some old and persistent, and some new,in various forms. Gender inequality in the labour market is an older problem that has a globaldimension and affects women both in terms of labour force participation and pay. For equal workand similar responsibilities, women earn on average significantly less than men. This paper aims toaddress gender pay inequalities as a problem of the global economy. The aim of the paper is toreview theoretical approaches and explore the extent to which these theories can explain the genderpay gap. The first part of the paper argues for the ethical dimension of the problem studied. Attentionis then focused on the main myths that cast doubt on the reality of gender pay discrimination. In thefinal part, human capital theory, game theory and the theory of labour's contribution to productivityare discussed. Our thesis is that these theories, at a particular level, offer only partial, unsatisfactoryexplanations. Taken together they provide detail and offer richer explanations of the gender wagegap.
... According (Becker, 1985) developed a theory to study the household economic model, where consumption and production activities are not separated and the use of family labor is prioritized. This theory views households as decision makers in production and consumption activities and their relationship to the allocation of time and income which are analyzed simultaneously. ...
This research was conducted to determine the effect of Income and Electronic Money (E-Money) on Consumption Behavior. This data specifically takes students of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universitas Brawijaya (Class of 2019 - 2021). This study uses a quantitative approach. The sampling method used in this research is purposive sampling. The method used in this study is the Partial Least Square (PLS) method with the SMARTPLS 3.0 tool. The sample of this study is 289 students who use E-money as a medium of exchange. And the results of the analysis show that the income variable has no significant effect on consumption behavior. Meanwhile, Electronic Money has a significant effect on Consumption Behavior of Students of S1 Economics, Finance and Banking, Universitas Brawijaya
... As established in Becker's (1965Becker's ( , 1985 model of time allocation, engaging in a time-consuming activity places a constraint on other time-consuming activities because a fixed amount of time is available in a day. Prior literature finds that time that is spent on digital consumption can displace time on physically active leisure activities (Mannell et al., 2005) and sleeping (Dresp-Langley & Hutt, 2022) --especially for young individuals (LeBourgeois et al., 2017). ...
With the prevalence of smartphones, it is important to understand the relationship between the smartphone channel and the computer channel. In this paper, we examine the extent to which smartphones substitute for or complement computers. We utilize unique panel data on individuals’ smartphone and computer usage, which contain detailed information on all domains and apps that individuals visit on their smartphones and computers. To examine the effect that smartphone usage has on computer usage, we exploit the panel nature of the data and use instrumental variables. We instrument for smartphone usage time with the use of the Android operating system version. We find that an increase in smartphone usage time decreases computer usage time, which indicates that smartphones and computers are overall substitutes. We find that the substitution pattern is greater on weekends compared to weekdays. We also examine how the effect of smartphone usage on computer usage differs across user characteristics. When we additionally examine the heterogeneity in substitution effects across domain and app categories, we find larger substitution effects for categories where computers may have been a dominant traditional digital channel prior to smartphones.
... We find that the observed negative relationship between good mental health and energy poverty holds among men but not women. This finding could be linked with the traditional breadwinning role of men [53,54]. In many societies, men are expected to be the primary household breadwinners. ...
Energy poverty is a growing global concern. This paper aims to investigate the role of poor mental health as a risk factor for energy poverty using longitudinal data from Australia. The study examines the direct effects of mental health on energy poverty and explores potential mechanisms involving saving behavior, gambling, and social trust. The findings, which account for the endogeneity of mental health, suggest that poor mental health increases the likelihood of being in energy poverty. Furthermore, saving behavior is a mechanism through which mental health influences energy poverty. The study's findings imply that implementing policies to support mental health could serve as a promising strategy for addressing energy poverty.
... In her research on the subject, she sought to trace how, while gender equality has changed significantly, women of different generations still relate to the issue of work-life balance [20]. Workplace productivity theory suggests that mothers are less effective in their workplaces thus contributing less social capital to the economy, which may also be a consequence of the fact that household chores and childcare, which in many cases are still traditional female "tasks", take so much energy away from women that they become less productive in the workplace [21]. In recent years, several studies have dealt with the phenomenon of the so-called motherhood penalty in the labour market, which is also closely linked to gender inequalities. ...
