Importing Equality? The Impact of Globalization on Gender Discrimination

By Sandra E. Black, E. Brainerd. Social Science Research Network, 2002

508 citations recorded by the source corpus.

A key dynamic implication of the Becker model of discrimination (1957) is that increased product market competition will drive out costly discrimination in the long run. This paper tests that hypothesis by examining the impact of globalization on gender discrimination in manufacturing industries. Because concentrated industries face little competitive pressure, an increase in competition from trade should reduce the residual gender wage gap more in these industries than in competitive industries. The authors compare the change in the gender wage gap between 1976 and 1993 in concentrated versus competitive manufacturing industries, using the latter as a control for changes in the gender wage gap that are unrelated to competitive pressures. They find that while trade increases wage inequality by modestly reducing the relative wages of less-skilled workers, at the same time it appears to benefit women by reducing the ability of firms to discriminate.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/88a2179d54565c3f1fd82060db861e3f374c05c4

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Citations in the corpus

Globalisation, Women's Economic Rights and Forced Labour (2007, background): “Black and Brainerd (2004) find that increased competition through trade liberalisation has closed the gender gap in wages in the US by reducing a firm’s ability to discriminate against women.”
Children and the Remaining Gender Gaps in the Labor Market (2020, unknown): “…to market structure, deregulation, international trade, and firm takeovers, and generally find that an increase in competitive pressure tends to be associated with a reduction in the gender wage gap (Hellerstein et al., 2002; Black and Strahan, 2001; Black and Brainerd, 2004; Heyman et al., 2013).”
A multidisciplinary survey on discrimination analysis (2013, background): “Oostendorp (2009), in contrast with Neumayer and de Soysa (2007) and Black and Brainerd (2004), concludes that globalization may even increase the gender gap.”
Globalization and the Gender Wage Gap (2004, background): “…reduce the gap (Fontana and Wood 2000; Garcı́a-Cuéllar 2000; Artecona and Cunningham 2002; Berik, van der Meulen Rodgers, and Zveglich 2004; Black and Brainerd 2004).2 The country studies look at the impact of trade and FDI on the overall gender wage gap (raw wage gap) or the unexplained gender…”
The Consequences of Economic Globalization for Affluent Democracies (2007, background): “Black & Brainerd (2004) find that when a U.S. industry encounters greater international trade, it faces greater competition and loses market power.”
Drivers of Gendered Sectoral and Occupational Segregation in Developing Countries (2020, result): “This theory has been the subject of much empirical investigation, mostly with regard to gender wage gaps, finding results that both support and counter Becker’s theory (Black and Brainerd 2002; Berik, van der Meulen Rodgers, and Zveglich 2004; Kongar 2007; Oostendorp 2009).”
Working Paper 201 - Does Intra-African Trade Reduce Youth Unemployment in Africa ? (2014, background): “Also, Becker’s theory predicts decline in labor market discrimination in response to increasing competition in product markets generated by trade expansion, leading to demand-induced dynamic toward greater gender equity (Becker, 1971; Black and Brainerd, 2004).”