African Women: A Modern History,by Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch

Abstract

Recently, a considerable amount of research has focused on the evidence of gender differences in corruption. Research conducted on another predatory activity, tax evasion, similarly shows strong differences between women's and men's behaviors. This paper tests this finding in a transition country using a unique data set collected from a field survey of households in Tirana, Albania in 2000. Acknowledging that scholars generally explain gender differences in economic behavior either as biological or by social/psychological role theory, this paper examines a broader range of explanations for gender differences in tax evasion. Taking new institutional theory as a starting point to explain the differences in men's and women's tax behaviors, this paper discusses the relative importance of education, income, age, and number of children, among other factors. Finally, it explores the explanations provided by feminist theory and to what extent these can be integrated into the new institutional theoretical framework.     

Wage determination and the gender pay gap: A feminist political economy analysis and decomposition

Abstract

This paper develops a heterodox analytical framework of wage determination and a new method of decomposition of the gender pay gap drawing on Marxian and feminist theories. The proposed framework utilizes two wage equations for the analysis of the gender gap: the first equation refers to average occupational wages and the second to individual wages as deviations from occupational wages. Using a data set for wages from industries in Greece, this paper demonstrates and explains differences in results between this proposed decomposition of the gender pay gap and that of Oaxaca-Blinder, and discusses the merits of this new technique compared to the Brown-Moon-Zoloth method. The authors argue that the main advantage of this proposed method of decomposition over the other two methods is that the proposed method allows for separate estimates of the impact of social and individual gender wage discrimination on the gender pay gap.     

Motherhood and women's earnings in Anglo-American,Continental European,and Nordic Countries

Abstract

The earnings of mothers make up an important, but difficult to quantify, component of parental expenditures on children. This paper compares the long-term earnings of women with children, women without children, and men. The study conducts separate analyses for less educated, moderately educated, and highly educated people in eight Anglo-American, Continental European, and Nordic countries. The study finds that, for the most part, these countries cluster into three groups, with mothers in the Continental European group experiencing the largest earnings differentials, mothers in the Nordic group experiencing the smallest, and mothers in the Anglo-American countries occupying the middle position.     

Currency Boards in the Baltic Countries: What Have We Learned?

Straightforward exchange rate arrangements known as currency boards have gained popularity during the past decade. Among transition economies, Estonia first introduced a currency board in 1992, followed by Lithuania in 1994 and Bulgaria in 1997. Currency boards have been useful in achieving macroeconomic stabilisation, and they may have helped the Baltics become the first countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) to achieve economic growth after the slump in production of the early 1990s. Moreover, Baltic inflation performance has been substantially better than in other FSU countries. Both in Estonia and Lithuania the present exchange rate system has been accompanied by strong real appreciation of the currency, although it is widely accepted that the currencies were very much undervalued when they were initially pegged. However, if rapid real appreciation is accompanied by increases in labour productivity, the present pegs can be maintained. Banking crises in Estonia and Lithuania have not been particularly severe, so apparently rigid currency pegs have not been accompanied by excessive financial sector instability. The tight fiscal policies pursued in both countries, especially Estonia, have been instrumental to the success of these currency board arrangements.     

UPLIFTING THE RACE THROUGH DOMESTICITY: CAPITALISM,AFRICAN-AMERICAN MIGRATION,AND THE HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY IN THE GREAT MIGRATION ERA OF 1916—1930

Abstract

The transformation of African Americans into a working-class population began during the World War I Great Migration era. In response to the rise in racial intolerance and the urgency of migrants’ needs, the Pittsburgh Urban League was formed in 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Using a historical case study, this article suggests that the League attempted to promote domesticity among married migrant women for the purpose of racial uplift. This paper examines the implications of this strategy for migrant households and Pittsburgh industry. The study explores the relationship between patriarchy and capitalism in the formation of working-class families by discussing the role of racial ideologies in this process. The author argues that studies of white women’s domesticity and reproductive labor also must address the ways in which race has affected their incorporation into capitalist class systems in countries where race is a central organizing feature of the political economy.     

Gender and graduate economics education in the US

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of a survey of top economics graduate schools as they relate to women and men. The results provide strong evidence that at these top graduate schools, women graduate students are less integrated in their economic disciplines than are male graduate students. In the second part of the paper, this paper relates those findings to alternative theories as to why this is the case. This paper concludes by suggesting that the emphasis on theoretical studies in the current core of the graduate economics program can be seen as a type of hazing process that seems to have a significant cost since many women (and men) with great creative promise are discouraged from continuing in economics and do not benefit nearly as much as they would have from more policy-driven core courses.     

