The Economics of Women, Men, and Work

Cover......Page 1
The Economics of Women, Men, and Work......Page 2
Dedication......Page 6
About the Authors......Page 7
Brief Contents......Page 9
Contents......Page 10
Preface......Page 22
Acknowledgments......Page 25
Part I: Introduction and Historical Perspectives......Page 28
1: Introduction......Page 30
What Economics Is About......Page 32
Uses of Economic Theory......Page 33
The Scope of Economics......Page 34
Individuals, Families, and Households......Page 35
A Further Note on Terminology......Page 36
Outline of the Book......Page 37
Key Terms......Page 38
Appendix 1  A Review of Supply and Demand in the Labor Market......Page 39
2: Women and Men: Historical Perspectives......Page 43
The Source of Gender Differences: Nature Versus Nurture—The Ongoing Debate......Page 44
Factors Influencing Women’s Relative Status......Page 47
Women’s Roles and Economic Development......Page 48
Colonial America: The Preindustrial Period......Page 51
Period of Industrialization......Page 52
The Evolution of the Family and Women’s Labor Force Participation......Page 54
Historical Evidence on Occupations and Earnings......Page 57
Economic Incentives: An Engine of Change for Women’s Property Rights......Page 58
College-Educated Women Over the Last 100 Years: Work, Family, or Both?......Page 61
Key Terms......Page 62
Part II: The Allocation of Time between the Household and the Labor Market......Page 66
3: The Family as an Economic Unit: Theoretical Perspectives......Page 68
Comparative Advantage......Page 70
Specialization and Exchange: Numerical Examples......Page 71
Decreasing Gains to Specialization and Exchange and the Shift Away from the Traditional Family......Page 73
Lack of Sharing of Housework......Page 75
Tastes and Bargaining Power......Page 76
Domestic Violence......Page 77
Public Goods......Page 78
Gains from Shared Consumption......Page 79
Institutional Advantages......Page 80
Transaction Cost and Bargaining Approaches......Page 81
Key Terms......Page 84
Appendix 3A  Specialization and Exchange: A Graphical Analysis......Page 86
Time Spent in Nonmarket Work......Page 93
Time Spent in Housework......Page 94
Time Spent with Children......Page 98
Time Spent in Volunteer Work......Page 102
Estimating the Value of Nonmarket Production......Page 104
The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001: Just Compensation?......Page 107
The American Family in the Twenty-First Century......Page 108
The State of Unions in the United States......Page 113
Key Terms......Page 114
5: The Labor Force: Definitions and Trends......Page 117
The Labor Force: Some Definitions......Page 118
Broad Labor Force Trends by Gender: 1890 to Present......Page 120
Labor Force Trends by Race/Ethnicity......Page 121
Labor Force Trends over the Life Cycle......Page 124
Trends in Labor Force Attachment of Women......Page 127
Trends in Hours Worked......Page 128
Trends in Gender Differences in Unemployment......Page 129
Key Terms......Page 133
The Labor Supply Decision......Page 136
The Budget Constraint......Page 138
Indifference Curves......Page 140
The Labor Force Participation Decision......Page 144
The Value of Nonmarket Time (w*)......Page 145
The Value of Market Time (w)......Page 150
Empirical Evidence on the Responsiveness of Labor Supply to Wages and Income......Page 154
Labor Supply Elasticities......Page 158
Economic Conditions......Page 159
Taxes and the Decision to Work......Page 160
Government Subsidies of Childcare and Women’s Labor Force Participation......Page 161
Analyzing the Long-Term Growth in Women’s Labor Force Participation......Page 163
Factors Influencing the Value of Market Time (w)......Page 164
Factors Influencing the Value of Nonmarket Time (w*)......Page 165
The World War II Experience: Women’s Surge in Labor Force Participation......Page 169
Recent Trends in Women’s Labor Force Participation: Has the Engine of Growth Stalled?......Page 170
Analyzing Trends in Men’s Labor Force Participation......Page 173
Black and White Participation Differentials: Serious Employment Problems for Black Men......Page 176
Key Terms......Page 178
Appendix 6A  The Income and Substitution Effects: A Closer Look......Page 180
Part III: Labor Market Outcomes: Theory, Evidence, and Policy......Page 182
Gender Differences in Occupations......Page 184
Overview of Gender Differences in Occupations......Page 185
Measuring Occupational Segregation......Page 192
Evaluating the Extent of Occupational Segregation......Page 193
Trends in Occupational Segregation by Sex......Page 194
