Economics 4331
M/W 2:30-1:00 AH-15
Spring 2015
Dr. Juhn
Office: McElhinney 201-A
http://www.uh.edu/~cjuhn
Economics of Gender
Introduction: This course is an upper level reading course on the economics of gender. We will seek answers to
questions such as: Why are men paid more than women? Why do men and women work in different occupations?
What explains the rise in labor force participation of women in the post World War II era? Has the increase stalled
leading women to “opt-out”? Why are there now more women than men enrolled in colleges? Why do men and
women marry? Why have marriage rates fallen so much? Do families make decisions as one economic unit or do
different members bargain with one another? Are there physiological differences between men and women which
explain differences in behavior? We will apply economic models of comparative advantage and specialization,
supply and demand, consumer choice, human capital, and discrimination to explore the answers to these questions.
While economic theory will frame our discussion, the course will examine historical trends and empirical studies
that attempt to answer these questions with data.
Text Book and Readings:
The official text book for this course is “The Economics of Women, Men, and Work,” by Francine Blau, et. al, 7th
edition. In addition, supplemental readings from journals and newspapers will be assigned. Most of the readings are
available on-line. Click on the appropriate URL to access them on-line. Many of the readings that are printed in
economic journals such as the American Economic Review and Journal of Economic Perspectives are available
through JSTOR (journal archive) available through UH library. Go to the UH library site and click electronic
resources and click JSTOR. You need login access to the UH library. There are a number of readings which are not
available electronically. Most recent journal articles are available as hard copies in the library. Articles and
readings that are not available any other way will be put on reserve at the library or handed out in class.
The undergraduate labor economics textbook Labor Economics (6nd edition) by George Borjas will also be an
extremely useful reference. Copies will be put on reserve in the library.
Students are encouraged to collect and bring into class articles that are relevant to the issues covered in class. Good
sources are The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Economist, and Business Week.
Prerequisites: Students are expected to have completed Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis (ECON2370)
and have either completed or are currently enrolled in Intermediate Microeconomics (ECON 3332). The (*)
readings for this course, particularly from journal articles, will at times be very demanding. It will be difficult to get
much out of this course without having had intermediate price theory and some basic statistics.
Requirements: There will be five quizzes on readings (worth a total of 20% of the final grade), one midterm (worth
20% of the final grade), and a final exam (worth 40% of the final grade). Groups of students will be assigned to
“reading groups.” Every Monday, each group will be asked to present and discuss an article they found in reputable
journal sources (not just random internet searches) where the article discusses a gender-relevant topic. The groups
will also make a presentation on a special topic on gender at the end of the semester. Presentation and class
participation will count for 20% of the final grade. There will be no make-ups for the tests or quizzes. With valid
excuses, the grade on the final will be re-weighted.
Format: Formal lectures will alternate with discussions of assigned readings and reading group presentations.
Office Hours: Wednesday 10:00-11:00 a.m. or by appointment. It is generally a good idea to call ahead (x33823) or
email (cjuhn@uh.edu).
Course Outline
Dates
Topic
1/21, 1/26
Introduction
Review economic concepts, supply and demand
Averett and Hoffman, Women and the Economy, chapter 3 p. 80-97.
Botticini, Maristella. “Marriage Payments,” In Joel Mokyr (ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of
Economic History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. (AVAILABLE ONLINE)
http://didattica.unibocconi.eu/mypage/index.php?IdUte=107271&idr=11716&lingua=eng
Frank, Robert. “Polygamy and the Marriage Market: Who Would Have the Upper Hand?” NYT
article, February 5, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/business/16scene.html
BFW, chap l
1/28
Overview of Women’s Progress
BFW, chap 2
Goldin, Claudia “The Quiet Revolution That Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and
Family,”American Economic Review, May 2006. (AVAILABLE ONLINE)
http://www.economics.harvard.edu/faculty/goldin/files/GoldinEly.pdf
2/2, 2/4
2/9, 2/11
Economics of Marriage and the Family
Specialization and exchange: comparative advantage
Benefits of marriage
Evolution of American family
Household bargaining models
BFW, chap 3, 4, and chap 9
2/4
Quiz 1
Isen, Adam, and Betsy Stevenson, “Women’s Education and Family Behavior: Trends in
Marriage, Divorce and Fertility.” In John Shoven, ed. Demography and the Economy, University
of Chicago Press, 2010.
http://bpp.wharton.upenn.edu/betseys/papers/Marriage_divorce_education.pdf
Stevenson, Betsey “The Evolution of the American Family: An Economic Interpretation,” mimeo,
Fall 2008.
http://bpp.wharton.upenn.edu/betseys/papers/Evolution_Family.pdf
Lundberg, Shelly, and Robert A. Pollack, “The American Family and Family Economics,” Journal
of Economic Perspectives 21, no.2 (Spring 2007) (JSTOR)
Lillard, Lee, and Constantijn Panis , “Marital Status and Mortality: The Role of Health,”
Demography, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Aug., 1996). (JSTOR)
Waite, Linda “Does Marriage Matter?” Demography, Vol. 32, No. 4 (November, 1995). (JSTOR)
(*)
Grover, Shawn, and John Helliwell, “How’s Life at Home: New Evidence on Marriage and the Set
Point for Happiness.” NBER working paper 20794. December 2014.
http://www.nber.org/papers/w20794.pdf
“Study Finds More Reason to Get and Stay Married” NYT article published Jan 2015.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/08/upshot/study-finds-more-reasons-to-get-and-staymarried.html?abt=0002&abg=1
“Is Marriage Good for Your Health” NYT article published April 2010.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18marriaget.html?scp=1&sq=is%20marriage%20good%20for%20you&st=cse
“51% of Women Live Without a Spouse” NYT article published Jan 2007.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/16/MNG5BNJ69L1.DTL&type=printable
(*)
Charles, Kerwin, and Ming Chung Luoh, “Male Incarceration, the Marriage Market, and Female
Outcomes.” The Review of Economics and Statistics, August 2010 (JSTOR).
