Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP4350
Authors: Dean Jolliffe; Nauro F. Campos
Abstract: An alleged achievement of socialism was gender equality in the labour market. Has its collapse shattered this accomplishment? The theoretical literature and attendant empirical evidence are inconclusive. Using data for 2.9 million wage earners in Hungary we find that the male/female difference in log wages declined from 0.31 to 0.19 between 1986 and 1998 and that this is largely explained by a matching decline in ‘Oaxaca's discrimination,’ suggesting extraordinary improvement of women’s relative situation. Further, we find that variation over time in the wage gaps is associated with public and large firms having progressively smaller gaps than their counterparts.
Keywords: discrimination; education; gender; Hungary; transition; wage gap
JEL Codes: I20; J16; P30
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Market Liberalization (G18) | Reduction of Gender Discrimination (J16) |
| Reduction of Gender Discrimination (J16) | Decline in Male-Female Difference in Log Wages (J79) |
| Decline in Male-Female Difference in Log Wages (J79) | Decline in Unexplained Component of Wage Differentials (J39) |
| Market Liberalization (G18) | Decline in Male-Female Difference in Log Wages (J79) |