Gender Factors and Inclusive Economic Growth: The Silent Revolution

Authore(s) : Laura Cabeza-García || Department of Business ManagementUniversity of León24071 LeónSpain.

Volume : (13), Issue : 205, January - 2019

Abstract : The gender factors that trigger economic growth in both high- and low-income countries were  investigated in this study. To address these  gender factors,  four characteristic dimensions of gender inclusion were  considered: education, access to the labor  market, fertility, and  democracy. The  relationship between economic growth and  gender factors  was  analyzed in  a  sample  of 127 countries. Value and robustness were added to the results using dynamic models applied to panel data while accounting for endogeneity. We conclude  that high fertility in women  has negative effects on economic growth. However, when women have  greater access to secondary education and  the labor market  in conditions of equality,  the effects are positive.  Similarly, the access of women  to active political participation has significant effects on economic growth. Overall, this study helps  identify which  gender factors may promote inclusive economic  growth, which  is economic  growth achieved when  both men and women are incorporated in equal  conditions.

Article: Download PDF Journal DOI : 301/704

Cite This Article:

Article No : 10048

Number of Downloads : 100

References :

Brashaw, S.; Castellino, J.; Diopet, B. Women’s Role in Economic Development:  Overcoming the Constraints.Sustainable Development Solutions Network. 2013. Available online: http://unsdsn.org/resources/publications/ womens-role-in-economic-development-overcoming-the-constraints/ (accessed on 4 December 2017). Solow, R.M. A Contribution to the Theory  of Economic Growth. Q. J. Econ. 1956, 70, 65–94. [CrossRef] Mankiw, N.G.; Romer,... More

