IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v55y2017icp14-24.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reducing gender wage inequality increases economic prosperity for all: Insights from Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Kennedy, Tom
  • Rae, Maria
  • Sheridan, Alison
  • Valadkhani, Abbas

Abstract

This paper extends the debate about redressing persistent gender inequality in Australia by examining the relationship between labour productivity and the wage gap in all states and territories (1986–2013). It is a critical case study as Australia’s widening gender wage gap is contrary to other developed nations. Using four different estimation methods, we find that reducing the gap by 10% can boost per capita output up to 3%. To check the robustness of our findings, we also control for the effects of both physical and human capital. Our results suggest there exists a strong business case for eliminating the gender wage gap. Given the tangible benefits to both equity and efficiency, such a goal should be of paramount importance for policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Kennedy, Tom & Rae, Maria & Sheridan, Alison & Valadkhani, Abbas, 2017. "Reducing gender wage inequality increases economic prosperity for all: Insights from Australia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 14-24.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:55:y:2017:i:c:p:14-24
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2017.04.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0313592617300425
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2017.04.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arusha Cooray, 2012. "Suffrage, Democracy and Gender Equality in Education," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 21-47, June.
    2. Pedroni, Peter, 2004. "Panel Cointegration: Asymptotic And Finite Sample Properties Of Pooled Time Series Tests With An Application To The Ppp Hypothesis," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 597-625, June.
    3. Mohammad, Hossain & Tisdell, Clement A., 2003. "Closing the Gender Gap in Bangladesh: Inequality in Education, Employment and Earnings," Social Economics, Policy and Development Working Papers 106948, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    4. Todd, P & Preston, A, 2012. "Gender pay equity in Australia: where are we now and where are we heading?," Australian Bulletin of Labour, National Institute of Labour Studies, vol. 38(3), pages 251-267.
    5. Lawrence F. Katz, 1986. "Efficiency Wage Theories: A Partial Evaluation," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1986, Volume 1, pages 235-290, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Kao, Chihwa, 1999. "Spurious regression and residual-based tests for cointegration in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 1-44, May.
    7. Hiau Joo Kee, 2006. "Glass Ceiling or Sticky Floor? Exploring the Australian Gender Pay Gap," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 82(259), pages 408-427, December.
    8. Im, Kyung So & Pesaran, M. Hashem & Shin, Yongcheol, 2003. "Testing for unit roots in heterogeneous panels," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 53-74, July.
    9. Juan D. Barón & Deborah A. Cobb‐Clark, 2010. "Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap in Private‐ and Public‐Sector Employment: A Distributional Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(273), pages 227-246, June.
    10. Sara Charlesworth & Lyndall Strazdins, 2011. "Parents jobs in Australia: work hours polarisation and the consequences of job quality and gender equality," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 14(1), pages 35-57.
    11. David Peetz, 2015. "Regulation distance, labour segmentation and gender gaps," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(2), pages 345-362.
    12. Peter Pedroni, 1999. "Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogeneous Panels with Multiple Regressors," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 653-670, November.
    13. Maddala, G S & Wu, Shaowen, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(0), pages 631-652, Special I.
    14. Kathrin Leuze & Susanne Strauß, 2016. "Why do occupations dominated by women pay less? How ‘female-typical’ work tasks and working-time arrangements affect the gender wage gap among higher education graduates," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(5), pages 802-820, October.
    15. Booth, Alison L., 2016. "Gender in economics: A story in the making," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 122-129.
    16. Tiago Cavalcanti & José Tavares, 2016. "The Output Cost of Gender Discrimination: A Model‐based Macroeconomics Estimate," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(590), pages 109-134, February.
    17. Mark Wooden, 1999. "Gender Pay Equity and Comparable Worth in Australia: A Reassessment," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 32(2), pages 157-171, June.
    18. Jill Rubery, 2015. "Austerity and the Future for Gender Equality in Europe," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(4), pages 715-741, August.
    19. Pedroni, Peter, 1999. "Critical Values for Cointegration Tests in Heterogeneous Panels with Multiple Regressors," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(0), pages 653-670, Special I.
    20. Paul W. Miller, 2005. "The Role of Gender among Low-Paid and High-Paid Workers," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 38(4), pages 405-417, December.
    21. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    22. Balassa, Bela, 1984. "Adjustment policies in developing countries: A reassessment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 12(9), pages 955-972, September.
