IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/ijfiec/v26y2021i2p1955-1977.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The macroeconomics of gender equality

Author

Listed:
  • Taniya Ghosh
  • Sanika S. Ramanayake

Abstract

This study investigates the association between gender gap and economic progress. Using a panel VAR study as well as a comprehensive gender gap index and its sub‐indices from the World Economic Forum, the study confirms the existence of bidirectional Granger causality between gender gap and economic progress, for OECD countries and developing countries. On the one hand, economic progress encourages equity for both sexes. On the other hand, gender equity helps developing nations prosper and significantly improve their human capital, which, in turn, drives long‐run economic progress. By contrast, closing the gender gap negatively affects OECD output. For the sample of developing countries, the aforementioned results are robust to sub‐indices measured by gender gap in economic participation as well as opportunity, educational attainment, and political empowerment. We recommend that gender policies specifically aim at eliminating gaps in female education.

Suggested Citation

  • Taniya Ghosh & Sanika S. Ramanayake, 2021. "The macroeconomics of gender equality," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 1955-1977, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:ijfiec:v:26:y:2021:i:2:p:1955-1977
    DOI: 10.1002/ijfe.1888
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.1888
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/ijfe.1888?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy & Robert Tamura, 1994. "Human Capital, Fertility, and Economic Growth," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 323-350, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Gary S. Becker, 1981. "A Treatise on the Family," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck81-1.
    3. Sanika Sulochani Ramanayake & Taniya Ghosh, 2017. "Role of Gender Gap in Economic Growth: Analysis on Developing Countries versus OECD Countries," Working Papers id:11690, eSocialSciences.
    4. Mikael Lindahl & Alan B. Krueger, 2001. "Education for Growth: Why and for Whom?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 39(4), pages 1101-1136, December.
    5. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Seguino, Stephanie, 2006. "The Road to Gender Equality: Global Trends and the Way Forward," MPRA Paper 6510, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Seguino, Stephanie, 2003. "Why are women in the Caribbean so much more likely than men to be unemployed?," MPRA Paper 6507, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Seguino, Stephanie, 2002. "Gender, quality of life, and growth in Asia 1070 to 1990," MPRA Paper 6547, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Ms. Katrin Elborgh-Woytek & Ms. Monique Newiak & Ms. Kalpana Kochhar & Ms. Stefania Fabrizio & Mr. Kangni R Kpodar & Mr. Philippe Wingender & Mr. Benedict J. Clements & Mr. Gerd Schwartz, 2013. "Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 2013/010, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Canova, Fabio & Ciccarelli, Matteo, 2013. "Panel Vector Autoregressive Models: A Survey," CEPR Discussion Papers 9380, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Goldin, Claudia, 1992. "Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195072709.
    12. Jeremy Greenwood & Ananth Seshadri & Mehmet Yorukoglu, 2005. "Engines of Liberation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 109-133.
    13. Alberto Alesina & Dani Rodrik, 1994. "Distributive Politics and Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(2), pages 465-490.
    14. David E Bloom & Michael Kuhn & Klaus Prettner, 2020. "The contribution of female health to economic development [The costs of missing the Millennium Development Goal on gender equity]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(630), pages 1650-1677.
    15. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Report 2011 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2011 : Conflits, sécurité et développement - Abrégé]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4389.
    16. Stephanie Seguino, 1997. "Gender wage inequality and export-led growth in South Korea," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 102-132.
    17. Sims, Christopher A, 1980. "Macroeconomics and Reality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(1), pages 1-48, January.
    18. Lagerlof, Nils-Petter, 2003. "Gender Equality and Long-Run Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 403-426, December.
    19. Seguino, Stephanie, 2000. "Gender Inequality and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 1211-1230, July.
    20. Seguino, Stephanie, 2006. "The great equalizer?: Globalization effects on gender equality in Latin America and the Caribbean," MPRA Paper 6509, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Remco H. Oostendorp, 2009. "Globalization and the Gender Wage Gap," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 23(1), pages 141-161, January.
    22. Bhalotra, Sonia & Rawlings, Samantha B., 2011. "Intergenerational persistence in health in developing countries: The penalty of gender inequality?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 286-299.
    23. Seema Jayachandran & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2009. "Life Expectancy and Human Capital Investments: Evidence from Maternal Mortality Declines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(1), pages 349-397.
    24. Seguino, Stephanie & Braunstein, Elissa, 2012. "The impact of economic policy and structural change on gender employment inequality in Latin America, 1990-2010," MPRA Paper 43261, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    25. E. N. Appiah & W. W. McMahon, 2002. "The Social Outcomes of Education and Feedbacks on Growth in Africa," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(4), pages 27-68.
    26. C. Mark Blackden, 1999. "Gender, Growth, and Poverty Reduction," World Bank Publications - Reports 9873, The World Bank Group.
    27. Ms. Janet Gale Stotsky, 2006. "Gender and its Relevance to Macroeconomic Policy: A Survey," IMF Working Papers 2006/233, International Monetary Fund.
    28. Katrin Elborgh-Woytek & Monique Newiak & Kalpana Kochhar & Stefania Fabrizio & Kangni R Kpodar & Philippe Wingender & Benedict J. Clements & Gerd Schwartz, 2013. "Women, Work, and the Economy; Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity," IMF Staff Discussion Notes 13/10, International Monetary Fund.
    29. Robert A. Blecker & Stephanie Seguino, 2002. "Macroeconomic Effects of Reducing Gender Wage Inequality in an Export‐Oriented, Semi‐Industrialized Economy," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 103-119, February.
    30. Stephan Klasen & Francesca Lamanna, 2009. "The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth: New Evidence for a Panel of Countries," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 91-132.
    31. Stephan Klasen, 2002. "Low Schooling for Girls, Slower Growth for All? Cross-Country Evidence on the Effect of Gender Inequality in Education on Economic Development," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 16(3), pages 345-373, December.
    32. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Indicators 2011," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2315.
    33. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 1994. "Is Inequality Harmful for Growth?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 600-621, June.
    34. Stephen Knowles & Paula K. Lorgelly, 2002. "Are educational gender gaps a brake on economic development? Some cross-country empirical evidence," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 54(1), pages 118-149, January.
    35. Stephan Klasen & Claudia Wink, 2003. ""Missing Women": Revisiting The Debate," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2-3), pages 263-299.
    36. Stephanie Seguino, 2000. "Accounting for Gender in Asian Economic Growth," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 27-58.
    37. John R. Lott & Jr. & Lawrence W. Kenny, 1999. "Did Women's Suffrage Change the Size and Scope of Government?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(6), pages 1163-1198, December.
    38. Gary S. Becker, 1960. "An Economic Analysis of Fertility," NBER Chapters, in: Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries, pages 209-240, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    39. A. Dijkstra, 2002. "Revisiting UNDP's GDI and GEM: Towards an Alternative," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 301-338, March.
    40. Kose, Esra & Kuka, Elira & Shenhav, Na'ama, 2016. "Women's Enfranchisement and Children's Education: The Long-Run Impact of the U.S. Suffrage Movement," IZA Discussion Papers 10148, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bobek Vito & Schachl Andrea & Horvat Tatjana, 2022. "The Impact of Women’s Economic Empowerment on the Rise of Female Entrepreneurship in Namibia," Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy, Sciendo, vol. 68(4), pages 53-65, December.

