A revolution in education: Determinants of the gender gap reversal.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Huang, Lingwen, author.

Contributor:

Wolpin, Kenneth I., degree supervisor.

University of Pennsylvania. Economics.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economics, Labor.

Economics--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Economics.

Local Subjects:

Economics, Labor.

Economics--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Economics.

Genre:

Academic theses.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (54 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 75-11A(E).

Place of Publication:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] : University of Pennsylvania ; Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest, 2014.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

One of the striking trends in recent decades is the reversal in the level of educational attainment of men and women in the United States. To quantitatively assess the relative importance of several possible determinants of the reversal stressed in the literature, I develop and structurally estimate a dynamic equilibrium model of the marriage market, embedding premarital human capital investment decisions and noncooperative intra-household decisions into a Mortensen (1988) style spousal-search model. In the model, there are three exogenous changes that are considered as possible determinants of the reversal: a) time-varying labor market returns to education; b) time-varying values to the husband and wife of the wife's home time. c) time-varying cohort size and fertility rate. The model also incorporates gender heterogeneity in the utility value of schooling net of its effort cost as another possible driving force. Estimation is done by Simulated Method of Moments. From the counterfactual experiments based on the estimated model, I find that the relative increase of women's skill rental price is the key driving force of the relative increase of women's educational attainment. However, the relative increase of women's skill rental price itself cannot replicate the reversal. On the other hand, neither the declining value of the wife's home time (to both husbands and wives) nor the gender heterogeneity in the net consumption value of schooling alone can explain the relative increase in women's educational attainment. The reversal can be fully explained only by combining these two factors with the relative increase in the skill rental price of women.

Notes:

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 75-11(E), Section: A.

Adviser: Kenneth I. Wolpin.

Department: Economics.

Thesis Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2014.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

ISBN:

9781303966859

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.