• Brashaw, S.; Castellino, J.; Diopet, B. Women’s Role in Economic Development:  Overcoming the Constraints.Sustainable Development Solutions Network. 2013. Available online: http://unsdsn.org/resources/publications/ womens-role-in-economic-development-overcoming-the-constraints/ (accessed on 4 December 2017).
• Solow, R.M. A Contribution to the Theory  of Economic Growth. Q. J. Econ. 1956, 70, 65–94. [CrossRef]
• Mankiw, N.G.; Romer, D.; Weil, D.N. A Contribution to the Empirics  of Economic Growth. Q. J. Econ. 1992,107, 407–437. [CrossRef]
• Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany. Gender Equality in German Development Policy; BMZ Strategy  Paper  No. 2; Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany: Bonn, Germany, 2014.
• Schultz, T.P. Human Capital,  Family Planning, and their Effects on Population Growth.  Am. Econ. Rev. 1994, 84, 255–260.
• Murthi, M.; Guio, A.C.; Drèze,  J. Mortality, Fertility, and  Gender Bias in India:  A District-Level Analysis.Popul. Dev. Rev. 1995, 21, 745–782. [CrossRef]
• World  Bank. Engendering Development; W.B.: Washington, DC, USA, 2001.
• Rahman, R.I.; Islam, R. Female Labour Force Participation in Bangladesh: Trends, Drivers and Barriers; ILO Asia-Pacific Working Paper Series No. 14–15; International Labour Organization, DWT for South Asia and Country Office for India: New Delhi, India,  2013.
• Hakura, D.; Hussain, M.; Newial, M.; Thakoor, V.; Yang, F. Inequality, Gender Gaps and Economic Growth: Comparative Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa; IMF Working Paper No.  111; International Monetary Fund: Washington, DC, USA, 2016.
• Barro, R.; Lee, J.W. Sources of Economic Growth. Carnegie-Rochester Conf. Ser. Public Policy 1994, 40, 1–46. [CrossRef]
• Barro,  R.;  Sala-i-Martin,  X.  Economic  Growth,  2nd   ed.;  McGraw-Hill:  New   York,   NY,  USA,  1995; ISBN 0-262-02553-1.
• Licumba, E.A.; Dzator, J.; Zhang, J.X. Gender Equality in Education and Economic Growth in Selected Southern African Countries. In Proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Business and Social Sciences, Sydney,  Australia, 13–14 April 2015.
• Seguino, S. Micro-Macro Linkages between Gender, Development, and  Growth:  Implications for  the Caribbean Region.  J. East. Caribb. Stud. 2008, 33, 8–42.
• King, E.; Hill, M.A. Women’s Education in Developing Countries: An Overview. In Women’s Education in Developing Countries: Barriers, Benefits and Policies; King, E.M., Hill, M.A., Eds.; Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, MD, USA, 1993; pp. 1–50.
• Knowles, S.; Lorgelly,  P.K.; Owen,  P.D. Are Educational Gender Gaps a Brake on Economic  Development? Some Cross-Country Empirical Evidence. Oxf. Econ. Pap. 2002, 54, 118–149. [CrossRef]
• Cuberes, D.; Teignier, M. Gender Inequality and  Economic Growth. World Development Report. 2012.Available online:  https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4391 (accessed  on 10 July 2014).
• Qureshi, S.A.; Khan, M.; Rafique, A.; Khan, G.; Wahid, M.S.; Nazli, A. Gender Differential in Education and its Impact on Economic Growth:  Pakista  in study (1965–2007), a Generalized Method of Moment Approach. Interdiscip. J. Contemp. Res. Bus. 2011, 3, 1310–1317.
• Dollar,  D.; Gatti,  R. Gender Inequality, Income and Growth:  Are Good Times Good For Women?  World Bank Working paper No.1; Development Research  Group, The World  Bank: Washington, DC, USA, 1999.
• Forbes,  K.J. A Reassessment of the Relationship between Inequality and  Growth. Am. Econ. Rev. 2000, 90, 869–887. [CrossRef]
• Appiah, E.; McMahon, W. The Social Outcomes of Education and Feedbacks on Growth  in Africa. J. Dev. Stud.2002, 38, 27–68. [CrossRef]
• Klasen, S. Low Schooling for Girls, Slower Growth for All? Cross-Country Evidence  on the Effect of Gender Inequality in Education on Economic Development. World Bank Econ. Rev. 2002, 16, 345–373. [CrossRef]
• Perotti, R. Growth, Income Distribution, and Democracy:  What the Data Say. J. Econ. Growth 1996, 1, 149–187. [CrossRef]
• Pervaiz,  Z.; Chani, M.I.; Jan, S.A.; Chaudhary, A.R. Gender  Inequality and Economic Growth:  A Time Series Analysis for Pakistan. Middle East J. Sci. Res. 2011, 10, 434–439.
• Klasen, S.; Lamanna, F. The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and Employment on Economic Growth in the Middle East and North Africa, Background Paper for Gender and Development in the Middle East and North Africa; W.B.: Washington, DC, USA, 2003.
• Klasen,  S.; Lamanna, F. The Impact of Gender Inequality in Education and  Employment on Economic Growth: New Evidence  for a Panel of Countries. Fem. Econ. 2009, 15, 91–132. [CrossRef]
• Barro, R.; Lee, J.W. International Measures of Schooling Years and  Schooling Quality. Am. Econ. Rev. 1996, 86, 218–223.
