Globalization, Gender, and the Family

Wolfgang Keller and Hale Utar

The Review of Economic Studies, 2022, vol. 89, issue 6, 3381-3409

Abstract: Facing the same labour demand shock through imports from China, we show that men and women make different labour market and family adjustments that result in significant long-run gender inequality. The gender gap is driven by the female biological clock. Using population registers and matched employer-employee data from Denmark, we document that especially women in their late 30s, towards the end of their biological clock, decide to have a baby as the shock causes displacement. High-earning women in leadership positions and women who need to acquire new human capital are central because their new employment would require particularly high investments that are incompatible with having a newborn in the short time remaining on the biological clock. While children penalize women in the labour market, we show that due to the biological clock an otherwise gender-neutral shock leads to a gender gap in the labour market.

Keywords: Biological clock; Fertility; Marriage; Gender inequality; Import competition; Job displacement; China; F16; F66; J12; J13; J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Globalization, Gender, and the Family (2019)
Working Paper: Globalization, Gender, and the Family (2018)
Working Paper: Globalization, Gender, and the Family (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:restud:v:89:y:2022:i:6:p:3381-3409.

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