The effects of markets, politics, and society on the gender wage differential: A meta-analysis

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IZA Seminar

Place: Schaumburg-Lippe-Str. 9, 53113 Bonn

Date: 12.11.2002, 12:00 - 13:30

   

Presentation by 

Doris Weichselbaumer (University of Linz)
   

Abstract:

Since the first use in the early seventies, hundreds of authors have adopted and extended the
Blinder-Oaxaca approach decomposing gender wage differentials between women and men
into a part caused by different productive characteristics and a “productivity-unexplained”
part, the discrimination coefficient. Consequently this measure for discrimination, as well as
plain sex dummies in wage regressions, have been published for the most diverse countries at
different points in time. This meta-study provides a quantitative review of this vast amount of
empirical literature on gender wage discrimination as it concerns differences in methodology,
data, countries and time periods. Furthermore, it also evaluates the impact of economic and
legal variables on discrimination coefficients. While economic theory predicts a higher
amount of discrimination for less competitive markets, other disciplines emphasize the impact
of equal treatment laws and affirmative action. This paper investigates whether economic or
legal variables are responsible for differences in women's relative earnings.

   
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