Brain versus Brawn: The Realisation of Women’s Comparative Advantage

Michelle Petersen Rendall

No 18825, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: In the last decades, the US has seen narrowing gender employment, wage, and education gaps. The labor market has also faced a shift from physical (“brawn†) to intellectual (“brain†) skill requirements. I rationalize this in a general equilibrium model using two key assumptions: (1) brain occupational requirements increase across education groups and within non-college occupations, and (2) women have less brawn than men. Skill requirements provide the micro foundation for gender-productivity differences in the economy missing in most studies. With technical change and changing skill requirements, the model replicates a reversal of the gender education gap and three-quarters of the closing wage gap.

Keywords: SBTC; Gender Education Gaps; Gender wage gap; Skill Requirements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E23 I24 J16 J23 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-02
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