Work, family, & policy in a time of rising gender equality - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Work, family, & policy in a time

• f rising gender equality

Betsey Stevenson University of Michigan CEPR, CESifo, and NBER

Roadmap

Examine how gender roles and families have changed over

time

Turn to economics to help us understand these changes Explore the role of policy, technological, and trade changes

in the second half of the 20th century on families

Highlight the challenges that people face today Take a brief look at how the economics profession has fallen

behind in describing the world

A Golden Age for Golden Marriage

Source: U.S. Censuses of Population, 1880–2014. American Community Survey, 2014

Fertility Delays

Divergence in Births

Fertility Delays

A Similar Pattern in Canada

Women Education Ascendance

Young women are choosing higher education at much higher

rates and outperforming boys in the classroom

 Nearly three quarters of girls graduating high school go straight to

college at either a 2- or 4-year school.

 Male high school graduates are 10 percentage points less likely to

do so.

There were 137 female graduate students for every 100

male graduate students in 2017.

Women earned 53 percent of all doctorate degrees in 2017,

compared to roughly 10 percent in 1970.

 70% of doctoral degrees in health and medicine  61% of doctoral degrees in social and behavioral sciences  23% of doctoral degrees in engineering  25% of doctoral degrees in mathematics and computer science

Among young people: women hold more degrees

Source: Current Population Survey, ASEC

The gender gap in median job tenure has closed

Source: Current Population Survey, ASEC

Women’s share of household income has grown

Source: Current Population Survey, ASEC

More wives are out-earning their husbands.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1988–2015 Annual Social and Economic Supplements to the Current Population Survey (CPS). 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40

1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014

Percent of wives who earn more than their husbands

Earnings are rising most for college-educated

Source: U.S. Current Population Survey, ASEC

Our times have a changed

Women hold 49 percent of the jobs Women’s equality in the labor force has meant:  more work  higher earnings  shifting to new occupations, previously male-

dominated occupations

 less part-time work  more moms at work  more dads at home

Economic Growth

The growth in women’s paid work was responsible for about

a fifth of the growth in real GDP in the 1970s and 1980s

Much of the growth in household income in the 1980s and

1990s was driven by rising female wages

The focus on stagnant wages arose as women’s labor force

participation growth stalled

U.S. female labor force participation has declined, while it

continues to rise internationally

Female Labor Force Participation Is Rising Internationally

50 55 60 65 70 75 80 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Australia Canada France Germany Japan United Kingdom United States

What caused all these changes?

What insight does economics give us to these changes?

Why marry?

 Production complementarities

 Through specialization, households can produce more together than the

singles can produce apart While anyone can specialize in household production, perhaps because of their role in childbirth, women have typically had a comparative advantage in home production

 Public goods

 My watching the television with you doesn’t diminish your experience

watching television

 Children can be thought of as a public good to the extent that one person’s

love or pleasure in their children does not crowd out the other person’s

 Consumption complementarities

 I may enjoy television more if you are watching it with me  I may enjoy our children more if I can share that joy with you  Comes from the pleasure of consuming together

Old Model of Marriage: Specialization between home and work

Why marry? Production complementarities

 One person specializes in earning income to purchase items in

the market

 The other person specializes in home production

 The key to specialization: there are benefits to having one person

do it all, rather than split the job among two people.

That means that one person who specializes in laundry can do more laundry in an hour, than two people each spending 30 minutes would do. One person focusing on cooking, childrearing, laundry, allows all of those tasks to be done better and more efficiently. Being more dedicated to work increases the chance of a raise or promotion, so that one person working 60 hours a week can earn more than two people each working 30 hours a week.

 Returns to specialization exist!  But they vary according to task, over time, and may not exist in

such broad categories as “market work” versus “home work”

Three important changes

• 1. Policy/Legal
• 2. Technology
• 3. Trade

What changed?

Laws directly related to employment increased women’s

• ptions to work outside the home

Other laws change the incentives and returns to working

• utside the home: Unintended consequences of many policy

changes

Many changes, some highlights:

 Equal Pay Act of 1963  Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964  Title IX of the Educational Amendments to the Civil Rights Act  Divorce laws changed the nature of bargaining within families,  Supreme Court decisions give all women the right to access birth

control, the right to seek an abortion, and legal rights to children born out of wedlock

How Did Legal Changes Impact the Growth?