Women in the Military: No Positions Are Off Limits as of 2016......Page 197
The Gender Pay Ratio......Page 198
The Gender Pay Gap in the News......Page 206
Gender Differences in Union Membership......Page 207
Gender Differences in Self-Employment......Page 209
Gender Differences in Nonstandard Work......Page 211
Key Terms......Page 214
8: Gender Differences in Educational Attainment:Theory and Evidence......Page 218
Supply and Demand Explanations: An Overview......Page 219
What Is Human Capital?......Page 220
Gender Differences in Levels of Educational Attainment......Page 221
Gender Differences in High School Coursework and College Field of Study......Page 227
The Educational Investment Decision......Page 230
Calculating the Net Present Value of a Human Capital Investment......Page 232
The Rising College Wage or Earnings Premium......Page 237
Education and Productivity......Page 239
Gender Differences in Educational Investment Decisions: The Human Capital Explanation......Page 240
Where Are the Women Economics Majors?......Page 243
Historical Background: Overt Discrimination by Educational Institutions......Page 245
Socialization......Page 246
Biased Evaluations......Page 247
Subtle Barriers: Role Models, Mentoring, and Networking......Page 248
The Impact of Title IX—Sports, Academics, Sexual Harassment, and Sexual Violence......Page 249
Explaining Women’s Rising Educational Attainment......Page 252
Key Terms......Page 255
9: Other Supply-Side Sources of Gender Differences in Labor Market Outcomes......Page 259
Gender Differences in Labor Market Experience......Page 260
General Training......Page 262
Firm-Specific Training......Page 263
Why Do Firms Pay Tuition Benefits?......Page 265
Experience and Productivity......Page 266
Expected Work Life......Page 267
Discrimination......Page 269
Occupations and Earnings......Page 270
Temporal Flexibility and the Gender Wage Gap......Page 271
Traditional Gender Roles and Gender Wage Gaps......Page 273
Wage Penalties and Premiums Associated with Marriage and Parenthood......Page 275
Gender Differences in Psychological Attributes......Page 278
Attitudes toward Negotiating......Page 280
Attitudes toward Competition......Page 281
Attitudes toward Risk......Page 282
Gender Differences in the “Big Five” Personality Traits......Page 283
A Closer Look at Gender Differences in Math Test Scores......Page 284
Women, Math, and Stereotype Threat......Page 286
Key Terms......Page 287
10: Evidence on the Sources of Gender Differences in Earnings and Occupations: Supply-Side Factors versus Labor Market Discrimination......Page 290
Labor Market Discrimination: A Definition......Page 291
Empirical Evidence on the Sources of Gender Differences in Earnings......Page 292
Evidence from Statistical Analyses: Labor Market-wide Evidence......Page 293
Biases in the Unexplained Gap as an Estimate of Discrimination......Page 295
Evidence on Possible Sources of the Unexplained Gender Wage Gap......Page 296
The Effect of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity on Earnings......Page 298
Further Evidence from Statistical Analyses: A Look at Subgroups of College Graduates, Lawyers, and MBAs......Page 299
Evidence on Discrimination from Experiments......Page 301
Evidence on Discrimination from Court Cases......Page 303
The Declining Gender Pay Gap......Page 304
The Context: Widening Wage Inequality......Page 305
Determinants of Trends in the Gender Wage Gap......Page 306
The Minimum Wage: What Is It?......Page 307
Explaining the Decline in the Gender Wage Gap......Page 308
Minorities Fared Less Well in Narrowing the Wage Gap with Whites......Page 311
Empirical Evidence on the Causes and Consequences of Gender Differences in Occupations......Page 312
Consequences of Occupational Segregation......Page 313
Causes of Occupational Segregation......Page 315
Is There a Glass Ceiling?......Page 316
Key Terms......Page 320
Appendix 10A  Regression Analysis and Empirical Estimates of Labor Market Discrimination......Page 323
11: Labor Market Discrimination: Theory......Page 328
Tastes for Discrimination......Page 329
Employer Discrimination......Page 330
Employee Discrimination......Page 334
Subtle Barriers......Page 337
Perceptions of Average Gender Differences Can Result in a Pay Gap......Page 339
Empirical Evidence on Gender Differences in Quitting......Page 340
The Overcrowding Model......Page 341
The Internal Labor Market......Page 344
Primary and Secondary Jobs......Page 345
Feedback Effects......Page 346
Key Terms......Page 347
12: Government Policies to Combat Employment Discrimination......Page 350