Background
The family, as the basic socialization environment, is a complex dynamic system that - as a whole and through its subsystems - is in relationships with other social systems (Bagdy in Family socialization and personality disorders. Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, Budapest, 2002; Lakatos et al. in Mentálhigiéné és Pszichoszomatika 21(1):56–85, 2020). The system with which the family system has long-term relationships is the work system/environment. Creating and maintaining a work-life balance has become a central issue in our societies, as they are two of the most organising forces, and reconciling them is a very difficult task due to the demands and expectations coming from both directions, often simultaneously (Makra et al. in Magyar Pszichológiai Szemle 67(3):491–518, 2012). This kind of “double burden” primarily affects women, but their increasing role in the labour market is not necessarily followed by an equal sharing of work within family life (Engler et al. in Work-life balance in women’s careers. In: Tardos K, Paksi V, Fábri Gy (eds) Scientific careers in the early 21st century. Belvedere Meridionale, Szeged, pp 114–126, 2021). We hypothesise that involvement in work negatively correlates with work-life balance, making it more difficult to integrate into the family. It was expected that the relationship between the number of children and mothers’ professional involvement would be negative. A positive correlation was expected between the age of the youngest child and the mothers’ work involvement. On the other hand, a family united by cohesion and resilience leads to higher job satisfaction.
Methods
For the present analysis, we analysed the relationships between work-family conflict and family structure in working mothers with children in a sample of 273 participants. The self-reported questionnaire included demographic data and 2 standard questionnaires: the Work-Family Conflict Questionnaire and the Olson-Family Test (FACES-IV.). The study was conducted in Hungary.
Results
No significant relationship was found between work involvement and work-family conflict. A negative relationship was observed between work involvement and family involvement. Similiarily, no significant relationship was found between the number of children, the age of the youngest child and work involvement, contrary to expectations. The findings indicate a positive relationship between good family cohesion, flexibility and job satisfaction.
Conclusion
Striking a work-family balance is a challenging process for families with young children, especially working mothers. A mutually negative relationship between work and family involvement has been shown. The importance of a well-functioning family, with adequate cohesion and flexibility, is reflected in family and job satisfaction. The relationship between work-to-family conflict and job involvement is moderated significantly only when family flexibility is low. The results from the present pilot study indicate important relationships between variables and point to further research directions worth investigating in a larger sample in the future.
... These differences make it precarious to use overly simplified model specifications when analysing life satisfaction and household responsibilities. For example, when looking at the results of the linear models, one might draw the conclusion that a couple could maximize utility by dividing household responsibilities in a way that women should do the majority of the routine chores while men should do the majority of the paid work and outdoor tasks which is in line with the economic theory of specialization within households developed by Becker (1985Becker ( , 1993. However, the results of the quadratic models do not give clear signs that specialization and division of household responsibilities would be beneficial to the couple's total utility. ...
Historically, the division of labour within the household has been characterized by women allocating more time to domestic labour and men allocating more time to market labour. Although pressure for gender equality in both domestic and market labour is rising, it is unclear how the division of labour within the household relates to life satisfaction. Using panel data from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (2002–2021) and couple-fixed effects models we estimate, by gender, the relationship between own and partner’s time spent on various household responsibilities and life satisfaction using three different measures of time use for four household responsibilities. Household responsibilities are divided into routine chores, taking care of own children, outdoor tasks, and paid work. Our main findings include that household responsibilities that significantly relate to life satisfaction differ by gender. However, outdoor tasks (maintenance and gardening) positively relate to the life satisfaction of both men and women. We further find that women’s life satisfaction is more sensitive to comparisons to others, both within and outside the home, than men’s life satisfaction. The results also suggest that men experience increased life satisfaction if they spend more time on household responsibilities traditionally performed by women and less time on paid work. Conversely, women's life satisfaction does not increase with greater spousal contribution to these tasks but does increase when they themselves spend less time on paid work.