 Laws directly related to employment increased women’s

• ptions to work outside the home

 Other laws change the incentives and returns to working

• utside the home

 Title IX’s applicability to Sports

Gave women equal access to participating in sports Caused women’s sports participation to rise Sports increase education, led women to enter male- dominated occupations, and increased labor force participation

 Divorce Law Reform

Does not change divorce per se, but does change the amount

• f time women are likely to spend in marriage

Shifts bargaining so that options outside of marriage are more important Increased women’s labor force participation

What changed

Technological developments

Development of appliances that substitute for skill in the home (e.g. washing machines, dishwashers) Improved birth control such as the birth control pill increased control over fertility New packing techniques reduced the cost of preparing and distributing pre-made foods Mass production reduced costs of creating goods like clothes, food by factories

Increased trade

Reduced the cost of goods that were substitutes for home production Increased productivity in market work

Societal changes changed the benefits of marriage

 Taken together changes decreased the potential for production

efficiencies in marriage

 The benefit of specialization between market and non-market

work fell

 The increased availability of substitutes for home production and the

decrease in the cost of substitutes decreased the benefits

 Technology substituted capital for skilled labor in the home reducing the

returns to domestic work

 The (opportunity) cost of specialization into non-market work

rose

 Women’s opportunities outside the home rose  Women’s better access to education and birth control increased the returns

to investing in market skills

 Divorce law changes increased the incentives for women to invest in their

• ptions outside their marriage

Changes

Less work in the home, particularly by women

 Between 1965 and 2003 home production by women fell between

11 and 12 hours a week on average, while home production by men rose by 4.5 hours (Ramey 2007) (Aguiar and Hurst 2007).

More market work by women, even those with young kids

 In 1970, among women with children under the age of 5, the

majority, 70%, were out of the labor force, presumably full-time

• homemakers. In the ensuing decades, labor market participation

became the norm for mothers with young children and only 36% were out of the labor force in 2006.

Decline in marriage But declines in marriage could have been bigger!

Shift in importance among the three benefits

A shift away from the benefits of production-based marriage to consumption-based marriage.

 Increase in the benefits of shared public goods within

marriage

 Increase in consumption complementarities within

marriage

 Increase in marriages of “equal” partners, sharing

production inside and outside the home

 Specialization becomes more narrow or non-existent

Narrow: Managing children’s doctors appointments, household paperwork, finances, math homework, managing home technology Non-existent: Few returns to specializing in loading the dishwasher

New model of marriage

Empirical implications

Marriage should become more common among those with

more leisure time and more disposable income

People should increasingly marry people with whom they

share common interests

Without stereotypical gender roles determining the benefits

• f marriage, marriage becomes more appealing to those not

interested in stereotypical gender roles

Increase in age of first marriage, particularly among those

with greater market skills

Couples should spend more time together

 With production complementarities the benefits of marriage

come from time apart!

 With consumption complementarities the benefits of marriage

come from time together!

Couples do more together

They spend more time together

 At work  At play  Playing sports  Social activities

They spend more leisure time with their children

 College-educated people spend much more time “playing” with

their children than they did in the past and more than less educated people do

Increase in Time Spent on Childcare

1965-1995 1998-2007

College-educated moms

12.4 21.2

Less than college moms

11.7 15.9

Mom GAP

0.7 5.3

College-educated dads

4.5 9.6

Less than college dads

3.7 6.8

Dad GAP

0.8 2.8

More than half of the current gap for both men and women reflects differences in the propensity of college versus non-college graduates to do childcare jointly

Fathers are now more involved parents.

Public policy and Family

Public policy in the 1960s responded to changing public

• pinion by creating a set of policies that further shaped both

families and work.

The result—albeit unintended—was to encourage marriages

• f equal roles where both people work and take care of kids.

In marriages where both work, parents are more likely to

raise kids who enter marriage of equal roles. These interactions reinforce and continue the trend.

Workplace norms and public policies were originally

designed for households in which one person is responsible for all things outside of work--raising children, taking care of aging parents, waiting the for the cable installer/plumber/etc.

Adaptation

When families don’t specialize in either market work or home production, paid work changes:

Employers have a more diverse set of candidates. Businesses have a more diverse set of customers with

purchasing power.

Workers require more flexibility for unexpected personal

needs.

Conclusion

Today’s marriages thrive when couples have the time and

money to enjoy shared interests.

Equality in the workforce has helped create equality in the

home and equality in the home helps to create equality in the workplace

Policy can impact marriage in unexpected ways

 Increased free trade reduced the benefits of having a specialist

home maker, reducing the need to marry

 But free trade also helped propel marriages of equality  Technology replaced much of the work of housewives

Work, family, consumption goods are all intertwined

Conclusion

Policies like workplace flexibility, paid parental leave,

worker training, increased access to education are policies that support and encourage marriage.

These policies have been shown to increase female labor

force participation, but they may also increase marriage rates.

The United States failure to offer sick leave and paid parental

leave is one reason it has fallen behind other countries in female labor force participation.

