Gender Equality: Which Policies Have the Biggest Bang for the Buck?
IMF Working Papers, May 10, 2018
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- Gender Equality: Which Policies Have the Biggest Bang for the Buck?
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Bibliographic details
- Authors: Sonali Jain-Chandra, Kalpana Kochhar, Monique Newiak, Yang Yang, Edda Zoli
- Published: May 10, 2018
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484353257.001
Study scope and methodology
- Authors: Sonali Jain-Chandra, Kalpana Kochhar, Monique Newiak, Yang Yang, Edda Zoli
- Date: May 10, 2018
- Series: Working Paper No. 2018/105
- Pages: 31
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781484353257.001
- ISBN: 9781484353257
- Core objective: Analyze the relationship between fiscal and structural policies and gender inequality in education and labor force participation across countries at different stages of development.
- Empirical approach: Pay particular attention to addressing model uncertainty and use various statistical methods to identify variables with the strongest links to gender gaps.
Key findings — education gender gaps
- Higher public spending on education is significantly related to narrower gender gaps in education.
- Better sanitation facilities are significantly related to narrower gender gaps in education.
- Low adolescent fertility is significantly related to narrower gender gaps in education.
- Narrower marriage age gaps are significantly related to narrower gender gaps in education.
Key findings — female labor force participation
- Better infrastructure is strongly associated with higher female labor force participation.
- A stronger institutional environment is strongly associated with higher female labor force participation.
- More equal legal rights are strongly associated with higher female labor force participation.
- Low adolescent fertility rates are strongly associated with higher female labor force participation.
- Labor market protection exhibits a non-linear association:
- When labor market protection is low, an increase in protection is associated with a narrowing of labor force participation gaps between men and women.
- When labor market protection levels are high, an increase in protection is associated with a widening in labor force participation gaps.
Policy-relevant implications (as reported)
- Fiscal policy: Public spending on education can contribute to narrowing gender gaps in education.
- Infrastructure and institutions: Investments in infrastructure and strengthening institutional environments can raise female labor force participation.
- Legal rights: Advancing more equal legal rights is linked to higher female labor force participation.
- Demographic and social factors: Policies that reduce adolescent fertility and narrow marriage age gaps support both education equality and labor force participation for women.
- Labor market regulation: The effect of increasing labor market protection depends on existing protection levels; policy design should account for this non-linearity.
Source: IMF Working Paper — "Gender Equality: Which Policies Have the Biggest Bang for the Buck?" (Working Paper No. 2018/105), Sonali Jain-Chandra et al., May 10, 2018.
Content in this bundle
- Gender Equality: Which Policies Have the Biggest Bang for the Buck?, WP/18/105, May 2018