... According to [32], men earn more money than women even when working the same amount. Married men benefit from their wives managing the home and providing essential support, aiding their careers directly or indirectly [22]. ...
This study examines the dual roles of women in Kerala, India, balancing professional responsibilities with traditional household duties using Work-Family Conflict theory. Despite Kerala's educational advancements and higher sex ratio, cultural expectations impose significant pressures on women, causing self-doubt, anxiety, and mental fatigue. The research reveals that while some women receive spousal support, the unequal division of household chores exacerbates work-family conflicts. A descriptive research design with convenience sampling was used to select respondents, and Chi-square tests assessed the impact of gender on beliefs about societal norms causing emotional and mental conflicts. Pearson’s Correlation evaluated the relationship between spousal support and job pressure among women. Despite the crucial role of economic contributions from both partners, traditional gender roles continue to impede women’s career progression and overall well-being. The study highlights the need for supportive workplace policies and societal changes to ease the dual burden on women, enhance gender equality, and improve mental health.
... The economic arguments that have long been used to explain the unequal division of paid and unpaid care work rely on the theory of comparative advantage and gains from specialization. Starting from the seminal work of Becker (Becker, 1985), economic models of the family suggested that a division of labor within the household is driven by different experiences and choices to invest in human capital. Becker argued that efficient households require specialization and the pattern of specialization can be explained at least in part by the differences in the initial investment in human capital (market skills for men and household skills for women) (Becker, 2009). ...
We provide new evidence on the gender gap in unpaid domestic care in Armenia, using individual level data from 2018 and 2020. Our study confirms the existence of gender inequalities in the provision of unpaid domestic care. In particular, we show that the existing gender gap increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to men, women were more likely to separate from their jobs to provide unpaid domestic care. Moreover, among women the proportion of those who separated from a job specifically for the reason of providing unpaid domestic work was larger than among men. While universally recognized policies are important to mitigate gender imbalances in unpaid domestic care in Armenia, the current situation in the country requires an additional set of measures to be taken. In particular, policies should aim at preventing mass emigration from the country and supporting companies located in remote areas which are primarily gender-balanced, but particularly sensitive to lockdowns and other measures countering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
... The labour-leisure preference model is a model in which the first group of studies are included. Studies in this group are (Mincer, 1962;Becker 1985). Both studies analyzed the process of women choosing between housework and the market. ...
This study aims to examine the literature on female labor force participation rates through qualitative content analysis. Data samples include international scientific research articles from the Scopus data base for (2000-2023). Data were collected by transferring the articles to the MAXQDA 2020 software and coding the themes with the software. Expert control used to ensure the reliability of the research. Our study allowed us to see the changing dimensions of the subject in the articles examined. The focus points were based on the research method used in the publications, theoretical framework, increasing FLFP and its reasons, reasons for the decrease, the direction and size of the variables affecting FLFP changing over time, starting from the date of publication. When the reasons for the increase in women's participation in the workforce are examined, it is seen that factors such as education, increased childcare opportunities, age factor, adaptation to home technologies, women being married and wages are effective, respectively. Accordingly; the "wage factor" is not as obvious as it is thought in the increase in women's participation in the workforce. When the reasons for the decrease in women's participation in the workforce are examined, it is seen that there are fertility, alcohol consumption and transportation problems. It is seen that these obstacles are gender-related, psychological and economic. Therefore, it is a very important finding of our study that gender-related, psychological and economic factors should be improved in order to increase women's participation in the workforce. For the policy makers, it is possible to see which aspects of the issue are prominent in different countries. In this way, comparisons between countries can be made easier. It helps to create policy recommendations by taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of women's participation in the workforce at national and global levels.
Objective
To examine the effect of the male partner's entry into payroll tax‐exempt earnings on the female partner's labor market outcomes.
