Gender Equality and Economic Diversification
Gender inequality decreases the variety of goods countries produce and export, particularly in low-income and developing countries
Abstract
The authors show that gender inequality decreases the variety of goods countries produce and export, in particular in low-income and developing countries. They argue that this happens through at least 2 channels: first, gender gaps in opportunity, such as lower educational enrollment rates for girls than for boys, harm diversification by constraining the potential pool of human capital available in an economy. Second, gender gaps in the labor market impede the development of new ideas by decreasing the efficiency of the labor force. Their empirical estimates support these hypotheses, providing evidence that gender-friendly policies could help countries diversify their economies.
This work is part of the ‘Macroeconomics in Low-income countries’ programme
Citation
Romina Kazandjian, Lisa L Kolovich, Kalpana Kochhar, Monique Newiak (2016) Gender Equality and Economic Diversification. IMF Working Paper No. 16/140