New Private Enterprises in Three Transitional Contexts: Central Europe,the Former Soviet Union and China

This article compares the new private businesses that have been created in three transitional (from communism) contexts: Central Europe (Hungary, Poland and Slovakia), the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine) and Asia (China). There have been major differences among these world regions in the contexts created for the development of new enterprises: in the pace of change, the extent to which state control and the rule of law have been maintained or created, whether there has been economic growth, decline or stagnation, the degrees of political continuity and the length of the communist period. Despite the contrasting contexts, there have been many similarities in the characteristics of new private businesses, but alongside some major differences: in the types of business with which beginners have usually commenced, the match with their specialities, whether self-employment has normally been a full-time or part-time occupation, whether or not the state has been perceived as basically supportive, in uses of the second economies and bribery, and whether sole proprietorship or partnership has been the normal initial business arrangement. It is concluded that there are just two essential conditions for successful transition (as regards the development of small business sectors): economic growth and the rule of law. Thereafter everything seems to depend on creating a favourable configuration of conditions which, our evidence suggests, is most likely when countries have maximum scope to plot their own transitional routes. It is argued that imposing one allegedly correct approach will usually be counter-productive.     

Reassessing welfare reform data: a response to cherry

Abstract

This is a response to Robert Cherry's comment on the article, “Welfare as We [Don't] Know It: A Review and Feminist Critique of Welfare Reform Research” that appeared in the 10(2) issue of Feminist Economics. This response argues that while some combination of welfare reform, the booming economy in the late 1990s, and changes in economic policy all worked together to decrease caseloads and increase employment rates among welfare leavers, these are incomplete measures of the impact of welfare reform on the lives of lone mothers. This paper also argues that the effects of welfare reform on lone mothers are more mixed than Cherry acknowledges. This paper concludes that when one holistically examines low-income lone mothers' lives, it is premature to declare welfare reform a success.     

Introduction: Exchange Rates, Capital Flows, and Commercial Policies in Transition Economies

Exchange rate movements in all transition economies have followed a similar time path, with a sharp depreciation followed by gradual real appreciation. Such a time path is rather surprising given the differences in monetary and real shocks that these countries have encountered. This introduction and this symposium examine critically whether this time path of the exchange rates can be viewed as a gradual approach to these countries' equilibrium exchange rates and whether we can deduce these equilibrium exchange rates from purchasing power parity exchange rates computed for these countries.J. Comp. Econom.,December 1998, 26(4), pp. 613–620. Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287-3806     

Prospective NATO or EU membership and institutional change in transition countries1

This article quantifies the impact of incentives related to potential membership on institutional change as measured by the World Bank Governance Indicators. Based on a panel of 25 transition countries for the period from 1996 to 2008, we show that pre‐accession incentives provided by EU and NATO clearly matter for institutional development. In addition, path‐dependency determined by cultural norms may be overcome by economic liberalization, while foreign aid hampers institutional development.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN VOCATIONAL SCHOOL TRAINING AND EARNINGS PREMIUMS IN TAIWAN

Abstract

International capital mobility and economic restructuring have brought training and skills acquisition to the forefront of policy dialogues. Taiwan has gone beyond most countries in promoting vocational education and setting strict quotas for schooling. Although the education plans do not have separate targets for men and women, they have gendered outcomes. Estimates of earnings premiums using ordinary least squares and quantile regression techniques indicate that only men have gained consistently higher premiums from vocational school compared to general schooling. Women who were denied access to the university system have forgone college premiums that exceed those of men. Also, the commerce track, in which women cluster, yields an earnings penalty compared to general schooling, while the technical track, in which men predominate, yields an earnings premium. Policy reforms based on relaxing education quotas and enforcing equal opportunity legislation would provide women with more rewarding education and career options.     

DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE? CULTURE'S ROLE IN THE PRODUCTIVE/UNPRODUCTIVE DICHOTOMY

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to reveal the justifications for different production boundaries historically. It finds that the boundaries were and are predicated on an untenable productive/unproductive dichotomy that was justified on select and shifting cultural norms. Furthermore, the production boundary informed other categories like labor, capital, income, and wealth. Hence, this article exposes the degree to which economic categories were and are unstable, fragile, contested, and culturally embedded constructs. It then explores feminist-inspired production boundaries based on third-person criterion and finds that these boundaries are likewise culturally contingent. However, these new production boundaries merely do what economics has always attempted to do, which is to theorize production under different cultural circumstances. This article reaffirms the mutually constitutive role of culture and economic categories.     

The land that lean manufacturing forgot?

We have conducted the first large ‐ scale survey on management practices in transition countries. We found that Central Asian transition countries, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, have on average very poor management practices. Their average scores are below developing countries such as India. In contrast, the Central European transition countries such as Poland and Lithuania operate with management practices that are only moderately worse than those of Western European countries such as Germany. As we find these practices are strongly linked to firm performance, this suggests that poor management practices may be impeding the development of Central Asian transition countries. We find that competition, multinational ownership, private ownership and human capital are all strongly correlated with better management. If causally interpreted, this would imply that the continued opening of markets to domestic and foreign competition, privatization of state ‐ owned firms and increased levels of workforce education should promote better management, and ultimately faster economic growth.     

