IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/tuewef/71.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Socially gainful gender quotas

Author

Listed:
  • Stark, Oded
  • Hyll, Walter

Abstract

We study the impact of gender quotas on the acquisition of human capital. We assume that individuals' formation of human capital is influenced by the prospect of landing high-pay top positions, and that these positions are regulated by gender-specific quotas. In the absence of quotas, women consider their chances of getting top positions to be lower than men's. The lure of top positions induces even men of relatively low ability to engage in human capital formation, whereas women of relatively high ability do not expect to get top positions and do not therefore engage in human capital formation. Gender quotas discourage men who are less efficient in forming human capital, and encourage women who are more efficient in forming human capital. We provide a condition under which the net result of the institution of gender quotas is an increase in human capital in the economy as a whole.

Suggested Citation

  • Stark, Oded & Hyll, Walter, 2014. "Socially gainful gender quotas," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 71, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:tuewef:71
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/96930/1/785238719.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. José De Gregorio & Jong–Wha Lee, 2002. "Education and Income Inequality: New Evidence From Cross‐Country Data," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 48(3), pages 395-416, September.
    2. Nina Smith & Valdemar Smith & Mette Verner, 2006. "Do women in top management affect firm performance?A panel study of 2,500 Danish firms," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 55(7), pages 569-593, October.
    3. David A. Matsa & Amalia R. Miller, 2013. "A Female Style in Corporate Leadership? Evidence from Quotas," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 136-169, July.
    4. 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.
    5. J.H. Marinova & J. Plantenga & C.L.H.S. Remery, 2010. "Gender Diversity and Firm Performance: Evidence from Dutch and Danish Boardrooms," Working Papers 10-03, Utrecht School of Economics.
    6. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    7. Muriel Niederle & Carmit Segal & Lise Vesterlund, 2013. "How Costly Is Diversity? Affirmative Action in Light of Gender Differences in Competitiveness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(1), pages 1-16, May.
    8. Persson, Torsten & Tabellini, Guido, 1994. "Is Inequality Harmful for Growth?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(3), pages 600-621, June.
    9. Coate, Stephen & Loury, Glenn C, 1993. "Will Affirmative-Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1220-1240, December.
    10. Robert J. Barro, 2001. "Human Capital and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 12-17, May.
    11. David A. Carter & Betty J. Simkins & W. Gary Simpson, 2003. "Corporate Governance, Board Diversity, and Firm Value," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 38(1), pages 33-53, February.
    12. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    13. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    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. Rebérioux, Antoine & Roudaut, Gwenael, 2016. "Gender Quota inside the Boardroom: Female Directors as New Key Players?," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 1603, CEPREMAP.
    2. Walter Hyll, 2017. "Gender Quotas and Human Capital Formation: A Relative Deprivation Approach," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 18(3), pages 302-326, August.
    3. Antoine Rebérioux & Gwenaël Roudaut, 2019. "The Role of Rookie Female Directors in a Post‐Quota Period: Gender Inequalities within French Boards," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 423-483, July.
    4. Akyol, Metin & Neugart, Michael & Pichler, Stefan, 2015. "A tradable employment quota," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 48-63.
    5. Antoine Rebérioux & Gwenael Roudaut, 2017. "Gender Quota and Inequalities inside the Boardroom," Working Papers hal-01618949, HAL.
    6. Neschen, Albena & Hügelschäfer, Sabine, 2021. "Gender bias in performance evaluations: The impact of gender quotas," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    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. Walter Hyll, 2017. "Gender Quotas and Human Capital Formation: A Relative Deprivation Approach," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 18(3), pages 302-326, August.
    2. João Gabriel Fidalgo & Marta Simões & Adelaide Duarte, 2010. "Mind the Gap: Education Inequality at the Regional Level in Portugal, 1986-2005," Notas Económicas, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, issue 32, pages 22-43, December.
    3. Iyke, Bernard Njindan & Ho, Sin-Yu, 2017. "Income Inequality and Growth: New Insights from Italy," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 70(4), pages 419-442.
    4. Günther Rehme, 2007. "Education, Economic Growth and Measured Income Inequality," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 74(295), pages 493-514, August.
    5. Petra Sauer & Martin Zagler, 2014. "(In)equality in Education and Economic Development," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 60(S2), pages 353-379, November.
    6. Ralph Hippe & Roger Fouquet, 2024. "The Human Capital Transition and the Role of Policy," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 411-457, Springer.
    7. Durlauf, Steven N. & Quah, Danny T., 1999. "The new empirics of economic growth," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & M. Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 235-308, Elsevier.
    8. Hibrahim Limi Kouotou & Boniface Ngah Epo, 2022. "Duration of heads of state in power and economic growth: a Sub-Saharan African tale," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(2), pages 1153-1170.
    9. Hans Gersbach & Lars-H. Siemers, 2014. "Can democracy induce development? A constitutional perspective," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 177-196, April.
    10. Djavad Salehi-Isfahani & Russell D. Murphy, 2006. "Labor market flexibility and investment in human capital," Working Papers e06-5, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Economics.
    11. Gimenez, G. & Sanau, J., 2009. "Investment, Human Capital and Institutions: A Multi-equational Approach for the Study of Economic Growth, 1985-2000," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 9(1).
    12. Hammill, Matthew, 2005. "Income inequality in Central America, Dominican Republic and Mexico: assessing the importance of individual and household characteristics," Estudios y Perspectivas – Sede Subregional de la CEPAL en México 4965, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    13. Debasis Bandyopadhyay & Parantap Basu, 2005. "What drives the cross-country growth and inequality correlation?," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 38(4), pages 1272-1297, November.
    14. Kanbur, Ravi, 2000. "Income distribution and development," Handbook of Income Distribution, in: A.B. Atkinson & F. Bourguignon (ed.), Handbook of Income Distribution, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 13, pages 791-841, Elsevier.
    15. Jody Overland & Kenneth Simons & Michael Spagat, 2005. "Political instability and growth in dictatorships," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 125(3), pages 445-470, December.
    16. Frederic Tournemaine & Christopher Tsoukis, 2015. "Public Expenditures, Growth, and Distribution in a Mixed Regime of Education with a Status Motive," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 17(5), pages 673-701, October.
    17. Kholeka Mdingi & Sin-Yu Ho, 2023. "Income inequality and economic growth: An empirical investigation in South Africa," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(2), pages 2230027-223, June.
    18. Kevin Williams, 2017. "Does democracy dampen the effect of finance on economic growth?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 635-658, March.
    19. Coronel Vicente J. & Díaz-Roldán Carmen, 2024. "Government Expenditure, Education, and Productivity in the European Union: Effects on Economic Growth," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-24.
    20. Wei-Bin Zhang, 2015. "National Education and Global Economic Growth: A Synthesis of the Uzawa–Lucas Two-Sector and the Oniki–Uzawa Trade Models," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 6(4), pages 905-928, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender quotas; Affirmative action; Human capital formation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions

    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:zbw:tuewef:71. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wftuede.html .

    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.