IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/globdv/v14y2023i2p177-222n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Protectionism and Gender Inequality in Developing Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Artuc Erhan

    (Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank, 1818 H St NW, Washington DC 20433, USA)

  • Depetris Chauvin Nicolas

    (HES-SO Geneva School of Business Administration, Rue de la Tambourine 17, 1227 Carouge, Switzerland)

  • Porto Guido

    (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Departamento de Economia, Calle 6 e/ 47 y 48, 1900 La Plata, Argentina)

  • Rijkers Bob

    (Development Economics Research Group, The World Bank, 1818 H St NW, Washington DC 20433, USA)

Abstract

How do tariffs impact gender inequality? Using harmonized household survey and tariff data from 54 low- and middle income countries, this paper shows that protectionism has an anti-female bias. On average, tariffs repress the real incomes of female headed households by 0.6 percentage points relative to that of male headed ones. Female headed households bear the brunt of tariffs because they derive a smaller share of their income from and spend a larger share of their budget on agricultural products, which are usually subject to high tariffs in developing countries. Consistent with this explanation, the anti-female bias is stronger in countries where female-headed households are underrepresented in agricultural production, are more reliant on remittances, and spend a comparatively larger share of their budgets on food than male-headed ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Artuc Erhan & Depetris Chauvin Nicolas & Porto Guido & Rijkers Bob, 2023. "Protectionism and Gender Inequality in Developing Countries," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 177-222, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:globdv:v:14:y:2023:i:2:p:177-222:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/jgd-2022-0023
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2022-0023
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/jgd-2022-0023?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esther Duflo, 2012. "Women Empowerment and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1051-1079, December.
    2. Porto, Guido G., 2006. "Using survey data to assess the distributional effects of trade policy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 140-160, September.
    3. Hoddinott, John & Haddad, Lawrence, 1995. "Does Female Income Share Influence Household Expenditures? Evidence from Cote d'Ivoire," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 57(1), pages 77-96, February.
    4. de la Briere, Benedicte & Sadoulet, Elisabeth & de Janvry, Alain & Lambert, Sylvie, 2002. "The roles of destination, gender, and household composition in explaining remittances: an analysis for the Dominican Sierra," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 309-328, August.
    5. Artuc, Erhan & Porto, Guido & Rijkers, Bob, 2019. "Trading off the income gains and the inequality costs of trade policy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-45.
    6. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano & Nathan Nunn, 2013. "On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 469-530.
    7. Seema Jayachandran, 2015. "The Roots of Gender Inequality in Developing Countries," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 7(1), pages 63-88, August.
    8. Appleton, Simon, 1996. "Women-headed households and household welfare: An empirical deconstruction for Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(12), pages 1811-1827, December.
    9. Manuela Angelucci & Orazio Attanasio, 2013. "The Demand for Food of Poor Urban Mexican Households: Understanding Policy Impacts Using Structural Models," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 146-178, February.
    10. Nicita, Alessandro & Olarreaga, Marcelo & Porto, Guido, 2014. "Pro-poor trade policy in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 252-265.
    11. Luis H. B. Braido & Pedro Olinto & Helena Perrone, 2012. "Gender Bias in Intrahousehold Allocation: Evidence from an Unintentional Experiment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(2), pages 552-565, May.
    12. Ural Marchand, Beyza, 2012. "Tariff pass-through and the distributional effects of trade liberalization," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 265-281.
    13. Cheryl Doss, 2006. "The Effects of Intrahousehold Property Ownership on Expenditure Patterns in Ghana," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(1), pages 149-180, March.
    14. Deaton, Angus, 1989. "Rice Prices and Income Distribution in Thailand: A Non-parametric Analysis," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(395), pages 1-37, Supplemen.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dai,Mi & Tanaka,Kiyoyasu, 2024. "Origin of Goods and Unequal Consumer Gains from Trade Liberalization," IDE Discussion Papers 939, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    2. Huw Lloyd-Ellis & Ardyn Nordstrom, 2021. "Trade, poverty and food security: A survey of recent research and its implications for East Africa," Working Paper 1460, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    3. Lawrence Edwards & Zaakirah Ismail & Godfrey Kamutando & Simbarashe Mambara & Matthew Stern & Fouche, 2022. "TheconsumerpriceeffectsofspecifictradepolicyrestrictionsinSouthAfrica," Working Papers 11036, South African Reserve Bank.
    4. Almås, Ingvild & Somville, Vincent, 2020. "The effect of gender-targeted transfers: Experimental Evidence from India," CEPR Discussion Papers 15218, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Beyza Ural Marchand, 2019. "Inequality and Trade Policy: The Pro‐Poor Bias of Contemporary Trade Restrictions," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(S1), pages 123-152, November.
    6. Artuc, Erhan & Porto, Guido & Rijkers, Bob, 2019. "Trading off the income gains and the inequality costs of trade policy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 1-45.
    7. Han, Jun & Liu, Runjuan & Ural Marchand, Beyza & Zhang, Junsen, 2016. "Market structure, imperfect tariff pass-through, and household welfare in Urban China," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 220-232.
    8. Wang, Bei & Qian, Xuefeng & Li, Ying & Cao, Jia, 2024. "Pro-poor consumption effects of trade liberalization: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    9. Sevias Guvuriro & Frederik Booysen, 2021. "Family‐type public goods and intra‐household decision‐making by co‐resident South African couples," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 1629-1647, August.
    10. My Nguyen & Kien Le, 2023. "The impacts of women's land ownership: Evidence from Vietnam," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 158-177, February.
    11. De Rock, Bram & Cherchye, Laurens & Chiappori, Pierre-André & Ringdal, Charlotte & Vermeulen, Frederic, 2021. "Feed the children," CEPR Discussion Papers 16482, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Fenske, James & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Yuan, Song, 2022. "Demographic Shocks and Women’s Labor Market Participation: Evidence from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in India," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 82(3), pages 875-912, September.
    13. Ingvild Almås & Alex Armand & Orazio Attanasio & Pedro Carneiro, 2018. "Measuring and Changing Control: Women's Empowerment and Targeted Transfers," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 609-639, July.
    14. Matthias Doepke & Michèle Tertilt, 2019. "Does female empowerment promote economic development?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 309-343, December.
    15. Antonio Martuscelli & Michael Gasiorek, 2019. "Regional Integration And Poverty: A Review Of The Transmission Channels And The Evidence," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 431-457, April.
    16. Daniel Lederman & Guido Porto, 2016. "The Price Is Not Always Right: On the Impacts of Commodity Prices on Households (and Countries)," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 31(1), pages 168-197.
    17. Ujjayant Chakravorty & Marie‐Hélène Hubert & Beyza Ural Marchand, 2019. "Food for fuel: The effect of the US biofuel mandate on poverty in India," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 10(3), pages 1153-1193, July.
    18. Tang, Heiwai & Zhang, Yifan, 2021. "Do multinationals transfer culture? Evidence on female employment in China," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    19. Anja Tolonen, 2019. "Endogenous Gender Roles: Evidence from Africa’s Gold Mining Industry," OxCarre Working Papers 209, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    20. Diva Dhar & Tarun Jain & Seema Jayachandran, 2022. "Reshaping Adolescents' Gender Attitudes: Evidence from a School-Based Experiment in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(3), pages 899-927, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender inequality; globalization; international trade; poverty; tariffs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F1 - International Economics - - Trade
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • J43 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Agricultural Labor Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:globdv:v:14:y:2023:i:2:p:177-222:n:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.