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The measurement of gender wage discrimination: the distributional approach revisited

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  • Coral del Río Otero
  • Carlos Gradín Lago
  • Olga Cantó Sánchez

Abstract

This paper presents the advantages of taking into account the distribution of the individual wage gap when analyzing female wage discrimination. The limitations of previous approaches such as the classic Oaxaca-Blinder and the recent distributive proposals using quantile regressions or counterfactual functions are thoroughly discussed. The new methodology presented here relies on Jenkins' (1994) work and proposes the use of poverty and deprivation literature techniques that are directly applicable to the measurement of discrimination. In an empirical application, we quantify the relevance of the glass ceiling and sticky floor phenomena in the Spanish labor market.
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  • Coral del Río Otero & Carlos Gradín Lago & Olga Cantó Sánchez, "undated". "The measurement of gender wage discrimination: the distributional approach revisited," Studies on the Spanish Economy 192, FEDEA.
    • Handle: RePEc:fda:fdaeee:192
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    More about this item

    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

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