Rationales for Government Intervention......Page 351
Equal Pay Act......Page 352
Executive Order 11246 and Affirmative Action......Page 353
Major Court Decisions and Legislation That Have Shaped the Equal Employment Laws and Regulations......Page 354
Effectiveness of the Government’s Antidiscrimination Effort......Page 360
Affirmative Action......Page 362
Quotas for Women in the Boardroom......Page 366
Comparable Worth......Page 367
Job Evaluation......Page 370
Key Terms......Page 371
Part IV: The Economics of the Family: Theory, Evidence, and Policy......Page 374
Economic Explanations for Family Formation......Page 376
The Role of Gains to Specialization in Production......Page 377
Declining Gains from Specialization in Production......Page 378
Other Benefits from Marriage Remain and Some May Be Increasing......Page 379
Marriage......Page 380
Marriage Patterns by Educational Attainment......Page 384
Divorce......Page 386
Cohabitation: Opposite-Sex Couples......Page 390
Cohabitation and Marriage: Same-Sex Couples......Page 393
Fertility......Page 394
Trends in Fertility Rates: World War II to Present......Page 396
Timing of Fertility by Educational Attainment......Page 399
Births to Unmarried Mothers......Page 401
Teen Births......Page 403
Births to Older Mothers......Page 404
Key Terms......Page 405
Changing Family Structure......Page 408
Dual-Earner Married-Couple Families......Page 409
Single-Parent Families......Page 411
Poverty: Incidence and Measurement......Page 413
Maternal Employment, Childcare, and Children’s Outcomes......Page 417
Family Economic Disadvantage and Children’s Outcomes......Page 420
Family Structure and Children’s Outcomes......Page 421
Key Terms......Page 423
Policies to Alleviate Poverty......Page 426
Aid to Families with Dependent Children: The Former US Welfare Program......Page 427
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families: The Current US Welfare Program......Page 430
Beyond Traditional Income and Work Support Policies: Marriage Promotion......Page 433
The Earned Income Tax Credit......Page 434
Employment Strategies......Page 437
Child Support Enforcement......Page 438
Taxes, Specialization, and Marriage......Page 440
Federal Income Tax......Page 441
Social Security......Page 445
Key Terms......Page 448
The Competing Demands of Work and Family......Page 452
Work–Family Challenges Faced by Low-Wage Workers with Families......Page 454
Work–Family Challenges for Highly Educated Professional Women......Page 455
In the Media: Prominent Women Debate Whether Highly Educated Women Can “Have It All”......Page 457
Particular Challenges for Women in Balancing Work and Family......Page 458
Rationales for Government Policies......Page 459
Rationales for Employer Policies......Page 461
Government Leave Policies at the Federal Level......Page 463
Paid Leave: Action on Leave Policies at the State Level......Page 466
Childcare......Page 468
Alternative Work Schedules......Page 474
Policies to Assist Couples......Page 477
How to Handle a Job Interview......Page 479
Key Terms......Page 481
Part V: The Economic Status of the World’s Women......Page 484
17: Gender Differences Around the World......Page 486
The International Context......Page 487
Labor Force Participation......Page 488
Time Spent in Unpaid Work......Page 494
Educational Attainment......Page 495
The Benefits of Educating Girls......Page 497
Middle East and North Africa: Low Female Labor Force Participation Rates Despite Rising Educational Attainment......Page 499
Cross-National Trends in Fertility Rates......Page 501
Variations in Sex Ratios at Birth......Page 503
China’s One-Child Policy: A Case Study of the Unintended Consequences of a Seemingly Neutral Fertility Policy......Page 505
Women’s Political and Legal Empowerment......Page 507
Multidimensional Measures of Women’s Status......Page 508
Economic Development, Globalization, and Women’s Status......Page 509
Microcredit for Women: Lifeline or Mirage?......Page 512
Key Terms......Page 513
18: A Comparison of the United States to Other Economically Advanced Countries......Page 516
Labor Market Policies to Combat Gender Discrimination......Page 517
Family-Friendly Policies......Page 519
US Women’s Labor Force Participation in an International Context......Page 523
The US Gender Wage Ratio in an International Context......Page 525
Comparable Worth in Australia......Page 528
Understanding Low Fertility in Economically Advanced Countries......Page 529
Key Terms......Page 532
Author Index......Page 534
Subject Index......Page 545