IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bap/journl/130406.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender Gaps in Human Capital and Economic Growth in Developing Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Minh Quang Dao

    (Eastern Illinois University, U.S.A.)

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of gender gaps in human capital on economic growth in developing countries. Based on data from the World Bank for the 1990-2010 period and a sample of seventy-eight developing economies, we find that the growth rate of GDP per capita is dependent on gross capital formation, the changes in both male and female life expectancy, the change in the gap between male and female life expectancy, the change in the proportion of the population having access to improved sanitation services, population growth, and the GDP per capita in 2000. It is observed that the estimated coefficient of one explanatory variable, namely, the change in female life expectancy, does not have the expected positive sign, possibly due to the collinearity between this variable and the change in male life expectancy as well as gross capital formation. Statistical results of such empirical examination will assist governments in developing countries identify areas that need to be improved upon reduce gender gaps in human capital¡ªspecifically those that address female life expectancy¡ªin order to foster economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Minh Quang Dao, 2013. "Gender Gaps in Human Capital and Economic Growth in Developing Countries," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 3, pages 91-98, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bap:journl:130406
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bapress.ca/ref/v3-4/1923-7529-2013-04-91-08.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert J. Barro & Xavier Sala-i-Martin, 2003. "Economic Growth, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262025531, December.
    2. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2011. "Engendering trade," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5777, The World Bank.
    3. Stephan Klasen & Francesca Lamanna, 2009. "The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth: New Evidence for a Panel of Countries," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 91-132.
    4. Stephan Klasen, 2002. "Low Schooling for Girls, Slower Growth for All? Cross-Country Evidence on the Effect of Gender Inequality in Education on Economic Development," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 16(3), pages 345-373, December.
    5. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Report 2012 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2012]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4391, December.
    6. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong Wha, 1996. "International Measures of Schooling Years and Schooling Quality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 218-223, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Cuberes & Marc Teignier, 2012. "Gender Gaps in the Labor Market and Aggregate Productivity," Working Papers 2012017, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    2. Laura Cabeza-García & Esther B. Del Brio & Mery Luz Oscanoa-Victorio, 2018. "Gender Factors and Inclusive Economic Growth: The Silent Revolution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, January.
    3. Isis Gaddis & Stephan Klasen, 2014. "Economic development, structural change, and women’s labor force participation:," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 639-681, July.
    4. Potrafke, Niklas & Ursprung, Heinrich W., 2012. "Globalization and gender equality in the course of development," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 399-413.
    5. Mina Baliamoune-Lutz, 2013. "The Effectiveness of Foreign Aid to Women's Equality Organizations in the MENA: Does Aid Promote Women's Political Participation?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-074, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    6. Thierry Baudassé & Rémi Bazillier, 2014. "Gender inequality and emigration: Push factor or selection process?," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 139, pages 19-47.
    7. Khayria Karoui & Rochdi Feki, 2018. "The Effect of Gender Inequality on Economic Development: Case of African Countries," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 9(1), pages 294-300, March.
    8. Leanne Roncolato & Nicholas Reksten & Caren Grown, 2017. "Engendering Growth Diagnostics: Examining Constraints to Private Investment and Entrepreneurship," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 35(2), pages 263-287, January.
    9. Baliamoune-Lutz, Mina, 2013. "The Effectiveness of Foreign Aid to Women's Equality Organizations in the MENA : Does Aid Promote Women's Political Participation?," WIDER Working Paper Series 074, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Ram, Harchand & Chakravorty, Swastika & Goli, Srinivas, 2022. "Does gender inequality affect economic development? An evidence based on analysis of cross-national panel data of 158 countries," SocArXiv 7svz4, Center for Open Science.
    11. Ndikumana, Léonce & Pickbourn, Lynda, 2013. "Impact of Sectoral Allocation of Foreign Aid on Gender equity and Human Development," WIDER Working Paper Series 066, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. David Cuberes & Marc Teignier, 2016. "Aggregate Effects of Gender Gaps in the Labor Market: A Quantitative Estimate," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-32.
    13. Joanna Wolszczak-Derlacz, 2013. "The Impact Of Gender Wage Gap On Sectoral Economic Growth – Cross-Country Approach," Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 8(3), pages 103-122, September.
    14. Victoria Bateman, 2016. "Women and economic growth: the European marriage pattern in the context of modern day countries," Working Papers 16023, Economic History Society.
    15. Ranjula Bali Swain & Supriya Garikipati & Fan Yang Wallentin, 2020. "Does Foreign Aid Improve Gender Performance in Recipient Countries?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1171-1193, October.
    16. Lynda Pickbourn & Léonce Ndikumana, 2013. "Impact of Sectoral Allocation of Foreign Aid on Gender Equity and Human Development," Published Studies unu_pickbourn_ndikumana, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    17. Hyland,Marie Caitriona & Islam,Asif Mohammed & Muzi,Silvia, 2020. "Firms' Discriminatory Behavior, and Women's Employment in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9224, The World Bank.
    18. Lynda Pickbourn & Léonce Ndikumana, 2013. "Impact of Sectoral Allocation of Foreign Aid on Gender equity and Human Development," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-066, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Bidisha Mandal & Raymond G. Batina & Wen Chen, 2018. "Do gender gaps in education and health affect economic growth? A cross‐country study from 1975 to 2010," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 877-886, May.
    20. Alexandra M. de Pleijt & Jan Luiten van Zanden & Sarah Guilland Carmichael, 2016. "Gender Relations and Economic Development: Hypotheses about the Reversal of Fortune in EurAsia," Working Papers 0079, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender gaps; Human capital; Female life expectancy; Economic growth; Developing country; Sanitation access;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bap:journl:130406. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Carlson (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.bapress.ca .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.