Effets De Seuil De La Liberté Economique Sur Les Inégalités De Genre En Afrique Subsaharienne[Threshold Effects of Economic Freedom on Gender Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa]

The aim of this article is to identify the threshold effects at which economic freedom affects gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. To do this, we construct a panel of 31 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2013-2022. We use the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model, with the gender inequality index (GII) from the UNDP database as the dependent variable and the economic freedom index as the threshold parameter. As the economic freedom indicator is a composite index, we also test the threshold effect of property rights, fiscal freedom, public spending, business freedom, labour freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom and finally investment freedom, taken from the Heritage Foundation database. The results show that there are two thresholds above which economic freedom affects gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. The first threshold is 55% and varies between [54.35% and 55.07%] and the second threshold is 61.85% and varies between [61.85% and 62%]. We also find several thresholds, notably for property rights and labour freedom, and one threshold for investment freedom, fiscal freedom, entrepreneurial freedom, public expenditure, and none for monetary freedom and commercial freedom. However, our results are consistent with Becker's (1971) analysis that competition reduces gender inequality.