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This article describes the results of a survey of professional workers that was designed to explore the underlying reasons for the widely documented underrepresentation of women in information technology (IT) jobs. Our analysis suggests that it is different occupational personalities between men and women rather than the demanding nature of IT work that is largely responsible for the relatively few women in IT occupations. We discuss the implications these results have for policies that are designed to create greater gender equity in the rapidly growing IT industries. (JEL J08, J24, J70)

Contrastamos empíricamente la hipótesis Boserup para las regiones de la UE. Relacionamos la orientación productiva agraria dominante en cada región (arado, azada y ganadería) con indicadores de igualdad de género, como la participación femenina en cargos directivos, en estudios primarios, en estudios superiores, en el mercado laboral y el salario medio por hora. Usando un modelo Probit encontramos que, consistentemente con la hipótesis, existe una relación negativa entre los indicadores y la agricultura de arado. Adicionalmente, probamos que las regiones orientadas a la ganadería también generan valores de género menos igualitarios que las regiones orientadas a la agricultura de azada. ; We empirically contrast the Boserup hypothesis for the regions of the European Union. We relate the dominant productive orientation in each region (plough, hoe, animal) with indicators of gender equality: female participation in management positions, in primary education, in higher education, in the labor market and the average hourly wage. Using a Probit model we find that, consistently with the hypothesis, there is a negative relationship between indicators and plough agriculture. Additionally, we prove that livestock-oriented regions also generate less egalitarian gender values than hoe-oriented regions.

Since good-looking politicians win more votes, a beauty advantage for politicians on the left or on the right is bound to have political consequences. We show that politicians on the right look more beautiful in Europe, the United States and Australia. Our explanation is that beautiful people earn more, which makes them less inclined to support redistribution. Accordingly, our model predicts that voters use beauty as a cue for conservatism when they do not know much about candidates and that politicians on the right benefit more from beauty in low-information elections. Evidence from real and experimental elections confirms both predictions. ; JEL Codes: D72, J45, J70

Contrastamos empíricamente la hipótesis Boserup para las regiones de la UE. Relacionamos la orientación productiva agraria dominante en cada región (arado, azada y ganadería) con indicadoresde igualdad de género, como la participación femenina en cargos directivos, en estudios primarios, en estudios superiores, en el mercado laboral y el salario medio por hora. Usando un modelo Probitencontramos que, consistentemente con la hipótesis, existe una relación negativa entre los indicadores y la agricultura de arado. Adicionalmente, probamos que las regiones orientadas a la ganadería tambiéngeneran valores de género menos igualitarios que las regiones orientadas a la agricultura de azada. ; We empirically contrast the Boserup hypothesis for the regions of the European Union. We relate the dominant productive orientation in each region (plough, hoe, animal) with indicators of gender equality: female participation in management positions, in primary education, in higher education, in the labor market and the average hourly wage. Using a Probit model we find that, consistently with the hypothesis, there is a negative relationship between indicators and plough agriculture. Additionally, we prove that livestock-oriented regions also generate less egalitarian gender values than hoe-oriented regions.

This paper uses data from the Cedefop European Skills and Jobs (ESJ) survey, a new international dataset of adult workers in 28 EU countries, to decompose the wage penalty of overeducated workers. The ESJ survey allows for integration of a rich, previously unavailable, set of factors in the estimation of the effect of overeducation on earnings. Oaxaca decomposition techniques are employed to uncover the extent to which the overeducation wage penalty can be attributed to either (i) human capital attributes, (ii) job characteristics, (iii) information asymmetries, (iv) compensating job attributes or (v) skill needs of jobs. Differences in human capital and job‐skill requirements are important factors in explaining the wage premium. It is found that asymmetry of information accounts for a significant part of the overeducation wage penalty for tertiary education graduates, whereas job characteristics and low skill content of jobs explain most of the wage gap for medium‐qualified employees. Little evidence is found in favour of equilibrium theories of skills matching and compensating wage differentials. The paper thus highlights the need for customised policy responses (e.g. career guidance; policies to raise job quality) to tackle overeducation.