“SWEEPING THE HEAVENS FOR A COMET”: WOMEN,THE LANGUAGE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY,AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE US

Abstract

The importance of increased levels of education in improving the status of women throughout the world is well established. Higher levels of education are associated with lower birth rates, higher incomes, and greater autonomy for women. Yet, women's struggle to have a voice in higher education has been fraught with difficulties in the US and worldwide, particularly in overcoming widely held perceptions that limit their entrance into certain academic fields, tenured positions, and elite universities. This essay examines the role political economy has played in providing narratives that rationalize women's limited participation in higher education. By examining the representation of women in the academic culture of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century US, we can perhaps better understand women's struggle to obtain an authoritative voice in higher education worldwide.     

WHERE ARE THE WOMEN? GENDER,LABOR, AND DISCOURSE IN THE NOIDA EXPORT PROCESSING ZONE AND DELHI

Abstract

Export processing zones (EPZs) are like islands of globalization. Much of the literature on EPZs and export-oriented industries (EOIs) notes a preponderance of women who are constructed as “cheap,” “nimble fingered,” and “docile” labor. This literature is dominated by socialist feminist thinkers, and this paper argues that there is a need to incorporate the insights of postmodern feminist thinkers. The article focuses on the role that language, discourse, and subjectivity play in the gendering process in handmade jewelry production in the Noida Export Processing Zone (NEPZ) and in the ranch production units related by common ownership in Delhi, India. It thus gives “voices” to women and men, and brings out their agency in structuring the labor market. The study confirms that gender division of labor is a product of discursive and material practices that are reproduced through discourses into which different actors invest, and that feed into the gendered subjective identities of these actors.     

Tax Morale in Transition Countries

This article tries to reduce the lack of tax compliance research analysing tax morale in transition countries. The empirical analysis using tax morale as a dependent variable working with World Values Survey data indicates that there is a significantly higher tax morale in Central and Eastern European than in former Soviet Union countries. This difference has increased during the transition process. Furthermore, the article shows that factors such as trust in the legal system and the government have a significant positive effect on tax morale in transition economies.     

Assessing welfare reform data: a comment on christopher

Abstract

This paper responds to Karen Christopher's recent Feminist Economics paper that posits that welfare leavers did not benefit much financially during the Clinton-era economic boom. On the contrary, this paper finds that child poverty rates declined dramatically as did material hardships while the situation worsened for only a very small share of mothers. These benefits came as a result of welfare reform rather than simply an outgrowth of the booming economy that enabled a greater share of welfare leavers to find employment and gain sizeable transfer payments compared to the pre-reform time period.     

Rousseau's notion of envy: A comparison with modern economic theory

Abstract

The concept of envy is present both in Rousseau's economic philosophy and in modern economic theory. This paper compares these different uses of the concept and studies the relevance of the definition of envy adopted on each side, taking into account what is at stake when a notion of envy is introduced. It will be shown that Rousseau's envy cannot be expressed by modern conceptions of envy. Nevertheless, it enlightens the debate between the two competing notions of envy present in modern economic theory, revealing that the existence of envy questions the notion of self-interest.     

DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN'S MICROENTERPRISE SUCCESS IN AHMEDABAD,INDIA: EMPOWERMENT AND ECONOMICS

Abstract

Microenterprise success is often evaluated solely in terms of economic outcomes. These evaluations do not recognize how opportunities for success may differ across groups and contexts, and disregard the importance of power and control as factors in success. This article investigates the determinants of a two-dimensional concept of microenterprise success for women in Ahmedabad, India, by analyzing data from a 1998 study of home-based garment producers. Growing economic success for these garment producers decreased empowerment outcomes, which suggests that evaluating both economic and empowerment outcomes and their interactions is important to understanding the process of achieving success. Improving the economic outcomes of women's enterprises via better training and access to markets, credit, and capital equipment does not necessarily facilitate women's empowerment. Microenterprise scholars and practitioners must focus on improving women's status within their homes, so they may contribute to and benefit from the decisions made about how to use their resources.     

TACKLING THE ENDOGENEITY OF FERTILITY IN THE STUDY OF WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: ALTERNATIVE ESTIMATION STRATEGIES USING DATA FROM URBAN BRAZIL

Abstract

Opinions differ about whether family structure, especially fertility, should be considered endogenous in models of behavior in developing countries. Faced with a dearth of good instruments, mainstream researchers often urge working in reduced form and, therefore, losing variables of policy interest or limiting the type of questions they ask to those where good instruments are available. Rather than treating endogeneity as a yes or no characteristic, we suggest instead that researchers consider the likely magnitude of endogeneity bias before moving to reduced form. Facing a situation where endogeneity bias is often presented as a concern but where we expect little endogeneity bias, we tackle endogeneity using multiple econometric techniques not available to the average researcher. We find support for our hypothesis that little bias arises due to the assumption of exogeneity of recent fertility in a model of women's employment.