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“Economic development” and gender equality: explaining variations in the gender poverty gap after socialism

Author

Listed:
  • Eva Fodor

    (Central European University)

  • Daniel Horn

    (Institute of Economics - Centre for Economic and Regional Studies Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Using the 2008 cross-sectional wave of the survey Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and multi-level modeling techniques, this paper explores the macro-level determinants of the gender poverty gap in the ten post-socialist European Union member states. In dialogue with the literature on the impact of economic development on gender inequality in Asia and Latin America, we find that fast-paced, foreign capital led economic growth is associated with a larger gender poverty gap in Central and Eastern Europe, while generous welfare policies, specifically higher levels of spending on pensions and family policies are correlated with women’s lower relative destitution. These findings evaluate the impact of neo-liberal style “economic development” on gender inequality in a geo-politically specific context and suggest that structural adjustment and global market integration may exacerbate women’s vulnerability even when they are well equipped with human capital and other resources to compete with men in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Fodor & Daniel Horn, 2015. "“Economic development” and gender equality: explaining variations in the gender poverty gap after socialism," KRTK-KTI WORKING PAPERS 1519, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:has:discpr:1519
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rebecca Jean Emigh & Cynthia Feliciano & Corey O’Malley & David Cook-Martín, 2018. "The Effect of State Transfers on Poverty in Post-Socialist Eastern Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 545-574, July.
    2. Scheiring, Gábor & Azarova, Aytalina & Irdam, Darja & Doniec, Katarzyna Julia & McKee, Martin & Stuckler, David & King, Lawrence, 2021. "Deindustrialization and the Postsocialist Mortality Crisis," SocArXiv jpbct, Center for Open Science.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models

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