Low Schooling for Girls, Slower Growth for All? Cross-Country Evidence on the Effect of Gender Inequality in Education on Economic Development

By Stephan Klasen. 2002

852 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Using cross-country and panel regressions, this article investigates how gender inequality in education affects long-term economic growth. Such inequality is found to have an effect on economic growth that is robust to changes in specifications and controls for potential endogeneities. The results suggest that gender inequality in education directly affects economic growth by lowering the average level of human capital. In addition, growth is indirectly affected through the impact of gender inequality on investment and population growth. Some 0.4-0.9 percentage points of differences in annual per capita growth rates between East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East can be accounted for by differences in gender gaps in education between these regions.

Subfields: Gender Studies, Safety Research, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e9ec1b28c7f13fca598eb328f3188137400ae9a7

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Citations in the corpus

Aggregate Costs of Gender Gaps in the Labor Market: A Quantitative Estimate (2016, neutral): “Their results also suggest that a large fraction of the actual di erence in 6 See, for instance, Goldin (1990), Dollar and Gatti (1999), Tzannatos (1999), or Klasen (2002).”
Inequality and Economic Growth: The Empirical Relationship Reconsidered in the Light of Comparable Data (2005, positive): “…separated into male and female education in line with several other studies that have found that male and female education have different effects on economic growth [see, for example, Barro and Lee, 1994; Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1995; Perotti, 1996; Knowles, Lorgelly and Owen, 2002; Klasen, 2002].”
Help or Hindrance? Religion's Impact on Gender Inequality in Attitudes and Outcomes (2011, background): “The assumption that GDP is endogenous reflects insights from a rich literature on the effect of gender equality on economic growth (Cavalcanti & Tavares, 2007; Esteve-Volart, 2004; Klasen, 2002; Seguino, 2000).”
The relationship between LGBT inclusion and economic development: Macro-level evidence (2019, background): “…in gender equality as a development strategy contributed to a number of empirical studies that took advantage of readily available sex-disaggregated data to measure the degree of gender equality in such areas as education and labor market participation (e.g. Klasen, 2002, Knowles et al., 2002).”
The gender implications of large-scale land deals: (2011, positive): “Klausen (2002) compares gender inequality in education in a cross-country dataset and finds not only that gender inequality in education is persistent across many contexts but also that these inequalities directly affect economic growth by lowering levels of human capital: differences in gender…”
The effect of trade openness on women's welfare and work life. (2009, background): “Economic theories and empirical studies largely support the beneficial effects of economic integration on economic growth (e.g., Klasen, 2002; Sachs & Warner, 1995).”
Feminist Economics of Inequality, Development, and Growth (2009, methodology): “Using an updated data set on educational attainment, Klasen and Lamanna (2009), in this volume, confirm the substantial negative effect of educational gaps on growth previously reported in the literature (Hill and King 1995; Klasen 2002; Knowles, Lorgelly, and Owen 2002).”
Inequality and growth (2013, neutral): “In particular, it might be the case draws women into the labor force rather than increasing female participation increasing economic growth (Stephan Klasen and Francesca Lamanna,2003).”
Does Gender Inequality Hinder Development and Economic Growth? Evidence and Policy Implications (2013, background): “In contrast, Klasen (2002) finds that the effects are 18 The World Bank Research Observer, vol. 28, no. 1 (February 2013) stronger in sub-Saharan Africa, that is, among the poorest countries in the world.”
Paths to Development: Is there a Bangladesh Surprise? (2014, neutral): “Low levels of female enrolment in school and a gender imbalance in school enrolment are harmful to economic growth (Knowles et al., 2002; Klasen, 2002).”
Green Returns to Education: Does Schooling Contribute to Pro-Environmental Behaviours? Evidence from Thailand (2017, background): “Indeed, it has been widely accepted that education is fundamental to the process of economic growth and development (Klasen, 2002; Lutz et al., 2008; Mankiw et al., 1992).”