Gender Equality and Economic Diversification
IMF Working Papers, July 14, 2016
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- Gender Equality and Economic Diversification
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Romina Kazandjian, Lisa L Kolovich, Kalpana Kochhar, Monique Newiak
- Published: July 14, 2016
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781498367738.001
Main findings
- Gender inequality decreases the variety of goods countries produce and export, in particular in low-income and developing countries.
- Two channels through which gender inequality reduces diversification:
- Gender gaps in opportunity (for example, lower educational enrollment rates for girls than for boys) harm diversification by constraining the potential pool of human capital available in an economy.
- Gender gaps in the labor market impede the development of new ideas by decreasing the efficiency of the labor force.
- Empirical estimates in the paper support these hypotheses.
Policy implications and recommendations
- Gender-friendly policies could help countries diversify their economies by addressing both opportunity and labor-market gaps.
- Policies that increase educational enrollment for girls and reduce gender gaps in labor force participation are implied levers to expand the pool of human capital and improve labor efficiency, thereby fostering export product diversification.
Subjects and keywords
- Subject: Export diversification, Gender, Gender diversity, Gender inequality, Human capital, International trade, Labor, Labor force participation, Women
- Keywords: economic diversification, economic growth, export diversification, Export diversification, export product diversification, female labor force participation, Gender diversity, Gender inequality, globalization Index, human capital, low-income and developing countries, output diversification, Theil index, Women, WP
IMF Working Papers — Gender Equality and Economic Diversification (Romina Kazandjian, Lisa L Kolovich, Kalpana Kochhar, Monique Newiak), July 14, 2016.