Background
Employees only pay payroll taxes up to a specific limit, which results in a comparatively greater increase in the take‐home pay of individuals who earn labor incomes above this threshold. We argue that returns from payroll‐exempt labor are gendered: That is, because men are more likely high earners than women, they will more often benefit from the payroll tax ceiling. This increases the labor market returns of men and sets substantial incentives within couples to reduce the paid labor of the secondary earner.
Method
We use panel data from the United States (PSID) to examine changes in women's annual work hours, hourly wages, and earnings over the partner's entry into payroll tax‐exempt labor (treatment) using fixed‐effect models with individual slopes. The models enable us to assess women's labor market outcomes while adjusting for heterogeneous within‐couple earnings differential slopes before treatment in addition to any time‐constant heterogeneity. Our sample contains 7297 women providing 65,811 observations.
Results
Women's earnings on average diminished by 4% after the partner breaks through the payroll tax contribution threshold. This was mostly explained by changes in annual work hours, which on average decreased by 4%. We did not find reduced hourly wages in the short run.
Conclusion
We conclude that payroll exemptions for high earners reinforce gender inequality within upper‐income couples, which is a link hitherto missed in the literature.
This paper utilizes a natural experiment created by Australia's first national mandate for paid parental leave in 2011, to investigate employer‐side mechanisms in motherhood wage penalties. Drawing on literature on cognitive bias, we hypothesize that maternity leave taking behaviors could trigger employer discrimination. We test this proposition by comparing whether and how four types of leave‐taking behaviors affect the wage prospects of working mothers. Using fixed effect models with lagged dependent variables and nationally representative panel data, the Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) for the period 2005–2019, this study reveals that before the mandate, mothers who had to use unpaid leave due to ineligibility for employer‐funded leave suffered pay penalties. After the mandate, mothers who forwent paid leave received pay premiums. Our study contributes to debates about parental leave policy and gender discrimination in the labor market by indicating that employers interpret contrasting leave taking behaviors differently, and reward employees in accordance with what they believe maternity leave behaviors imply about working mothers' conformity to the “ideal worker” norm.
This paper examines the role of home production in gender‐based responses of time use to the COVID‐19 pandemic. We develop a tractable model featuring time allocation choices and susceptible‐infected‐susceptible epidemiological dynamics. The model economy has two steady states, and an outbreak can trigger a transition from a disease‐free steady state to an epidemic steady state, accompanied by a shift in economic activity toward the home. Our parameterized model well reproduces pandemic‐driven variations in time allocation in the US. This stems largely from the combination of three key features of home production: the high substitutability between market goods and home goods, the asymmetric immunity of home production to the epidemic and the comparative advantage of women in household work. Our decomposition analysis finds that elevated home production accounts for a sizable share of changes in market work and its gender gap during the pandemic. Remote work limits fluctuations in time use but worsens gender inequality in market work.
The aim of this chapter is to empirically test the main assumptions of feminist economics regarding the existing dissimilarities between women and men in terms of their access to and conditions of work related to their responsibilities within the household. To this end, using data from the first quarter of the National Occupation and Employment Survey 2022, binomial logistic models, multinomial logistic models, and ordinary least squares are used to explain the conditions in which women and men enter the labor market. The main findings of this research suggest that, in terms of the division of domestic and non-domestic work by sex, it is women who have a greater burden in the time spent carrying out activities within the household, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to men in terms of their likelihood to perform paid activities with better working conditions.
This book examines gender inequality from the perspective of feminist economics, with empirical application, across different countries such as Turkey, the United States, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica and territories within Europe.
It centers on topics such as labor participation, occupational segregation, feminization
of poverty and migration, wage differentials, changes in and the quality
of employment, equity index, and gender bias in fiscal policies. It encompasses both developed and developing countries and shows that the gender gap has been narrowing over time, although not completely, mainly due to the sparse implementation of programs and public policies with a feminist economic approach, which help to make gender dimensions in the economy visible and highlight the
implications this has on women’s lives. The book also examines the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on inequality on the working lives of men and women.
