Comments for economic woman

Comment on The wage gap on Feministe by Allison

Allison — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:42:45 +0000

I haven’t seen that, but it looks fascinating. I will have a look. Thanks!

Comment on The wage gap on Feministe by lagged_variable

lagged_variable — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:05:07 +0000

If you haven’t seen it, the QJE just published an interesting paper, which argues that the gender wage gap has fallen approximately 0% in the last 30 years. Instead, it used to be that low-potential-wage (”ability”, whatever) women used to disproportionately select into the marketplace and increasingly, now, high-potential-wage do. So while average female wages have risen relative to males, the underlying returns, given other characteristics, have changed not-at-all.

Which has interesting corollaries that 1) the apparent change in the wage gap is, to a large degree, illusory, and 2) wage inequality among women (as among virtually every demographic group US) is growing.

Comment on I need your help by Raj

Raj — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:21:07 +0000

I think that feminist economists have deeply engaged Marxism for a long time. Heidi Hartmann’s “Unhappy Marriage” essay is a key moment. But it would be unfortunate if feminist economics was presented as Marxism with women stirred in. I think that feminist economists have exposed major gaps across all of the mainstream and heterodox schools of economics. It would be useful to English department feminists (I belong to this group) to understand that feminist economists are more often than not trained in mainstream departments and that they use a broad range of tools.

The capability approach needs some serious marketing. I really hope that you cover Amartya Sen’s work.

Comment on I need your help by Allison

Allison — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:21:46 +0000

Thanks for the ideas, everyone!

@woodland sunflower: This might not be the post that you’re thinking of, but I made roughly that point in this post.

Comment on I’m off to the big leagues, and another request by Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:09:24 +0000

Meant to comment on your last post but my original thought applies here too. On the first day of every economics class I teach, I ask students for their definitions of economics before giving them mine. My own definition is really basic: Economics is the study of choices. I go on to tell them, “And since life is a series of choices, economics is the study of life!” My point with the exercise is to get them to see that economics is a very broad, diverse field, much more so than people generally think from what they see in the media. For feminists in particular, I think it’s important for those with little knowledge of economics to understand that there is much more to the field than the neoclassical mainstream. It’s an understandable mistake, given the way things are portrayed in the media but personally, I really hate when I see any sentence that lumps all economists together when what the person really means is neoclassical economists (and usually the more traditional ones at that, ignoring that there are even many who consider themselves neoclassical but have a firmer grip on the reality of how people actually behave). Thanks for getting the word out!

Comment on I need your help by Diversity

Diversity — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:21:22 +0000

There is a simple message that never seems to get through. It is good sense for employers to choose the woman candidate (and/or candidates from other groups subject to negative prejudice) when candidates are approximately equal. The reason is that the employer can expect better value from the candidate that others are prejudiced against . These candidates have a labour market hurdle of prejudice to overcome and therefore can be expected to be the people who try harder. And candidates for a job or a promotion are approximately equal as often as not. Simple employer self interest should be a far more reliable friend to women in the job market than any form of legal regulation.

That will not close the gender pay gap quickly but it can and should grind the gap away.

Comment on I need your help by woodland sunflower

woodland sunflower — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:42:04 +0000

Seconding Mike’s request for explanation of Marxism. Until I started reading feminist blogs all I learned about communism was that it was teh evil. Ditto socialism. I’ve been exposed a little bit to the problems of capitalism, but don’t really understand how the alternatives are to be made to work on an economic level. Well, I mean besides the so-called gift economy model, as for open source, and that only kicks in once essential needs are covered.

@Lauren: wasn’t there some Feministe post about asking for a raise that was “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”? A woman asking for a raise is bitchy and unfeminine, and it can actually hurt worse than saying nothing. And not asking ain’t so great either. I’m sure I saw a study *somewhere*.

Comment on I need your help by Alabama Tribune

Alabama Tribune — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:33:35 +0000

How about a post on the current account deficit and its impact on the ability of our economy to produce enough good jobs to provide more opportunities for women and the rest of our society? You might also want to include thoughts on how to reduce it without hurting our most vulnerable citizens (e.g. would quotas be better than tariffs).

Comment on I need your help by Mike

Mike — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:16:09 +0000

How about something regarding how many (radical) feminists are still heavily influenced by Marxist ideology? Admittedly this is usually for social analysis, but it seems to spill into economics as well.

Comment on I need your help by Lauren

Lauren — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:37:26 +0000

I always hear a lot about how part of why women make less money (usually) than their male counterparts is that they’re less likely to negotiate salary or ask for a raise. What’s your take on this? Is this a factor? Is it a major factor? How do we combat it?