IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/asiaec/v34y2020i2p213-232.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender Difference in Returns to Education Independent of Gender Wage Gap in Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Jaeram Lee
  • Jungjoon Ihm

Abstract

This study examined the difference between male and female groups’ return on investment (ROI) in education independent of the average gender wage gap. Women’s additional ROI in education was significant and positively estimated. Furthermore, the ROI in women’s education was consistently higher than that in men regardless of educational stage, except for graduate education. These gender differences were greater in the younger generation than in the older generation and have decreased significantly in the recent ten years in high school education. Although the additional ROI in women’s education was positive in the field of culture and arts, education’s effect on wage increases in professional occupations was less than in men, especially in the fields of law and medicine. In addition, we show that gender differences in ROI in education were countercyclical. A base effect, large wage declines for low‐educated women during recessions, could explain this phenomenon. However, coinciding with the existence of positive cash flow news in the stock market that promises good business performance, a significant wage increase among highly educated women was found.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaeram Lee & Jungjoon Ihm, 2020. "Gender Difference in Returns to Education Independent of Gender Wage Gap in Korea," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 213-232, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:asiaec:v:34:y:2020:i:2:p:213-232
    DOI: 10.1111/asej.12209
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/asej.12209
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/asej.12209?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Introduction to "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings"," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 1-4, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Martins, Pedro S. & Pereira, Pedro T., 2004. "Does education reduce wage inequality? Quantile regression evidence from 16 countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 355-371, June.
    3. Katz, Lawrence F. & Autor, David H., 1999. "Changes in the wage structure and earnings inequality," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 26, pages 1463-1555, Elsevier.
    4. Trostel, Philip & Walker, Ian & Woolley, Paul, 2002. "Estimates of the economic return to schooling for 28 countries," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, February.
    5. Jeff Biddle & Daniel Hamermesh, 2013. "Wage discrimination over the business cycle," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 2(1), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1, March.
    7. John Y. Campbell & Tuomo Vuolteenaho, 2004. "Bad Beta, Good Beta," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1249-1275, December.
    8. Audrey Light & Wayne Strayer, 2004. "Who Receives the College Wage Premium?: Assessing the Labor Market Returns to Degrees and College Transfer Patterns," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(3).
    9. Hanno Lustig & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, 2008. "The Returns on Human Capital: Good News on Wall Street is Bad News on Main Street," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(5), pages 2097-2137, September.
    10. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Chi, Wei & Li, Bo, 2008. "Glass ceiling or sticky floor? Examining the gender earnings differential across the earnings distribution in urban China, 1987-2004," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 243-263, June.
    12. Monk-Turner, Elizabeth & Turner, Charlie, 2004. "The gender wage gap in South Korea: how much has changed in 10 years?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 415-424, April.
    13. Lee, Jaeram & Ihm, Jungjoon & Ryu, Doojin, 2017. "Human capital measures and stock return predictability: Macroeconomic versus microeconomic approaches," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 53-56.
    14. Cho, Donghun, 2007. "Why is the gender earnings gap greater in Korea than in the United States?," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 455-469, December.
    15. Chi, Wei & Li, Bo & Yu, Qiumei, 2011. "Decomposition of the increase in earnings inequality in urban China: A distributional approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 299-312, September.
    16. Goldin, Claudia, 1992. "Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195072709.
    17. Jaeram Lee & Jungjoon Ihm, 2018. "Financial risk exposure of returns to education: Panel evidence from Korea," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 32(1), pages 83-97, March.
    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. Song, Teresa, 2024. "Why did gender inequality lag GDP per capita and human development growth in Korea over 1976-1996?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 122006, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Zhanhui Fu & Hongqiang Jiang & Jiajun Qiao & Xiaojun Jiang & Weichun He, 2023. "Gender Differences in Migrant Workers’ Wages and Their Influencing Factors in the Central Hilly Regions of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-16, July.

    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. Jaeram Lee & Jungjoon Ihm, 2018. "Financial risk exposure of returns to education: Panel evidence from Korea," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 32(1), pages 83-97, March.
    2. Balestra, Simone & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2017. "Heterogeneous returns to education over the wage distribution: Who profits the most?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 89-105.
    3. Ernesto Amaral & Bernardo Queiroz & Júlia Calazans, 2015. "Demographic changes, educational improvements, and earnings in Brazil and Mexico," IZA Journal of Labor & Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, December.
    4. repec:zbw:rwirep:0065 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Vincent Hogan & Roberto Rigobon, 2002. "Using Heteroscedasticity to Estimate the Returns to Education," NBER Working Papers 9145, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Fasih, Tazeen & Kingdon, Geeta & Patrinos, Harry Anthony & Sakellariou, Chris & Soderbom, Mans, 2012. "Heterogeneous returns to education in the labor market," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6170, The World Bank.
    7. Middendorf, Torge, 2008. "Returns to Education in Europe – Detailed Results from a Harmonized Survey," Ruhr Economic Papers 65, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Elena Crivellaro, 2012. "Returns To College Over Time: Trends In Europe In The Last 15 Years. Stuck On The Puzzle," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0146, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    9. Lee, Jaeram & Ihm, Jungjoon & Ryu, Doojin, 2017. "Human capital measures and stock return predictability: Macroeconomic versus microeconomic approaches," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 53-56.
    10. Mamiko Takeuchi, 2021. "Determinants of Earnings and Gender Earnings Gaps among Highly Educated Workers within Major Cities in Asian Countries," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 166-186, June.
    11. David Card & Dean R. Hyslop, 2018. "Female Earnings Inequality: The Changing Role of Family Characteristics on the Extensive and Intensive Margins," NBER Working Papers 25387, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Torge Middendorf, 2008. "Returns to Education in Europe – Detailed Results from a Harmonized Survey," Ruhr Economic Papers 0065, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    13. Hans-Peter Y. Qvist & Anders Holm & Martin D. Munk, 2016. "Demand and Supply Effects and Returns to College Education - Evidence from a Natural Experiment with Engineers in Denmark," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 20164, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    14. Emanuela di Gropello, 2006. "Meeting the Challenges of Secondary Education in Latin America and East Asia : Improving Efficiency and Resource Mobilization," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7173, December.
    15. Harmon, Colm & Hogan, Vincent & Walker, Ian, 2003. "Dispersion in the economic return to schooling," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 205-214, April.
    16. Francisco Queiró, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Human Capital and Firm Dynamics [How Large Are Human-Capital Externalities? Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws]," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(4), pages 2061-2100.
    17. Fabrizio Pompei & Ekaterina Selezneva, 2015. "Education Mismatch, Human Capital and Labour Status of Young People across European Union Countries," Working Papers 347, Leibniz Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (Institute for East and Southeast European Studies).
    18. Theodore Koutmeridis, 2013. "The Market for "Rough Diamonds": Information, Finance and Wage Inequality," CDMA Working Paper Series 201307, Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis, revised 14 Oct 2013.
    19. Korpi, Tomas & Tåhlin, Michael, 2009. "Educational mismatch, wages, and wage growth: Overeducation in Sweden, 1974-2000," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 183-193, April.
    20. Patrizio Pagano & Massimo Sbracia, 2014. "The secular stagnation hypothesis: a review of the debate and some insights," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 231, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    21. David Card & Ana Rute Cardoso & Joerg Heining & Patrick Kline, 2018. "Firms and Labor Market Inequality: Evidence and Some Theory," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 13-70.

    More about this item

    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:bla:asiaec:v:34:y:2020:i:2:p:213-232. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eaeaaea.html .

    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.