• Barro, R.; Sala-i-Martin, X. Economic Growth, 2nd ed.; The MIT Press: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2003.
• Waseem, M.  Gender Inequalities in  Education in  India:   Issues   and   Challenges. CLEAR  Int.  J. Res. Commer. Manag. 2015, 6, 68–76. Women and the  Transformation of the  21st Century.  In Proceedings of the  Fourth UN Conference on Women,  Beijing, China,  4–15 September 1995.
• Kabeer, N.; Natali, L. Gender Equality and Economic Growth: Is there a Win-Win? IDS Working Paper  No. 417; Institute of Development Studies:  Brighton, UK, 2013.
• King, E.; Hill, M.A. Women’s  Education and Economic Well-Being.  Fem. Econ. 1995, 1, 21–46. [CrossRef]
• Ngai, R.; Petrongolo, B. Gender Gaps and the Rise of the Service Economy; IZA Discussion Paper No. 8134; IZA: Hong  Kong, China,  2013.
• Ramanayake, S.S.; Ghosh,  T. Role of Gender Gap in Economic Growth: Analysis on Developing Countries versus OECD Countries; Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research:  Mumbai, India,  2017.
• Moghadam, V. Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East; Lynne Rienner Publishers: Boulder,  CO, USA, 2003.
• Baliamoune-Lutz, M.; McGillivray, M. Gender Inequality and  Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa  and  Arab Countries? Afr. Dev. Rev. 2007, 21, 224–242. [CrossRef]
• Elborgh-Woytek, K.; Newiak, M.; Kochhar, K.; Fabrizio, S.; Kpodar, K.R.; Wingender, P.; Clements, B.J.; Schwartz, G. Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity; Staff Discussion Note 13/10; International Monetary Fund:  Washington, DC, USA, 2013.
• Klasen, S. Does Gender Inequality Reduce Growth and Development? Evidence from Cross-Country Regressions; World  Bank Working Paper  No. 7; The World  Bank: Washington, DC, USA, 1999.
• Cavalcanti, T.; Tavares, J. The Output Costs of Gender Discrimination: A Model-Based Macroeconomic Estimate; Discussion Paper No. 6477; Centre  for Economic Policy Research:  London, UK, 2007.
• Braunstein, E. Neoliberal Development Macroeconomics: A Consideration of Its Gendered Employment Effects; United Nations Institute for Social Development Research Paper  No. 1; United Nations Institute for Social Development: Geneva,  Switzerland, 2012.
• Bloom, D.; Canning, D.; Sevilla, J. The Demographic Dividend: A New Perspective on the Economic Consequences of Population Change; RAND Corporation: Santa Monica, CA, USA, 2003.
• Bloom, D.; Canning, D.; Fink, G.; Finlay, J. Microeconomic Foundations of the Demographic Dividend; Program on the Global Demography of Aging Working Paper  No. 93; Program on the Global Demography of Aging: Cambridge, MA, USA, 2012.
• Deaton,  A.; Paxson,  C. The Effects of Economic and Population Growth on National Saving and Inequality. Demography 1997, 34, 97–114. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• Lee, R.; Mason, A.; Miller, T. Saving, Wealth, and  Population. In Population Matters:  Demographic Change, Economic Growth, and Poverty in the Developing World; Birdsall, N., Kelley, A.C., Sindig,  S.W., Eds.; Oxford University Press: Oxford,  UK, 2001; pp. 137–164.
• Becker, G.; Duesenberry, J.; Okun, B. An Economic Analysis of Fertility.  In Demographic and Economic Change in Developed Countries; Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ, USA, 1960.
• Becker, G.; Lewis, G. On the Interaction between  the Quantity and Quality  of Children. J. Political Econ. 1973,81, 279–288. [CrossRef]
• Goldin, C. A Grand  Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter. Am. Econ. Rev. 2014, 104, 1091–1119. [CrossRef]
• Angelov, N.; Johansson, P.; Lindahl, E. Parenthood and the Gender Gap in Pay. J. Labor Econ. 2016, 34, 545–579. [CrossRef]
• Kleven,  H.; Landais, C. Gender Inequality and  Economic Development: Fertility, Education and  Norms. Económica 2017, 84, 180–209. [CrossRef]
• Bloom, D.; Canning, D.; Fink, G.; Finlay, J. Fertility, Female Labor Force Participation, and the Demographic Dividend. J. Bloom, D.; Williamson, J. Demographic Transition and  Economic Miracles in Emerging Asia.  World Bank Econ. Rev. 1998, 12, 419–455. [CrossRef]
• Ashraf,  Q.; Weil, D.; Wilde, J. The Effect of Fertility  Reduction on Economic  Growth. Popul. Dev. Rev. 2012,38, 97–130. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• Hartmann, A.M. Fertility  and Economic  Growth. How  does the Fertility  Economic  Growth in Developing Countries? Master ’s Thesis, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark, 2010.
• Day, C. Economic Growth, Gender Wage Gap and Fertility  Rebound. Econ. Rec. 2012, 88, 88–99. [CrossRef]
• Komura, M. Fertility and Endogenous Gender Bargaining Power.  J. Popul. Econ. 2013, 26, 943–961. [CrossRef]
