An Economic Theory of Glass Ceiling

Paul Grout, In-Uck Park and Silvia Sonderegger

The Centre for Market and Public Organisation from The Centre for Market and Public Organisation, University of Bristol, UK

Abstract: In the 'glass ceiling' debate there appear to be two strongly held and opposing interpretations of the evidence, one suggesting it is really the result of gender differences and the other that there is discrimination by gender. This paper provides an economic theory of the glass ceiling and one of the main insights of our analysis is that in some real sense these two interpretations are not in conflict with each other. The glass ceiling emerges as an equilibrium phenomenon when firms compete à la Bertrand even though employers know that offering women the same contract as men would be sufficient to erase all differences among promoted workers. The model also provides new insights into anti-discrimination policy measures. (Updated from working paper 07/183)

Keywords: glass ceilings; promotions; career options (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D82 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 47 pages
Date: 2009-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Working Paper: An Economic Theory of the Glass Ceiling (2007)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bri:cmpowp:09/227

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