This book will be an important asset in teaching forums on the most recent advances in economic science across a number of different theories, approaches and research hypotheses that explain the study of gender inequality. It also presents different empirical studies, using multiple methodologies and databases, applied to specific problems in multiple countries to identify the advances, opportunities
and changes that have occurred in gender inequality from a feminist economic perspective. The book offers relevant, novel and original scientific data and makes public policy proposals to encourage the participation of women in the labor market.
Consequently, it will also be of interest to policymakers concerned with global trends in the labor market.
The objective is to analyze the gender wage inequality of Latin Americans in the U.S. labor market. The hypothesis is based on testing whether gender wage inequality against Latin American immigrant women has grown over a decade. For the empirical test, the personal and occupational characteristics of Latin American immigrant women are taken. We calculate gender wage inequality and its decomposition, the information used in comes from the Current Population Survey for the period 2010–2020. The results show that inequality has increased from 2010 to 2020, most of which is due to the portion not explained by human capital attributes, being higher in 2010. However, in 2020, there is an increase in the portion explained by productive characteristics, an element that is quite relevant in this research, since a reduction in the returns of Latin American immigrant women in the U.S. labor market is detected. The variables contributing to the reduction in inequality were education, age and economic sector.
The objective of this research is to analyze food security and its severity in relation to female headship in Costa Rican households. The hypothesis is based on demonstrating that female-headed households are more likely to experience severe food insecurity. In this research, we take the characteristics of households and household heads by sex. By using the ENAHO 2020 database, as well as the Food Insecurity Module. For the empirical test, a probability model is estimated and then the marginal effects are calculated. The main results indicate that there is a higher proportion of female households in food insecurity relative to male-headed households; furthermore, this same behavior is present for the highest level of insecurity. The results of the probabilistic model confirm that female-headed households are more likely to be food insecure in general, but when it comes to high insecurity, the female sex of the head is not a disadvantage.
Using national survey data from the Chinese Social Survey of 2019 and 2021, this study examines the association between work–family conflict and subjective well-being and investigates the determinants of work–family conflict in China. The study yields three main conclusions. First, work–family conflict negatively impacts workers’ life satisfaction, although it exhibits an insignificant effect on job satisfaction. Second, the influence of work–family conflict on workers’ subjective well-being varies by employment sector: it significantly reduces the life satisfaction of employees in both the public and private sectors, whereas its effect is negligible for self-employed individuals. Third, the likelihood of experiencing work-family conflict is higher among workers with low education (elementary school), the younger generation, managers, employees in the public sector, and self-employed individuals compared to their counterparts. Moreover, the determinants of work-family conflict differ by employment sector. For instance, longer work hours increase the likelihood of experiencing work-family conflict for employees in both the public and private sectors, while high household income responsibility increases this likelihood for self-employed individuals. The results indicate that work conditions and employment relationships differ between employees and self-employed individuals, suggesting that the Chinese labor market is segmented into formal and informal sectors.
Unions foster group solidarity, training individuals to think and act for the collective rather than for purely individual gain. In this article, I study the extent to which union membership is associated with men’s participation in unpaid social reproduction. Descriptive models using American Time Use Surveys indicate that, on average, men with union coverage dedicate more time to unpaid care of household members compared to men without. I offer theoretical explanations for this relationship and explore how union membership has shaped men’s participation in unpaid social reproduction through the lens of community solidarity.