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/the_undercover_economist/features/2008/the_logic_of_life/the_
economics_of_marriage.html
Lundberg, Shelly, and Robert A. Pollack, “Bargaining and Distribution in Marriage,” Journal of
Economic Perspectives 10, no.4 (Fall 1996) (JSTOR)
2/16, 2/18, 2/23 Rise in Married Women’s Labor Force Participation
2/25, 3/2, 3/4
3/9
Trends in female and male labor supply
Basic theory: consumption-leisure model
Factors that led to rise in labor market participation
- Demand-side: industrial change and demand for female labor
- Supply-side: husband’s income, the “Pill,” divorce
Is the “Opt-out revolution” real?
Maternity benefits and child-care subsidies
BFW, chap5, 6
2/18
Quiz 2
3/4
Quiz 3
Costa, Dora. “From Mill Town to Board Room: The Rise of Women’s Paid Labor,” Journal of
Economic Perspectives, Vol. 14, No. 4, Autumn 2000. (JSTOR)
Goldin, Claudia and Lawrence Katz. “Career and Marriage in the Age of the Pill,” American
Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 90 (May 2000). (JSTOR)
Bertrand, Marianne, Goldin, Claudia and Lawrence Katz. “Dynamics of
Stevenson, Betsy and Justin Wolfers,” Marriage and Divorce: Changes and their Driving Forces,”
Journal of Economic Perspectives 21 (Winter 2007). (AVAILABLE ONLINE)
http://bpp.wharton.upenn.edu/jwolfers/Papers/MarriageandDivorce(JEP).pdf
(*)
Bertrand, M., Goldin, C. and L. Katz, “Dynamics of the Gender Gap for Young Professionals in
the Financial and Corporate Sectors,” forthcoming, American Economic Journal: Applied
Economics.
Bertrand, Marianne, “Career, Family, and the Well-Being of College Educated Women,”
American Economic Review, 2013, 103(3): 244-250.
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/marianne.bertrand/research/papers/Career%20Family%20and%20t
he%20Well-Being%20of%20College%20Educated%20Women.pdf
Belkin, Lisa. “The Opt-Out Revolution,” NYT article published Oct 2003.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/magazine/26WOMEN.html?ei=5007&en=02f8d75eb63908e
0&ex=1382500800&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=print&position=
Add childcare and maternity benefits papers
3/11, 3/23, 3/25 The Gender Gap in Pay
3/30, 4/1
Trends in the Gender Earnings Gap and Occupational Segregation
Human Capital Model
Regression Analysis (Chapter 7, appendix)
Marriage Premium/penalty and family gap
Occupational choice and STEM
BFW chaps. 7, 8, 9
3/16-3/20
Spring Break
3/25
Midterm Exam
Blau, Francine and Lawrence Kahn. “Gender Differences in Pay,” Journal of Economic
Perspectives 14 (Autumn 2000) (JSTOR)
Waldfogel, Jane. “Understanding the Family Gap in Pay for Women with Children.” Journal of
Economic Perspectives 12(1) (JSTOR).
Goldin, Claudia, Lawrence Katz, and Ilyana Kuziemko, “The Homecoming of American College
Women: The Reversal in the Gender Gap in College,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20 (Fall
2006).
http://kuznets.fas.harvard.edu/~goldin/papers/homecoming.pdf
4/6, 4/8, 4/13
Gender Gap in Pay - Discrimination
Theories of discrimination
BFW chap 10, 11
4/8
Quiz 4
(*)
Goldin, Claudia and Cecilia Rouse. “Orchestrating Impartiality,” American Economic Review 90
(September 2000). (JSTOR)
(*)
Bertrand, Marianne and Sendhil Mullainathan, “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than
Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination,” The American
Economic Review, 2004, 94(4), 991-1013.
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/marianne.bertrand/research/emily_lakisha_aer.pdf
4/15, 4/20, 4/22 Nature vs. Nurture: Gender Differences in the Lab
Physiological differences, recent experimental evidence
BFW chap 9
4/22
Quiz 5
Summers, Lawrence. “Remarks at NBER Conference on Diversifying the Science & Engineering
Workforce”, January 2005 (AVAILABLE ONLINE)
http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/2005/nber.html
(*)
Niederle, Muriel and Lise Vesterlund. “Do Women Shy Away from Competition? Do Men
Compete Too Much? NBER Working Paper No. 11474, June 2005.
http://www.nber.org/papers/w11474
Non-technical summary of the paper
http://www.nber.org/digest/feb06/w11474.html
(*)
Bertrand, Marianne, “New Perspectives on Gender”, forthcoming in Orley Ashenfelter and David
Card eds, Handbook of Labor Ecomics, December 2010, volume 4B, pp. 1545-1592.
4/27, 4/29
Group Presentations
5/4
Review
Final Exam – Friday, May 8, 2-5 p.m.