Policies to increase worker productivity may increase

marriage by increasing the returns to marriages of consumption complementarities.

Why Is Economics Behind?

Women are less likely than men to major in economics In the United States, women are 57 percent of college

students and yet only 35 percent of economics majors

These patterns are seen internationally as well as for the

United States

Women are a minority of graduate students in economics,

new PhDs and a minority of new assistant, associate, and full professors

39

40

Total Male and Female Mentions

42

[CELLRANGE] [CATEGORY NAME] 503 [CELLRANGE] [CATEGORY NAME] 2192 occurences [CATEGORY NAME] 163

6%

Policy Leaders in textbooks compared to real life

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Mayors Cabinet members in the 21st century Policy Makers in textbooks Female Male

43

Business leaders in textbooks compared to real life

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Patent applicants Entrepeneurs CEOs Real business leaders in textbooks Female Male

44

Summary

 Principles of economics textbooks are full of men  That men are three-quarters of the people in

economics textbooks is not because they are economists

 Women in examples take fewer actions, are more

likely to be involved in entertainment, education, or household tasks

 Men are more likely to be in business or policy  Economists that appear are mostly men, but not

because they are historic male figures (it’s not the men you are thinking of)

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Why Does it Matter?

Research shows that women have different views than men Female policy makers vote differently Female economists favor different policies Research by May, McGarvey, and Whaples (2014

Contemporary Economic Policy) found that there are **NOT** gender differences among economists on core concepts and economic methodology—male and female economists all believe in basically the same “economic model” of how people make decisions

47

Female Economists are Different

But when it comes to analyzing the outcomes and

considering policy solutions, there are big gender differences

Female economists are more likely to favor government-

backed redistribution policies

They are more likely to view gender inequality as a problem

in the U.S. labor market and economics profession

They favor government intervention over market solutions

more than their male counterparts

They want more environmental protection

48

What do women in examples do?

[CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE]

50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Analyzing or making decision Having something done to them Consuming Obervations Female Male Neutral

49

Settings in which men and women appear

50

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Transportation Technology Sports Policy Health care Food Fashion Entertainment Education Domestic Business Agriculture Female Male Neutral

Few Female Business Leaders Mentioned

There are only 11 across 7 books

 Angela Ahrendts  Annie Young-Scrivner  Elizabeth Holmes  Katie Bardaro  Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw  Marion Donovan  Marissa Mayer  Mary Anderson  Mia Bauer  Penny Stafford  Sally Smith  Sheryl Sandberg  Virginia Rometty

52

[CATEGO RY NAME] [CELLRA NGE] [CATEGO RY NAME] 6%

Male Business Leaders Mentioned in Any Text

As with economists, some are well-known but most are not

The overreliance on business leaders is related to a similar challenge with business school case studies

Women own 36 percent of businesses Women are now the majority of workers in management,

professional, and related occupations

In 2016, 27 percent of all CEOs were women, up from 23

percent in 2008.

53

Male Inventors

54

Example of a list of inventors in Hubbard & O’Brien (Economics)

Policy Makers: Janet Yellen!

8 percent of policy makers listed in textbooks are female Janet Yellen is the dominant mention and appears in all

books and is 45 percent of mentions of female policy makers

The other 10 women mentioned across the eight books are:

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1. Christina Romer 2. Christine Lagarde 3. Hillary Clinton 4. Lucy Koh 5. Margaret Thatcher 6. Margrethe Vestager 7. Nancy Pelosi 8. Sandra Day O’Connor 9. Theresa May

• 10. Betsey Stevenson

Economists

 Economists are 29 percent of the people mentioned in an

economics textbook

 Women are outnumbered by men 14 to 1  No woman dominates the list, no woman appears in every book;  Few men appear in every book, the list of economists are not

famous historical economists

 Eliminate economists from the analysis….

56

All people except economists

[CELLRANGE] [CATEGORY NAME] [CELLRANGE] [CATEGORY NAME] Neutral

57

8%

Most Economists Appear in Only One Book

1% 1% 2% 2% 5% 5% 12% 73% All 8 books 7 of 8 books 6 of 8 books 5 of 8 books 4 of 8 books 3 of 8 books 2 of 8 books 1 of 8 books

58

Female economists by book

[CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE]

[CELLRANGE]

50 100 150 200 Acemoglu, Laibson & List Bade & Parkin Campbell, Brue & Flynn Hubbard & O'Brien Krugman & Wells Mankiw Parkin Schiller & Gebhardt Observations Female Male

59

Economists in textbooks compared to real life

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Economics students Tenured faculty in economics Economists in textbooks Female Male

60

From the preface to A Course in Game Theory

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A course in game theory. Martin J Osborne, Ariel Rubinstein. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994.