IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/econom/v92y2025i367p848-882.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Talent allocation, gender disparities and post‐reform economic growth in Central America

Author

Listed:
  • Rishabh Sinha

Abstract

From 1995 to 2015, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama underwent significant labour market transformations, particularly in the occupational distribution and participation of women. This paper examines these shifts through an occupational choice model, focusing on three key frictions affecting efficient talent allocation: labour market discrimination, barriers to human capital accumulation, and restrictive social norms. The findings reveal that improved talent allocation drove economic growth in Costa Rica and Panama, primarily due to reductions in barriers to human capital accumulation. In contrast, labour market discrimination intensified, supporting the retaliatory hypothesis and creating headwinds for growth. The aggregate effects in El Salvador are relatively mild and noisy, making it difficult to pin down the impact qualitatively. Nonetheless, prevailing social norms around market work have precipitated sharply in El Salvador for both genders, creating a significant impediment to growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Rishabh Sinha, 2025. "Talent allocation, gender disparities and post‐reform economic growth in Central America," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 92(367), pages 848-882, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:92:y:2025:i:367:p:848-882
    DOI: 10.1111/ecca.12575
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12575
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecca.12575?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
    ---><---

    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:econom:v:92:y:2025:i:367:p:848-882. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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/lsepsuk.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.