    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. Taniya Ghosh & Sanika Sulochani Ramanayake, 2018. "Women empowerment and good times: Which one leads to the other?," Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai Working Papers 2018-004, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India.
    2. Ram, Harchand & Chakravorty, Swastika & Goli, Srinivas, 2022. "Does gender inequality affect economic development? An evidence based on analysis of cross-national panel data of 158 countries," SocArXiv 7svz4, Center for Open Science.
    3. David Cuberes & Marc Teignier, 2012. "Gender Gaps in the Labor Market and Aggregate Productivity," Working Papers 2012017, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    4. Nguyen, Canh Phuc, 2021. "Gender equality and economic complexity," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).
    5. Sanika Sulochani Ramanayake & Taniya Ghosh, 2017. "Role of Gender Gap in Economic Growth: Analysis on Developing Countries versus OECD Countries," Working Papers id:11690, eSocialSciences.
    6. Laura Cabeza-García & Esther B. Del Brio & Mery Luz Oscanoa-Victorio, 2018. "Gender Factors and Inclusive Economic Growth: The Silent Revolution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, January.
    7. Manuel Santos Silva & Stephan Klasen, 2021. "Gender inequality as a barrier to economic growth: a review of the theoretical literature," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 581-614, September.
    8. Stephanie Seguino, 2008. "Gender, Distribution, and Balance of Payments (revised 10/08)," Working Papers wp133_revised, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    9. P. K. Mishra & S. K. Mishra & M. K. Sarangi, 2020. "Do Women’s Advancement and Gender Parity Promote Economic Growth? Evidence from 30 Asian Countries," Millennial Asia, , vol. 11(1), pages 5-26, April.
    10. Stephanie Seguino & Caren Grown, 2006. "Gender equity and globalization: macroeconomic policy for developing countries," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(8), pages 1081-1104.
    11. Olivier Bargain & Maria C. Lo Bue, 2021. "The economic gains of closing the employment gender gap: Evidence from Morocco," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-79, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz, 2013. "The Impact Of Gender Wage Gap On Sectoral Economic Growth – Cross-Country Approach," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 8(3), pages 103-122, September.
    13. Stephan Klasen, 2006. "Pro-Poor Growth and Gender Inequality," Ibero America Institute for Econ. Research (IAI) Discussion Papers 151, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research.
    14. Oded Galor, 2012. "The demographic transition: causes and consequences," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 6(1), pages 1-28, January.
    15. Hyland,Marie Caitriona & Islam,Asif Mohammed & Muzi,Silvia, 2020. "Firms' Discriminatory Behavior, and Women's Employment in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9224, The World Bank.
    16. Youssouf Merouani & Faustine Perrin, 2022. "Gender and the long-run development process. A survey of the literature [Rethinking age heaping: A cautionary tale from nineteenth-century Italy]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(4), pages 612-641.
    17. Haroon Ur Rashid Khan & Anwar Khan & Khalid Zaman & Agha Amad Nabi & Sanil S. Hishan & Talat Islam, 2017. "Gender discrimination in education, health, and labour market: a voice for equality," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 2245-2266, September.
    18. Tewodros Makonnen Gebrewolde & James Rockey, 2017. "The Global Gender Gap in Labor Income," Discussion Papers in Economics 17/14, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.
    19. Romina Kazandjian & Lisa Kolovich & Kalpana Kochhar & Monique Newiak, 2019. "Gender Equality and Economic Diversification," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-24, April.
    20. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2016. "Comparative advantage, international trade, and fertility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 48-66.

    More about this item

    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:wly:ijfiec:v:26:y:2021:i:2:p:1955-1977. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/1076-9307/ .

    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.