The Economics of Gender, 3rd Edition

Preface.

Part I: What Are the Issues in the Economics of Gender?:.

1. Introduction.

What is the Economics of Gender?.

Why Study the Economics of Gender?.

How Are Men and Women Different?.

Focus: Gender, Gender, Everywhere.

Why Are Men and Women Different?.

Focus: Why Are Women Underrepresented in Science?.

Critiques of the Economic Approach.

Communication between Academic Disciplines.

Focus: Gender and Metaphor in the Language of Economics.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

Appendix: The Repercussions of Scarcity.

Opportunity Cost.

The Marginal vs. Total Distinction.

Markets.

Focus: The Intrinsic Value Paradox: Are Diamonds and Water Like Lawyers and Child Care Workers?.

Noncompetitive Markets—Monopoly and Monopsony.

Policy Application: Effects of a Minimum Wage.

Endnotes.

Discussion Questions.

2. Gender Differences in the U.S. Economy.

How Much Do Men and Women Work?.

Focus: Will Men Be Tomorrow’s “Second Sex”?.

Where Do Women and Men Work?.

How Much Money Do Men and Women Make?.

How Well-Off Are Women and Men?.

Focus: Gender Differences in Charitable Contributions.

How Do Men and Women Allocate Their Time?.

Policy Application: Unemployment Policy.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

Part II: Why Do Women and Men Work?:.

3. The Household as Economic Unit.

Household and Marriage Formation.

Forces Determining the Division of Labor.

Who To Marry and How To Share.

Focus: Is Bachelorhood a Pitiable State?.

How Is Power Distributed in Households?.

Focus: The Economics of Domestic Violence.

Focus: Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements.

Household and Marriage Dissolution.

Policy Application: No-Fault Divorce.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

Appendix: Consumption and Production Relationships.

Gains from Trade.

Budget Constraints and Indifference Curves.

Substitutes and Complements.

Endnote.

Discussion Questions.

4. Labor Force Participation: Analysis of Trends.

Trends in Labor Force Participation.

What Has Caused These Trends?.

Explanations of the Rise in Women's Labor Force Participation.

Focus: What Is Higher-Quality Housework?.

Explanations of the Fall in Men’s Labor Force Participation.

Trends in Hours Worked.

Conclusions about Economic Factors Affecting Labor Force Participation.

Extensions of the Simple Economic Model.

Predicting Changes in the Labor Market.

Focus: Changes in Volunteerism Rates.

Policy Application: Subsidized Child Care.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

Appendix: Labor Supply.

The Decision to Work.

Policy Application: An Earnings Tax.

Endnotes.

Discussion Questions.

5. Labor Force Participation: Consequences for Family Structure.

Demographic Trends.

The Question of Causality.

Focus: Early Marriage as an Element of Utopia.

New Household and Family Patterns.

Changes in Well-Being of Households and Families.

Focus: The Price Of Success? Higher Education and Family Life.

Focus: Teenage Mothers and the Cycle of Poverty.

Policy Application: Regulation Of Fertility—Access to Contraception and Abortion.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

Part II Policy Application: Welfare Reform.

What Is Welfare?.

Who Is Poor?.

Effects of Welfare Programs.

Approaches to Welfare Reform.

Focus: Making Noncustodial Parents Pay.

Focus: The Free the Children Antipoverty Program.

Recent Welfare Reform in the U.S.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

Part III: The Earnings Puzzle: Why Do Women Earn Less Than Men?:.

6. Gender Segregation in the Workplace.

The Situation in Various Occupations.

Focus: Directors and Officers at Fortune 500 Companies.

Interpretation of Large Changes in the Proportion of Women in Some Occupations.

Segregation Index Values.

Cross-Cultural Segregation Data.

Theories of Why Segregation Occurs and Persists.

Focus: Blind Selection Processes.

The Relationship between Segregation and Earnings.

Focus: University Coaches’ Salaries.

Effects of Workforce Policies on Segregation.

Policy Application: Affirmative Action.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

7. Causes of Earnings Differences: Human Capital.

What Is Human Capital?.

How Human Capital Investments Affect Earnings.

Focus: The “Mommy Track” Controversy.

The Significance of Human Capital Theory for Occupational Choice.

Focus: Is There Gender Bias in Educational Testing?.

Evidence of Effects of Human Capital Differences on Gender Earnings Differences.

Focus: Is the Classroom Climate Chilly for Women?.

Policy Implications of Human Capital Theory for the Gender Earnings Gap.