JEL Classification: B54, J51, D13
This research uses Becker’s human capital theory to empirically assess the effect of gender, digital divide, and ethnicity on earnings using 2018 Public Use Micro Statistical data for the State of Texas. The paper suggests the application of different empirical techniques to estimate the effects of ethnicity on the gender gap, digital divide, and earning disparities. Education, experience, age, and other earning drivers are considered in this research. The empirical techniques applied in this research are OLS, WLS, LASSO, Ridge, and White’s Robust error regression. Holding the rest of the earnings determinants constant, results suggest that there is enough evidence to support that the wages of females are significantly lower than those of males by 0.2%. In addition, individuals with internet access are statistically higher than those individuals without internet access by 1.5%. Results suggest that a Hispanic individual without internet access makes 0.3% less than non-Hispanic individuals without internet access. Education and experience are statistically significant factors affecting the earnings of the representative individual positively by 0.28 and 0.10%. Digital divide and disparities in earnings based on gender and ethnicity prevent digital innovation and business sustainability. Results in this paper could be used to seek collaboration between policymakers, business leaders, and higher education institutions to highlight the relevance of implementing effective measures to close the gender gap, digital divide, and difference in earnings in non-majority groups of the population. The paper contributes to applying empirical measures to support the UN’s SDGs 4 and 5 as it refers to promoting inclusive and equitable quality education and gender equality.
When members of the same household have different risk preferences, whose preference matters more for investment decisions and why? We propose an intrahousehold model that aggregates individual preferences at the household level as a result of bargaining. We structurally estimate the model, analyze the determinants of bargaining power, and find a significant gender gap. Gender differences in individual characteristics, as well as gender effects, partially explain the gap. These patterns hold broadly across Australia, Germany, and the United States. We further link the distribution of bargaining power to households’ perceived gender norms in a cross-sectional analysis. (JEL G11, G41, G50)
This study estimates the long‐term effect of parenthood on labor market outcomes and explores the variations within this effect by gender and education. We use the event study method to track changes in a range of labor market outcomes from 3 years before to 8 years after the first birth, with a sample of 556 married women and 528 married men from the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS). We find that women experience an immediate drop in wages following birth, whereas men experience continuous wage growth even before birth. The decline in women's wages arises largely from their withdrawal from the labor market, while the increase in men's wages could be explained by a positive selection bias among fathers. In addition, mothers' wage trajectories do not vary significantly by education level, whereas other labor market outcomes show discernible trends. These patterns are the opposite of those observed for men. The findings indicate that severe gender inequality in the Korean labor market lowers the wages of mothers, regardless of their education, while the wages of fathers are more likely to be affected by education. Based on the findings, we make policy suggestions for improving the work‐family balance for all genders.
This paper critically examines the claim that Utah is “the most sexist state” in the United States, as suggested by a WalletHub report ranking it lowest in “Women’s Equality.” Utilizing an economic analysis from the Austrian School perspective, this study scrutinizes the data, metrics, and conclusions of reports by the Utah Women & Leadership Project (UWLP). The analysis focuses on distinguishing statistical disparities from sexism, proposing that observed gender inequalities in Utah are largely influenced by cultural and economic factors, particularly the state’s high marriage rate and traditional gender roles. Contrary to the notion that sexism predominantly drives gender disparities, the paper argues that personal choices and subjective value theory play significant roles in shaping these outcomes. The study highlights the importance of considering cultural context, individual preferences, and the marital asymmetry hypothesis when interpreting gender-related data, challenging the assertion that Utah’s gender disparities are primarily due to sexist attitudes. The findings suggest that Utah’s gender gaps in areas such as income and workforce participation are more accurately attributed to the state’s unique cultural and economic landscape rather than pervasive sexism.
Two kinds of models for a productive organization are presented. In the first, both production and rewards are based on the performance of individuals, which is perfectly observed. Their abilities are not observable. Despite this, theorems are proved giving strong grounds for the equality of wages and marginal products unless there is monopsony in the labor market. This latter case is also discussed. The second model, which focuses on the imperfect observation of performance, allows interesting deductions about optimal payment schedules and organizational structure.
