The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences

Iacopo Morchio and Christian Moser

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: We assess the sources and consequences of the gender pay gap using a combination of theory and measurement. We start by documenting three empirical facts. First, women are more likely than men to work at low-paying employers. Second, for women as for men, pay is not the sole determinant of workers' revealed-preference rankings of employers. Third, both pay and the revealed-preference rank differ between women and men within the same employer. To interpret these facts, we develop an empirical equilibrium search model featuring endogenous gender differences in pay, amenities, and recruiting intensities across employers. The estimated model suggests that compensating differentials explain one fifth of the gender gap, that there are significant output and welfare gains from eliminating gender differences, and that an equal-pay policy fails to close the gender pay gap.

Keywords: Worker and Firm Heterogeneity; Misallocation; Compensating Differentials; Discrimination; Empirical Equilibrium Search Model; Linked Employer-Employee Data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 E25 J16 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-05-11, Revised 2020-03-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-hrm and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/99276/1/MPRA_paper_99276.pdf original version (application/pdf)
https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/99549/1/MPRA_paper_99549.pdf revised version (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences (2024)
Working Paper: The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences (2023)
Working Paper: The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences (2023)
Working Paper: The Gender Pay Gap:Micro Sources and Macro Consequences (2021)
Working Paper: The Gender Pay Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences (2021)
Working Paper: The Gender Gap: Micro Sources and Macro Consequences (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:99276

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