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Sources of gender wage gaps for skilled workers in Latin American countries

Author

Listed:
  • Marcela Perticará

    (Universidad Alberto Hurtado)

  • Mauricio Tejada

    (Universidad Alberto Hurtado)

Abstract

This paper identifies the impact of taste-based discrimination on labor market outcomes for nine Latin American countries. We use homogenized survey data on skilled workers to estimate a search and matching model of the labor market with explicit prejudice against women, participation decisions, and occupational choices. By gradually eliminating all potential sources of gender gaps, we find that prejudice is the only source that consistently impacts women, and plays a significant role in explaining gender wage gaps at the bottom of the wage distribution. Additionally, prejudice has strong negative effects on gender gaps with respect to participation, employment/unemployment, and self-employment rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcela Perticará & Mauricio Tejada, 2022. "Sources of gender wage gaps for skilled workers in Latin American countries," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 20(2), pages 439-463, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecin:v:20:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s10888-021-09500-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10888-021-09500-y
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Discrimination; Search models; Structural estimation; Latin America;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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