This paper investigates the reasons for the growth in the female labor force in the US during the 20th century. Female labor force participation rates increased by 50% from 1950 to 1970. Real wages have played a significant but hardly exclusive role both in the long term growth in female employment and in the more accelerated growth after 1950. At the beginning of this century, fewer than 1 woman in 5 was a member of the labor force; by 1981 more than 6 in 10 were. Increases in female participation were slightly larger among younger women during the 1970s; for the next 20 years the age shape tilted toward older women. For US women 25-34 years old, labor force participation rates have been rising by more than 2 percentage points per year. Closely intertwined with decisions regarding women's work are those involving marriage and family formation. 2 demographic factors that would play a part in subsequent developments are: nuclearization of the US family and urbanization. Time-series trends in education are observed because schooling affects female labor supply independently of any influence through wages; increased years of schooling across birth cohorts shows that an increase of 1.33 years of schooling increased labor participation by 6.9 percentage points during the pre-World War II era. The swing in marriage rates also affects timing, especially for younger women. Based on disaggregated time series data across the period 1950-1981, mean values at single years of age of labor supply, education, work experience, weekly wages, and fertility are determined. Profiles indicate that female labor supply varies considerably not only across cohorts but also over life cycles within birth cohorts. Results show that: 1) relative female wages defined over the work force were lower in 1980 than in 1950, 2) children, especially when young, reduce labor supply, 3) large negative elasticities are linked to female wages, and 4) with all fertility induced effects included, real wage growth explaines 58% of the postwar increase in female labor supply. Therefore, real wages do explain a considerable part of the postwar increases in female labor supply.
The article attempts to develop a general theory of the allocation of time in non-work activities. It sets out a basic theoretical analysis of choice that includes the cost of time on the same footing as the cost of market goods and treats various empirical implications of the theory. These include a new approach to changes in hours of work and leisure, the full integration of so-called productive consumption into economic analysis, a new analysis of the effect of income on the quantity and quality of commodities consumed, some suggestions on the measurement of productivity, an economic analysis of queues and a few others as well. The integration of production and consumption is at odds with the tendency for economists to separate them sharply, production occurring in firms and consumption in households. It should be pointed out, however, that in recent years economists increasingly recognize that a household is truly a small factory. It combines capital goods, raw materials and labor to clean, feed, procreate and otherwise produce useful commodities.
This paper focuses on the causes of marital instability. Section I develops a theoretical analysis of marital dissolution, incorporating uncertainty about outcomes of marital decisions into a framework of utility maximization and the marriage market. Section II explores implications of the theoretical analysis with cross-sectional data, primarily the 1967 Survey of Economic Opportunity and the Terman sample. The relevance of both the theoretical and empirical analyses in explaining the recent acceleration in divorce rates is also discussed.
AN ANALYSIS IS MADE OF THE EFFECT OF TRAVELING TIME ON THE CHOICE OF MODE USING ELAPSED TIME AS ONE OF THE VARIABLES AFFECTING THE PRICE OF A TRIP. IT IS SHOWN HOW THE PRICE OF A TRIP VARIES WITH THE TRAVELER'S INCOME, THE PURPOSE OF THE TRIP AND ITS LENGTH, AND THE MODE USED. THESE VARIATIONS ARE REFLECTED IN THE REPORTED DIFFERENCES IN THE MODAL SPLIT OF TRAVELERS WITH DIFFERENT INCOMES TRAVELING ON ROUTES OF DIFFERENT LENGTHS. FINALLY SOME CRUDE ESTIMATES OF THE PRICES THAT TRAVELERS ASSIGN TO THEIR TIME ARE DERIVED. GIVEN THE TRAVELER'S PRICE OF TIME, THE EFFECT OF ANY REDUCTION IN TRAVELING TIME ON THIS PRICE CAN BE COMPUTED, AND CONSEQUENTLY, THE EFFECT OF SUCH A REDUCTION (EITHER BY EXISTING MODE OR BY THE INTRODUCTION OF A HITHERTO NONEXISTING MODE) ON THE TRAVELER'S DEMAND FOR TRIPS BY EACH MODE CAN BE ESTIMATED. /AUTHOR/
Despite the rise in the feminist movement, the enactment of equal opportunity legislation, and the rapid increase in women's labor force participation, a substantial sex differential in wages has persisted in the United States for at least 4 decades. Measured by hourly earnings of year-round workers, this wage gap was 31% in 1955, widened to a 35%-37% range by the 1960s and early 1970s, and then narrowed to 33% by 1982. This paper examines the extent to which changes in the characteristics of men and women in the labor force and other factors can account for the observed pattern. The main finding is that increases in women's labor force participation were initially associated with a declining skill level of employed women relative to employed men, where skill is measured by years of schooling and job tenure. More recently the work experience of employed women has been increasing, which helps account for the recent narrowing trend in the wage gap. During the 1970s the wage gap probably woul have narrowed m...
