A theory of the gender pay gap. Evidence from Colombia and the United States

Edgar Villa; Luz Karime Abadía; Ernesto A. Cárdenas, Luz Abadia Alvarado and Ernesto A. Cárdenas

Vniversitas Económica, 2020, vol. 0, issue 0, No 18141, 49 pages

Abstract: Abstract We construct a competitive model that explains the gender pay gap per hour by a statistical discrimination mechanism based on unobserved effort provided by men and women in accordance to an intrahousehold division of labor in which only women engage in child rearing activities. For unskilled labor an additional physical endowment effect arises and increases the pay gap against women. The model explains several empirical regularities in the literature of regression analysis. We show empirical evidence for Colombia and the United States that is consistent with the predictions of the model. Further, we study an equal parental leave and equal pay for equal work policies and find conditions for these policies to be effective at reducing the pay gap.

Keywords: Gender Pay Gap; Statistical Discrimination; Self Selection; Equal pay for Equal work. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J16 J24 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YWZBFwH8ddzlHOaNmiUSMfl8UbNko0Xl/view

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:col:000416:018141

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Vniversitas Económica from Universidad Javeriana - Bogotá
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mayerly Galindo Rodriguez ().