Engendering Trade

42 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Quy-Toan Do

Quy-Toan Do

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG)

Andrei A. Levchenko

University of Michigan - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Claudio E. Raddatz

University of Chile, School of Economics and Business

Date Written: August 1, 2011

Abstract

The authors analyze the interaction between a country's world market integration and its attitude towards gender roles. They discuss both theoretically and empirically how female empowerment is a source of comparative advantage that shapes a country's response to trade opening. Reciprocally, the authors show that as countries integrate into the world economy, the costs and benefits of gender discrimination shift. Their theory goes beyond a potential aggregate wealth effect associated with trade opening, and emphasizes the heterogeneity of impacts. On the one hand, countries in which women are empowered -- measured by fertility rates, female labor force participation or female schooling -- experience an expansion of industries that use female labor relatively more intensively. On the other hand, the gender gap is smaller in countries that export more in relatively female-labor intensive sectors. In an increasingly globalized economy, the road to gender equality is paradoxically very specific to each country?s productive structure and exposure to world markets.

Keywords: Labor Markets, Labor Policies, Gender and Development, Economic Theory & Research, Political Economy

Suggested Citation

Do, Quy Toan and Levchenko, Andrei A. and Raddatz, Claudio E., Engendering Trade (August 1, 2011). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5777, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1915869

Quy Toan Do (Contact Author)

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG) ( email )

1818 H. Street, N.W.
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Washington, DC 20433
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Andrei A. Levchenko

University of Michigan - Department of Economics ( email )

611 Tappan Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220
United States

HOME PAGE: http://alevchenko.com

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

Claudio E. Raddatz

University of Chile, School of Economics and Business ( email )

Diagonal Paraguay 257, Of. 1206
Santiago, R. Metropolitana 7520421
Chile

HOME PAGE: http://alum.mit.edu/www/craddatz

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