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Why Are There So Few Female Top Executives in Egalitarian Welfare States?

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Abstract

We identify pertinent institutions governing the structure of payoffs with regard to female career progression. Drawing on recent insights in behavioral economics, we hypothesize that interactions between psychological mechanisms and the institutional setup may be important determinants of cross-country differences in the level and evolution of female representation in executive positions in the business sector. We test this proposition informally by exploring whether it can be used to account for some of the observed differences between the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries in this respect. Three particularly important conclusions emerge: (i) broad welfare state policy promotes high female labor force participation, but blunts incentives to pursue top executive positions in the business sector; (ii) therefore, it is likely to be misleading to use the share of female executives as a proxy for gender equality in welfare states; and (iii) psychological mechanisms are likely to amplify the effects of policies and institutions.

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  • Henrekson, Magnus & Stenkula, Mikael, 2009. "Why Are There So Few Female Top Executives in Egalitarian Welfare States?," Working Paper Series 786, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:0786
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    Cited by:

    1. Henrekson, Magnus & Lyssarides, Odd & Ottosson, Jan, 2016. "The Social Background of Elite Executives: The Swedish Case," Working Paper Series 1138, Research Institute of Industrial Economics, revised 12 Jul 2021.
    2. Matti Keloharju & Samuli Knüpfer & Joacim Tåg, 2022. "What prevents women from reaching the top?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(3), pages 711-738, September.
    3. Jana Oehmichen & Marc Steffen & Michael Wolff, 2010. "Der Einfluss der Aufsichtsratszusammensetzung auf die Präsenz von Frauen in Aufsichtsräten," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 503-532, August.
    4. Kay, Rosemarie & Schlömer-Laufen, Nadine, 2016. "Gender diversity in top-management positions in large family and nonfamily businesses," Working Papers 02/16, Institut für Mittelstandsforschung (IfM) Bonn.
    5. Julia Heidemann & Andrea Landherr & Anna-Luisa Müller, 2013. "Berichterstattung über Frauen in Führungspositionen — eine Analyse der DAX 30-Unternehmen," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 65(5), pages 488-512, September.
    6. Carl Magnus Bjuggren & Magnus Henrekson, 2022. "Female self-employment: prevalence and performance effects of having a high-income spouse," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 163-181, June.
    7. Boschini, Anne & Håkanson, Christina & Rosén, Åsa & Sjögren, Anna, 2011. "Trading off or having it all? Completed fertility and mid-career earnings of Swedish men and women," Working Paper Series 2011:15, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

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