Since 1964 all the increase in female labor force participation in Australia can be attributed to married women. About 90% of the increase can be attributed to women employed part time. The paper argues that aggregate female participation rate equations cannot be regarded as labor supply curves. The female wage rate relative to that of males is exogenously determined by wage-fixing authorities above market-clearing rates, and the excess supply of labor is not adequately measured by the unemployment rate. Married women and part-time workers have a high propensity to bypass the unemployment pool when leaving or seeking a job. Participation equations are dominated by employment demand for sex-segregated jobs.
This article studies arrangements concerning the payment of a fee by a principal to his agent. For such an arrangement, or fee schedule, to be Pareto optimal, it must implicitly serve to allocate the risk attaching to the outcome of the agent's activity in a satisfactory way and to create appropriate incentives for the agent in his activity. Pareto-optimal fee schedules are described in two cases: when the principal has knowledge only of the outcome of the agent's activity and when he has as well (possibly imperfect) information about the agent's activity. In each case, characteristics of Pareto-optimal fee schedules are related to the attitudes toward risk of the principal and of the agent.
We investigate the relationship between current schooling and current wage rates. Casual observation seems to reflect a discontinuity in wage rate growth which occurs when an individual completes school and joins the labor force as a permanent member. This suggests that the time spent in work while attending school is in some sense secondary. Here, the marginal value of the individual's time is considerably lower than the average value of his time. The problem is essentially one of "anti-complementarities" between the production of human capital through formal schooling and working in the primary occupation. More generally, the productivity of an individual's time in one endeavor is not independent of how the rest of his time is spent. If this is the case, students will be willing to accept lower paying jobs which do not greatly diminish the productivity of school time in lieu of jobs offering higher wages at the cost of a greater reduction in school time productivity. The wages of students, other things constant, are about 12% lower than those of non-students. The magnitude of this wage differential is surprisingly large and warrants investigation on empirical grounds alone. This paper explores the empirical relationship and examines various explanations for it. Finally, implications of the analyses are discussed.
Matching university places to students is not as clear cut or as straightforward as it ought to be. By investigating the matching algorithm used by the German central clearinghouse for university admissions in medicine and related subjects, we show that a procedure designed to give an advantage to students with excellent school grades actually harms them. The reason is that the three-step process employed by the clearinghouse is a complicated mechanism in which many students fail to grasp the strategic aspects involved. The mechanism is based on quotas and consists of three procedures that are administered sequentially, one for each quota. Using the complete data set of the central clearinghouse, we show that the matching can be improved for around 20% of the excellent students while making a relatively small percentage of all other students worse off.
This paper provides a survey on studies that analyze the macroeconomic effects of intellectual property rights (IPR). The first part of this paper introduces different patent policy instruments and reviews their effects on R&D and economic growth. This part also discusses the distortionary effects and distributional consequences of IPR protection as well as empirical evidence on the effects of patent rights. Then, the second part considers the international aspects of IPR protection. In summary, this paper draws the following conclusions from the literature. Firstly, different patent policy instruments have different effects on R&D and growth. Secondly, there is empirical evidence supporting a positive relationship between IPR protection and innovation, but the evidence is stronger for developed countries than for developing countries. Thirdly, the optimal level of IPR protection should tradeoff the social benefits of enhanced innovation against the social costs of multiple distortions and income inequality. Finally, in an open economy, achieving the globally optimal level of protection requires an international coordination (rather than the harmonization) of IPR protection.