IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2405.15486.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Digital finance, Bargaining Power and Gender Wage Gap

Author

Listed:
  • Qing Guo
  • Siyu Chen
  • Xiangquan Zeng

Abstract

The proliferation of internet technology has catalyzed the rapid development of digital finance, significantly impacting the optimization of resource allocation in China and exerting a substantial and enduring influence on the structure of employment and income distribution. This research utilizes data sourced from the Chinese General Social Survey and the Digital Financial Inclusion Index to scrutinize the influence of digital finance on the gender wage disparity in China. The findings reveal that digital finance reduces the gender wage gap, and this conclusion remains robust after addressing endogeneity problem using instrumental variable methods. Further analysis of the underlying mechanisms indicates that digital finance facilitates female entrepreneurship by lowering financing barriers, thereby promoting employment opportunities for women and also empowering them to negotiate higher wages. Specially, digital finance enhances women's bargaining power within domestic settings, therefore exerts a positive influence on the wages of women. Sub-sample regressions demonstrate that women from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, with lower human capital, benefit more from digital finance, underscoring its inclusive nature. This study provides policy evidence for empowering vulnerable groups to increase their wages and addressing the persistent issue of gender income disparity in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Qing Guo & Siyu Chen & Xiangquan Zeng, 2024. "Digital finance, Bargaining Power and Gender Wage Gap," Papers 2405.15486, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2405.15486
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2405.15486
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernard Fingleton & Simonetta Longhi, 2013. "The Effects Of Agglomeration On Wages: Evidence From The Micro-Level," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(3), pages 443-463, August.
    2. Maria Minniti, 2010. "Female Entrepreneurship and Economic Activity," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 22(3), pages 294-312, July.
    3. Willem Pieter De Groen & Zachary Kilhoffer & Karolien Lenaerts & Nicolas Salez, 2017. "The Impact of the Platform Economy on Job Creation," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 52(6), pages 345-351, November.
    4. Evans, David S & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1989. "An Estimated Model of Entrepreneurial Choice under Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 808-827, August.
    5. Marco Gazel & Armin Schwienbacher, 2021. "Entrepreneurial fintech clusters," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 883-903, August.
    6. Chen, Siyu & Guo, Qing, 2023. "Fintech, strategic incentives and investment to human capital, and MSEs innovation," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    7. Barbara J. Orser & Allan L. Riding & Kathryn Manley, 2006. "Women Entrepreneurs and Financial Capital," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(5), pages 643-665, September.
    8. Maurer-Fazio, Margaret & Hughes, James, 2002. "The Effects of Market Liberalization on the Relative Earnings of Chinese Women," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 709-731, December.
    9. Anh P. Ngo, 2020. "Effects of Vietnam’s two-child policy on fertility, son preference, and female labor supply," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 751-794, July.
    10. Xun Zhang & Ying Tan & Zonghui Hu & Chen Wang & Guanghua Wan, 2020. "The Trickle‐down Effect of Fintech Development: From the Perspective of Urbanization," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 28(1), pages 23-40, January.
    11. Oecd, 2012. "ICT Skills and Employment: New Competences and Jobs for a Greener and Smarter Economy," OECD Digital Economy Papers 198, OECD Publishing.
    12. Nguimkeu, Pierre, 2014. "A structural econometric analysis of the informal sector heterogeneity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 175-191.
    13. Jane Golley & Yixiao Zhou & Meiyan Wang, 2019. "Inequality of Opportunity in China's Labor Earnings: The Gender Dimension," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 27(1), pages 28-50, January.
    14. Björn Gustafsson & Shi Li, 2000. "Economic transformation and the gender earnings gap in urban China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(2), pages 305-329.
    15. Balsmeier, Benjamin & Woerter, Martin, 2019. "Is this time different? How digitalization influences job creation and destruction," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    16. Michele Cantarella & Chiara Strozzi, 2021. "Workers in the crowd: the labor market impact of the online platform economy [An evaluation of instrumental variable strategies for estimating the effects of catholic schooling]," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 30(6), pages 1429-1458.
    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. Qing Guo & Siyu Chen & Xiangquan Zeng, 2021. "Does Fintech Narrow the Gender Wage Gap? Evidence from China," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 29(4), pages 142-166, July.
    2. Chi, Wei & Li, Bo, 2014. "Trends in China’s gender employment and pay gap: Estimating gender pay gaps with employment selection," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 708-725.
    3. Chi, Wei & Li, Bo, 2007. "Glass Ceiling or Sticky Floor? Examining the Gender Pay Gap across the Wage Distribution in Urban China, 1987-2004," MPRA Paper 3544, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Yi CHEN & Sylvie DEMURGER & Martin FOURNIER, 2004. "Différentiels salariaux, segmentation et discrimination à l’égard des femmes sur le marché du travail chinois," Working Papers 200426, CERDI.
    5. Fossen, Frank M. & Sorgner, Alina, 2021. "Digitalization of work and entry into entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 548-563.
    6. Karaivanov, Alexander & Yindok, Tenzin, 2022. "Involuntary entrepreneurship – Evidence from Thai urban data," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    7. Ying Chu Ng, 2006. "Gender Earnings Differentials and Regional Economic Development in Urban China, 1988-97," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-136, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. 岩﨑, 一郎 & Iwasaki, Ichiro & 馬, 欣欣 & Ma, Xin Xin, 2019. "現代中国における男女賃金格差: メタ分析による接近," Discussion Paper Series 689, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    9. Rickne, Johanna, 2010. "Gender, Wages, and Social Security in China’s Industrial Sector," Working Paper Series 827, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    10. Nguimkeu, Pierre, 2024. "Credit constraints and delayed entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 156-180.
    11. Falco, Paolo & Haywood, Luke, 2016. "Entrepreneurship versus joblessness: Explaining the rise in self-employment," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 245-265.
    12. David Gaddis Ross & Dong Hyun Shin, 2024. "Do financial market frictions hurt the performance of women‐led ventures? A meta‐analytic investigation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(3), pages 507-534, March.
    13. Iwasaki, Ichiro & Ma, Xinxin, 2020. "Gender wage gap in China: a large meta-analysis," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 54, pages 1-17.
    14. Yi Chen & Sylvie Démurger & Martin Fournier, 2006. "The Evolution of Gender Eamings Gaps and Discrimination in Urban China : 1988-1995," Post-Print hal-00081928, HAL.
    15. Pierrick Baraton & Florian Léon, 2016. "Financial Constraint, Entrepreneurship and Sectoral Migrations," DEM Discussion Paper Series 16-09, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    16. Philippe Alby & Emmanuelle Auriol & Pierre Nguimkeu, 2020. "Does Social Pressure Hinder Entrepreneurship in Africa? The Forced Mutual Help Hypothesis," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 87(346), pages 299-327, April.
    17. Chi, Wei & Li, Bo & Yu, Qiumei, 2007. "Decomposition of Changes in Earnings Inequality in China: A Distributional Approach," MPRA Paper 3806, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Steven A. Brieger & Michael M. Gielnik, 2021. "Understanding the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship: a multi-country study of immigrants’ embeddedness in economic, social, and institutional contexts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 1007-1031, February.
    19. Meiyan Wang & Fang Cai, 2006. "Gender Wage Differentials in China's Urban Labour Market," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2006-146, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Daniela Giménez & Andrea Calabrò, 2018. "The salient role of institutions in Women’s entrepreneurship: a critical review and agenda for future research," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(4), pages 857-882, December.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:arx:papers:2405.15486. 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: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    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.