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Gender wage discrimination

Author

Listed:
  • Boris Hirsch

    (Leuphana University of Lüneburg, and IZA, Germany)

Abstract

There are pronounced and persistent wage differences between men and women in all parts of the world. A significant element of these wage disparities can be attributed to differences in worker and workplace characteristics, which are likely to mirror differences in worker productivity. However, a large part of these differences remains unexplained, and it is common to attribute them to discrimination by the employer that is rooted in prejudice against female workers. Yet recent empirical evidence suggests that, to a large extent, the gaps reflect “monopsonistic” wage discrimination—that is, employers exploiting their wage-setting power over women—rather than any sort of prejudice.

Suggested Citation

  • Boris Hirsch, 2016. "Gender wage discrimination," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 310-310, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izawol:journl:y:2016:n:310
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    2. Manning, Alan, 1996. "The Equal Pay Act as an Experiment to Test Theories of the Labour Market," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 63(250), pages 191-212, May.
    3. Boris Hirsch, 2010. "Monopsonistic Labour Markets and the Gender Pay Gap," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, Springer, number 978-3-642-10409-1, October.
    4. Barth, Erling & Dale-Olsen, Harald, 2009. "Monopsonistic discrimination, worker turnover, and the gender wage gap," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 589-597, October.
    5. Douglas A. Webber, 2016. "Firm-Level Monopsony and the Gender Pay Gap," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(2), pages 323-345, April.
    6. Becker, Gary S., 1971. "The Economics of Discrimination," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 2, number 9780226041162, June.
    7. Michael R Ransom & Ronald L. Oaxaca, 2010. "New Market Power Models and Sex Differences in Pay," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(2), pages 267-289, April.
    8. Alison L. Booth & Pamela Katic, 2011. "Estimating the Wage Elasticity of Labour Supply to a Firm: What Evidence is there for Monopsony?," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 87(278), pages 359-369, September.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Biltagy, Marwa, 2019. "Gender wage disparities in Egypt: Evidence from ELMPS 2006 and 2012," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 14-23.
    2. Sabien Dobbelaere & Boris Hirsch & Steffen Mueller & Georg Neuschaeffer, 2020. "Organised Labour, Labour Market Imperfections, and Employer Wage Premia," Working Paper Series in Economics 396, University of Lüneburg, Institute of Economics.
    3. Bredemeier, Christian, 2019. "Gender Gaps in Pay and Inter-Firm Mobility," IZA Discussion Papers 12785, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Luca Paolo Merlino & Pierpaolo Parrotta & Dario Pozzoli, 2018. "Gender Differences in Sorting," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 671-709, October.
    5. Luca Paolo Merlino & Pierpaolo Parrotta & Dario Pozzoli, 2018. "Gender Differences in Sorting," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 671-709, October.
    6. Céline Detilleux & Nick Deschacht, 2021. "The causal effect of the number of children on gender‐specific labour supply elasticities to the firm," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 2-24, January.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender wage gap; wage discrimination; imperfect labor market competition; monopsony power; monopsonistic discrimination;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J42 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Monopsony; Segmented Labor Markets
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing
    • 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

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