Policy Application: Nontraditional Job Training Programs.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

Appendix: Regression Analysis.

Endnotes.

8. Causes of Earnings Differences: Compensating Differentials.

What Is a Compensating Differential?.

How Do Compensating Differentials Affect Earnings?.

Focus: Death on the Job.

Sorting of Workers across Firms and Industries.

Gender Differences in Preferences for Job Characteristics.

Focus: Gender Differences in “Selling Out”.

Policy Implications of Compensating Differentials for the Gender Earnings Gap.

Policy Application: Workplace Regulations.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

9. Causes of Earnings Differences: Discrimination.

How Economists Define Discrimination.

Overview of Evidence of Workplace Discrimination.

Focus: The Difficulties of Filing Discrimination Charges.

Focus: The Sears Case.

How Do Discrimination Theories Explain Gender Workplace Differences?.

Models Involving Tastes for Discrimination.

Models of Discrimination That Do Not Involve Prejudice.

Focus: Women Don’t Ask? Improving Negotiation Skills.

Can Discrimination Exist in Equilibrium?.

Feedback Effects from Labor Market Discrimination.

Devices for Combating Discrimination.

Policy Application: Anti-Discrimination Legislation.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

Part III Policy Application: Comparable Worth.

What Is Comparable Worth?.

The Pros and Cons of Comparable Worth.

Focus: Comparable Worth for Professors.

How Would Comparable Worth Be Implemented Nationally?.

Estimation of Potential Comparable Worth Benefits and Costs.

Evaluation of Actual Comparable Worth Policies.

The Need For Policies To Correct Discrimination.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

Part IV: Cross-Societal Comparisons: Are Gender Differences the Same Everywhere?:.

10. Industrialized Capitalist Societies.

Overview of Levels and Trends in These Countries.

Focus: Institutionalized Pay Discrimination in New Zealand.

Examples from Particular Countries.

Focus: Swedish Hiring Quotas and Norwegian Boardroom Quotas.

Focus: Comparing Tax System Effects for Sweden and Germany.

Social Policies across Advanced Industrialized Countries.

Policy Application: Child Allowances.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

11. Socialist and Cooperative Societies.

Why These Societies Might Be Expected To Display More Gender Equality.

Evaluation of Actual Practices.

Focus: Causes of the Progress of Women in the Soviet Union.

Examples from Particular Countries.

Focus: How Many “Missing Girls” Are There in China?.

Focus: Vietnam as a Paradigm for Transition?.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

12. Nonindustrialized Traditional Societies.

Overview of Levels and Trends in These Countries.

Methods for Evaluating the Extent and Value of Work.

Focus: Time Use in Togo.

Level of Gender Inequality by Type of Society.

Focus: Flexible Gender Roles in American Indian Societies.

Focus: Sex Ratios across Societies.

Examples from Particular Countries.

Policy Application: Rural–Urban Migration Disincentives.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

13. Effects of the Development Process on Gender Differences.

What Is Development?.

Focus: Two Brazilian Factories.

Development Effects on Family Structure.

Development Policy Topics.

Focus: The Marriage Market in Singapore.

Focus: Bank Loans in Bombay.

Policy Application: Foreign Aid Practices.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

Part V: Historical Comparisons: How Do Gender Differences Vary over Time?:.

14. Gender Differences in U.S. Economic History.

Overview by Era.

Focus: Mill Towns in New England.

Long-Run Trends in Labor Markets.

Focus: Bank Tellers and the Tipping Phenomenon.

Policies Affecting Men and Women Differently.

Focus: The Cigar Industry.

Policy Application: Marriage Bars.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

15. Race, Ethnicity, and Class Considerations in Interpreting Gender Differences.

Gender Differences across Groups.

Different Conceptual Frameworks for Analyzing Group Differences.

Focus: Does U.S. Immigration Law Hurt Women?.

Displaced Populations—American Indians.

Repercussions of Slavery: The African-American Experience.

Focus: Black Progress in Corporate America.

Immigrant Experiences.

Group Membership Considerations in Formulation of Policy.

Focus: Does Title IX Discriminate against Black Men?.

Policy Application: Quotas in Educational Programs and Hiring.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading.

Discussion Questions.

16. Policy Proposals.

Summary of Policy Approaches to Gender Issues.

General Precepts for Policy Formulation.

Focus: Why Don’t Women Get Tenure?.

Focus: Part-Time Lawyers.

Policy Application: Family-Friendly Benefits.

Summary.

Endnotes.

Further Reading and Statistical Sources.

Discussion Questions.

Author Index.

Subject Index