    23. Jan Luca Pletzer & Romina Nikolova & Karina Karolina Kedzior & Sven Constantin Voelpel, 2015. "Does Gender Matter? Female Representation on Corporate Boards and Firm Financial Performance - A Meta-Analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-20, June.
    24. Cooray, Arusha & Potrafke, Niklas, 2011. "Gender inequality in education: Political institutions or culture and religion?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 268-280, June.
    25. Jeff Borland, 1999. "The Equal Pay Case–Thirty Years On," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 32(3), pages 265-272, September.
    26. Abbas Valadkhani, 2003. "An Empirical Analysis of Australian Labour Productivity," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 273-291, September.
    27. Seguino, Stephanie, 2000. "Gender Inequality and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 1211-1230, July.
    28. Ian Watson, 2010. "Decomposing the Gender Pay Gap in the Australian Managerial Labour Market," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 13(1), pages 49-79.
    29. Romer, Paul M, 1990. "Endogenous Technological Change," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(5), pages 71-102, October.
    30. Miller, Paul W., 1994. "Occupational segregation and wages in Australia," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 367-371.
    31. J. A. Mirrlees, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 175-208.
    32. Mark W. Frank, 2009. "Inequality And Growth In The United States: Evidence From A New State‐Level Panel Of Income Inequality Measures," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 47(1), pages 55-68, January.
    33. Elisa‐Rose Birch, 2005. "Studies of the Labour Supply of Australian Women: What Have We Learned?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 81(252), pages 65-84, March.
    34. Laura De Dominicis & Raymond J. G. M. Florax & Henri L. F. De Groot, 2008. "A Meta‐Analysis On The Relationship Between Income Inequality And Economic Growth," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(5), pages 654-682, November.
    35. G. S. Maddala & Shaowen Wu, 1999. "A Comparative Study of Unit Root Tests with Panel Data and a New Simple Test," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 61(S1), pages 631-652, November.
    36. Rhys Davies & Robert McNabb & Keith Whitfield, 2015. "Do high-performance work practices exacerbate or mitigate the gender pay gap?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(2), pages 537-564.
    37. Schober, Thomas & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2011. "Gender Wage Inequality and Economic Growth: Is There Really a Puzzle?--A Comment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1476-1484, August.
    38. Levin, Andrew & Lin, Chien-Fu & James Chu, Chia-Shang, 2002. "Unit root tests in panel data: asymptotic and finite-sample properties," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-24, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ha, Hu Van & Doan, Tinh & Holmes, Mark, 2022. "What Accounts for Gender Income Inequality? Empirical Evidence from Vietnamese Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises," Journal of Economic Development, The Economic Research Institute, Chung-Ang University, vol. 47(1), pages 65-84, March.
    2. Rosa Duarte & Cristina Sarasa & Mònica Serrano, 2019. "Structural change and female participation in recent economic growth: a multisectoral analysis for the Spanish economy," Economic Systems Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(4), pages 574-593, October.
    3. Nguyen, Canh Phuc, 2021. "Gender equality and economic complexity," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).
    4. Marina Fados & Maria Bohdalova, 2017. "Gender Inequality in Unemployment by Age in Spain, Switzerland and the European Union," MIC 2017: Managing the Global Economy; Proceedings of the Joint International Conference, Monastier di Treviso, Italy, 24–27 May 2017,, University of Primorska Press.
    5. Sun Ae Kim & Youngshin Song & Myoungjin Kwon, 2022. "Do Adults Who Practice Aerobic Physical Activities Have Different Influencing Factors for Depression: A Secondary Data Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-12, May.
    6. Marzena Baker & Muhammad Ali & Erica French, 2019. "Effectiveness of gender equality initiatives in project-based organizations in Australia," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 44(3), pages 425-442, August.
    7. Nguyen, Canh Phuc, 2022. "Uncertainty and gender inequality: A global investigation," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 31-47.
    8. Marina Faďoš & Mária Bohdalová, 2019. "Unemployment gender inequality: evidence from the 27 European Union countries," Eurasian Economic Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(3), pages 349-371, September.
    9. Henriques, C.O. & Marcenaro-Gutierrez, O.D. & Lopez-Agudo, Luis Alejandro, 2020. "Getting a balance in the life satisfaction determinants of full-time and part-time European workers," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 87-113.