• Razin,  A.;  Sadka,   E.  Population   Economics,  1st  ed.;  The   MIT  Press:   Cambridge,  MA,  USA,  1995; ISBN 0-262-18160-6.
• Golosov, M.; Jones, L.E.; Tertilt, M. Efficiency with  Endogenous Population Growth. Econometrica 2007, 75,1039–1071. [CrossRef]
• Kleven, H.J.; Landais, C.; Søgaard, J.E. Children and Gender Inequality: Evidence from Denmark. Annu. Rev. Econ. 2016, 8, 435–464. [CrossRef]
• Becker, G.S.; Murphy, K.M.; Tamura, R. Human Capital, Fertility, and  Economic Growth. J. Political Econ.1990, 98, 12–37. [CrossRef]
• Galor, O.; Weil, D. The Gender Gap, Fertility,  and Growth. Am. Econ. Rev. 1996, 85, 374–387. [CrossRef]
• Lipset,   S.  Some  Social  Requisites  of  Democracy: Economic Development  and   Political   Legitimacy. Am. Political Sci. Rev. 1959, 53, 69–105. [CrossRef]
• Cutright, P. National Political Development: Measurement and Analysis. Am. Sociol. Rev. 1963, 28, 253–264. [CrossRef]
• Bollen, K.A. Political  Democracy and  the  Timing of Development. Am. Sociol. Rev. 1979, 44, 572–587. [CrossRef]
• Huntington, S. The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century. J. Democr. 1991, 2, 67–68.
• Bollen, K.A. World System Position, Dependence, and Democracy:  The Cross-National Evidence. Am. Sociol. Rev.1983, 48, 468–479. [CrossRef]
• Burkhart, R.; Lewis-Beck,  M. Comparative Democracy: The Economic Development Thesis.  Am. Political Sci. Rev. 1994, 88, 903–910. [CrossRef]
• Bollen, K.; Jackman, R.W. Income Inequality and Democratization Revisited: Comment on Muller. Am. Sociol. Rev.1995, 60, 983–989. [CrossRef]
• Gerring, J.; Kingstone, P.; Lange, M.; Sinha, A. Democracy, History, and Economic Performance: A Case-Study Approach. World Dev. 2011, 39, 1735–1748. [CrossRef]
• World Development Report:   Gender Equality and  Development.  W.B.:  Washington, DC,  USA.  2012.Available  online: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/4391 (accessed on 2 August 2014).
• Massolo, A. Participación de las Mujeres en los Gobiernos Locales de América Latina. Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones y Capacitación de las Naciones Unidas para  la Promoción de la Mujer.  2007. Available online: http://www.itson.mx/micrositios/equidad-genero/Documents/participacion_politica_de_las_ mujeres_en_el_ambito_local_2007.pdf (accessed  on 14 January 2016).
• Tong, J. The Gender Gap in Political  Culture and  Participation in China. Communist Post-Communist Stud. 2003, 36, 131–150. [CrossRef]
• Balaev, M. Improving Models of Democracy: The Example of Lagged Effects of Economic Development, Education, and Gender Equality. Soc. Sci. Res. 2014, 46, 169–183. [CrossRef] [PubMed]
• Gerring, J.; Bond, P.; Barndt,  W.T.; Moreno, C. Democracy and Economic  Growth: A Historical Perspective. World Politics 2005, 57, 323–364. [CrossRef]
• Jayasuriya, D.S.; Burke, P.J. Female Parliamentarians and Economic  Growth: Evidence from a Large Panel.Appl. Econ. Lett. 2013, 20, 304–307. [CrossRef]
• Xu, L. Effects of Female Political Participation on Economic Growth: Evidence from Asian Countries; Lund University: Lund,  Sweden, 2015.
• Common Wealth Parliamentary Association. Available online:  http://www.cpahq.org/cpahq/cpadocs/Library% 20Note%20-%20CPA%20and%20Role%20of%20the%20Commonwealth.pdf (accessed on 2 August 2014).
• Arellano, M.; Bond, S. Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence  and an Application to Employment Equations. Rev. Econ. Stud. 1991, 58, 277–297. [CrossRef]
• Löfström, Å. Gender Equality, Economic Growth and Employment. Report for the Swedish Ministry of Integration and  Gender Equality. Sweden. 2009. Available online:  http://www.forschungsnetzwerk.at/ downloadpub/2009_12_Gender_Equality_study.pdf (accessed  on 16 June 2014).
• Kim, J.; Lee, J.W.; Shin, K.A. Model of Gender Inequality and Economic Growth; ADB Economics Working  Paper No. 475; Asian Development Bank: Mandaluyong, Philippines, 2016.
• Kleinbaum, D.; Kupper, L.; Muller,  K.; Nizan, A. Applied Regression Analysis and Other Multivariate Methods, 3rd ed.; Duxbury Press: Boston, MA, USA, 1998; ISBN 13 9780871501233.
• Elgin, G.; Birinci, S. Growth & Informality: A Comprehensive Panel Data Analysis. J. Appl. Econ. 2016, 19, 271–292. [CrossRef]
• baye,  M.A.  The  Informal  Sector,  Growth,  Employment  &  Sustainable  Development;  Common Wealth Parliamentary Association: London, UK, 2014.
• Reynolds, A. Women in the Legislatures and Executives of the World: Knocking at the Highest  Glass Ceiling.World Politics 1999, 51, 547–572. [CrossRef]
• Catalano, A.; Baldez, L. Quotas and Qualifications: The Impact of Gender  Quota  Laws on the Qualifications of Legislators in the Italian  Parliament. Eur. Political Sci. Rev. 2015, 7, 119–144. [CrossRef]

... Less