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Gender Inequalities and Economic Processes

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 4, 2019 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Hilton Atlanta, Crystal A
Hosted By: Association for Social Economics
  • Chair: Hanna Szymborska, Open University

Blurring The Individual Boundaries: Investigating Perceptions of Being Men and Women in the Mezzogiorno

Aurelie Charles
,
University of Bath
Paola De Pascali
,
Kapitalise
Giuseppe Fontana
,
University of Leeds and University of Sannio

Abstract

Traditional household models of resource allocation tend to consider gender norms as exogenous constraints on women’s access to resources. Power relationships then help perpetuating these norms within the household but it is not clear how men and women articulate these norms between and within themselves. The aim of this article is to show the extent to which men and women influence one another’s resource entitlements at the household level. Hence, two hypotheses are considered and tested. First, individual ideas of entitlement to resources are dependent upon others' perceptions of entitlement within the household. Second, the difference in perception of entitlement levels between male and female partners sustain gender norms within themselves and their relationship. For the purpose of this research, an exploratory questionnaire has been specifically designed to investigate the cross-perception of entitlements between male and female partners in Southern Italian households (in the so-called Mezzogiorno). Two separate surveys are conducted in Benevento and Lecce, two medium-size cities representative of a region with traditional gender norms and underdeveloped economic opportunities. The paper shows that men are significantly influenced by their female counterparts in assessing personal entitlements, while women tend to be more independent from their male counterparts in assessing personal entitlements.

Fostering Financial Citizenship – Access to Financial Services and Wealth-Building Capacities Among Minority Women in the USA

Gary Dymski
,
University of Leeds
Hanna Szymborska
,
Open University

Abstract

This paper investigates patterns of financial inclusion among minority women in the USA and their implications for sustainable asset accumulation and alleviating wealth inequality. Black and Hispanic women constitute one of the most economically vulnerable groups in the US society. Their incomes and asset holdings are low, while access to credit has been largely limited to costly borrowing, leading to high degrees of financial fragility. Extension of subprime credit in the 2000s has perpetuated financial insecurity of this group, resulting in lingering income and wealth losses in the aftermath of the Great Recession. A decade on from the crisis, it is not clear how regulation and practices of financial intermediaries have improved provision of sustainable financial services to economically vulnerable households. To answer this question, we employ regression analysis of data from the U.S. Survey of Consumer Finances, analyse patterns of borrowing and asset ownership among Black and Hispanic women between 2001-2007 and 2010-2016 and evaluate their impact on financial stability, inequality, and economic security.

Estimating The Role of Social Reproduction in Economic Growth

Elissa Braunstein
,
Colorado State University
Stephanie Seguino
,
University of Vermont

Abstract

Building on the empirical literature on growth and gender inequality and that on the care economy – this paper conducts a macroeconometric study of whether and how different structures of what we term “social reproduction” (defined as the time and commodities it takes to create and maintain the labor force) affect economic growth, and how different systems of gender inequality mediate these effects. The questions we explore include: does care matter for long-term growth, how do its effects compare to standard growth regressors like investment and education, and, does the extent of gender inequality in responsibility for care partly determine the magnitude of these relationships?

Keep Calm and Carry On: Gender Differences in Endurance

Sophie Clot
,
University of Reading
Marina Della Giusta
,
University of Reading
Amalia Di Girolamo
,
University of Birmingham

Abstract

We investigate gender differences in endurance, the capacity to maintain levels of performance through internal rather than external motivation, a potentially important and thus far overlooked factor explaining gender differences in performance in non-rewarding tasks and the resulting consequences on women’s choices in education, labour markets and in the division of tasks in the household. We conduct a lab experiment in which we study performance in a repetitive task performed under three different payment schemes and find that the tournament scheme has a positive impact on men’s performance, and no impact on women’s performance, whilst the fix rate scheme has a negative impact on men’s performance, but no impact on women’s. Overall, the significant driver of performance is game order for women and payment schemes for men. We also find women’s performances increase over sequences, whilst men’s performances decrease over sequences, which could be the result of either a fatigue effect or a lassitude effect. When looking at social effects, we find men perform better than women in single sex environments; however, this effect disappears in a mixed sex environment and the mitigation comes from both an increase of performance among women and a decrease of performance among men, and it holds in the absence of external incentives. Both women and men respond to social cues but the effect is more through increased intrinsic motivation (ambition) for women and more through extrinsic motivation (competition) for men. We discuss implications of our results for education and labour markets.
JEL Classifications
  • Z1 - Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology
  • I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty