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Gender Inequality and Economic Growth: Evidence from Industry-Level Data
Author:
Ata Can Bertaynull

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Ljubica Dordevicnull

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Can Severnull

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Series:
IMF Working Papers
Volume/Issue:
Volume 2020: Issue 119
Language:
English
Publication Date:
03 Jul 2020
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781513546278.001
ISBN:
9781513546278
ISSN:
1018-5941
Pages:
42
Keywords:
WP; female share; gender composition; benchmark country; country-industry observation; economic growth; economic development; gender inequality; employment data; industry level; external finance dependence; value-added share; Women; Employment; Global
Legal-disclaimer:
IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
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We study whether higher gender equality facilitates economic growth by enabling better allocation of a valuable resource: female labor. By allocating female labor to its more productive use, we hypothesize that reducing gender inequality should disproportionately benefit industries with typically higher female share in their employment relative to other industries. Specifically, we exploit within-country variation across industries to test whether those that typically employ more women grow relatively faster in countries with ex-ante lower gender inequality. The test allows us to identify the causal effect of gender inequality on industry growth in value-added and labor productivity. Our findings show that gender inequality affects real economic outcomes.
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Cover IMF Working Papers
IMF Working Papers
ISSN:
1018-5941
Publisher:
International Monetary Fund
Volume 2020: Issue 119