    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. Tarik Dogru & Umit Bulut & Ercan Sirakaya-Turk, 2021. "Modeling tourism demand: Theoretical and empirical considerations for future research," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(4), pages 874-889, June.
    2. Hosan, Shahadat & Rahman, Md Matiar & Karmaker, Shamal Chandra & Saha, Bidyut Baran, 2023. "Energy subsidies and energy technology innovation: Policies for polygeneration systems diffusion," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 267(C).
    3. BADALYAN, Gohar & HERZFELD, Thomas & RAJCANIOVA, Miroslava, 2014. "Transport Infrastructure And Economic Growth: Panel Data Approach For Armenia, Georgia And Turkey," Review of Agricultural and Applied Economics (RAAE), Faculty of Economics and Management, Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, vol. 17(2), pages 1-10, October.
    4. Ronald MacDonald & Flávio Vieira, "undated". "A panel data investigation of real exchange rate misalignment and growth," Working Papers 2010_13, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    5. Karmaker, Shamal Chandra & Hosan, Shahadat & Chapman, Andrew J. & Saha, Bidyut Baran, 2021. "The role of environmental taxes on technological innovation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    6. Jahanger, Atif & Hossain, Mohammad Razib & Usman, Muhammad & Chukwuma Onwe, Joshua, 2023. "Recent scenario and nexus between natural resource dependence, energy use and pollution cycles in BRICS region: Does the mediating role of human capital exist?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Iheonu, Chimere & Asongu, Simplice & Odo, Kingsley & Ojiem, Patrick, 2020. "Financial Sector Development and Investment in Selected ECOWAS Countries: Empirical Evidence using Heterogeneous Panel Data Method," MPRA Paper 107102, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Carlos Alberto Barreto Nieto & Jacobo Campo Robledo, 2012. "Relación a largo plazo entre consumo de energía y PIB en América Latina: Una evaluación empírica con datos panel," Revista Ecos de Economía, Universidad EAFIT, October.
    9. Ramesh Chandra Das & Tonmoy Chatterjee & Enrico Ivaldi, 2022. "Nexus between Housing Price and Magnitude of Pollution: Evidence from the Panel of Some High- and-Low Polluting Cities of the World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, July.
    10. Cecilio R. Tamarit Escalona & Estrella Gómez, 2011. "The euro effect on trade: evidence in gravity equations using panel cointegration techniques," Working Papers. Serie EC 2011-07, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    11. Thian-Hee Yiew & Chin-Yu Lee & Lin-Sea Lau, 2021. "Economic growth in selected G20 countries: How do different pollution emissions matter?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(8), pages 11451-11474, August.
    12. Pao, Hsiao-Tien & Tsai, Chung-Ming, 2011. "Multivariate Granger causality between CO2 emissions, energy consumption, FDI (foreign direct investment) and GDP (gross domestic product): Evidence from a panel of BRIC (Brazil, Russian Federation, I," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 685-693.
    13. Herzer, Dierk & Vollmer, Sebastian, 2013. "Rising top incomes do not raise the tide," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 504-519.
    14. Omri, Anis, 2018. "Entrepreneurship, sectoral outputs and environmental improvement: International evidence," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 46-55.
    15. Ferreira, Cândida, 2020. "Globalisation and Economic Growth: A Panel Data Approach," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 73(2), pages 187-236.
    16. Vikas Kakkar & Isabel Yan, 2012. "Real Exchange Rates and Productivity: Evidence from Asia," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44, pages 301-322, March.
    17. Olesia Kozlova & Jose Noguera-Santaella, 2019. "Relative efficiency of oil price versus oil output in promoting economic growth: Is OPEC’s strategy right?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 1997-2012, December.
    18. Mehmet Balcilar & Ojonugwa Usman & George N. Ike, 2023. "Investing green for sustainable development without ditching economic growth," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 728-743, April.
    19. Kuan‐Min Wang, 2010. "Monetary Policy Impulses and Retail Interest Rate Pass‐Through in Asian Banking Markets," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 253-287, September.
    20. Nizar Harrathi & Ahmed Almohaimeed, 2022. "Determinants of Carbon Dioxide Emissions: New Empirical Evidence from MENA Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(1), pages 469-482.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Australia; Gender; Per capita output; Wage gap;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    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:eee:ecanpo:v:55:y:2017:i:c:p:14-24. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    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.