Abstract. Recent studies have used regression decomposition to analyze recent data and found that over seventy percent of the black-white wealth differences remained unexplained (See, e.g., Gittleman & Wolff 2000; Altonji, Doraszelski & Segal 2000; and Blau & Graham 1990). Their results are limited to the variation in modern data. This study contributes improved methodology and historical empirical results to the literature on economic discrimination. In this paper, (i) presents structural regression decompositions, which are modifications to methods developed by Becker (1957) and Oaxaca (1973); (ii) presents a basic empirical test when analyzing structural regression decompositions; (iii) reports the estimated sources of black-white differences in wealth directly before and after emancipation; (iv) links these findings to recent studies. Empirical estimates confirm that the size and persistence of modern black-white wealth differences have historical roots. (v) presents decision-making considerations of "individuals" in an economy with grouped individuals, owners of firms, and social planner(s), conditional on wealth constraints with applied social economic considerations.Keywords. Theory of economic discrimination, Structural regression decomposition, Wealth inequality.JEL. J70, D90, E20, C20, H50, N30.

There are considerable differences in gender unemployment gaps across the EU. We use labor force survey data on 21 countries to perform a series of data decompositions and show that the cross-country variation in gender unemployment gaps is primarily driven by the differences in female labor force participation behavior after childbirth, namely, the family leave duration and the subsequent attachment of women to the labor force. Further, in countries where a high share of women permanently withdraw from the labor force after childbirth, the size of gender differences in unemployment strongly correlates with the Eurobarometer measure of perceived overall gender discrimination. Our findings suggest that family leave policies and institutions that facilitate the leave to work transition and the work-family balance are crucial to tackle the gender differences in unemployment in countries where the female unemployment rate exceeds that of men.

Since good-looking politicians win more votes, a beauty advantage for politicians on the left or on the right is bound to have political consequences. We show that politicians on the right look more beautiful in Europe, the United States and Australia. Our explanation is that beautiful people earn more, which makes them less inclined to support redistribution. Accordingly, our model predicts that voters use beauty as a cue for conservatism when they do not know much about candidates and that politicians on the right benefit more from beauty in low-information elections. Evidence from real and experimental elections confirms both predictions.

We use data on 800 candidates from the 2012 U.S. election cycle in U.S. and state congressional races to examine the degree to which beauty affects electoral outcomes. We find that a candidate that is one standard deviation more beautiful receives a 1.1 percentage point higher vote share and is 6.0 percentage points more likely to win the election. This beauty premium is larger in situations where voters are less likely to have more information about the candidate. The beauty premium is much smaller for U.S. congressional races than for state congressional races, and is also much smaller for incumbent candidates. In addition, we find a correlation that the beauty premium is lower when a candidate spends more money on the election. (JEL D72, J70)

Das Bundesjustizministerium und das Bundesfamilienministerium wollen einen Gesetzesvorschlag einbringen, der den Unternehmen vorgibt, auf Führungsebene eine eigene Frauenquote festzulegen und zu veröffentlichen. Nach Ansicht von Barbara Steffens, Ministerin für Gesundheit, Emanzipation, Pflege und Alter des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, gibt es in Deutschland erhebliche Defizite bei der Gleichstellung von Frauen. Deshalb werde sich die nordrhein-westfälische Landesregierung im Bundesrat für eine Quotierung von Aufsichtsräten in börsennotierten Unternehmen einsetzen. Zudem soll in Nordrhein-Westfalen eine geschlechterparitätische Besetzung von Aufsichts- und Verwaltungsräten in landeseigenen sowie kommunalen Betrieben und Gesellschaften erreicht werden. Nach Gregor Thüsing, Universität Bonn, können gesetzgeberische Maßnahmen sinnvoll sein. Aber die Quote sei immer eine Ungerechtigkeit gegenüber dem Angehörigen des anderen Geschlechts. Christine Bortenlänger, Bayerische Börse AG, ist für ein 100%iges Ja. Die Quote sei derzeit der schnellste Weg, eine Veränderung zu erreichen und gegenüber anderen Ländern aufzuholen, zumal Firmen mit gemischten Führungen bessere Ergebnisse erzielten und auch deutlich innovativer seien. Jana Oehmichen, Universität Karlsruhe, sieht einer gesetzliche Quote mit drei Gefahren verbunden: dem Generalverdacht der »Quotenfrau«, der Delegation wichtiger Entscheidungen in andere Gremien und dem Mangel an potentiellen Kandidatinnen. Marie-Christine Ostermann, Verband DIE JUNGEN UNTERNEHMER, ist der Meinung, dass man keine Quote brauche: »Denn man tut den Frauen in unserem Land keinen Gefallen, wenn man sie per Gesetz zu Quotenfrauen abstempelt…. Bei der Stellenbesetzung sollte allein die Qualifikation maßgeblich sein.« Und Günter Buchholz, Fachhochschule Hannover, sieht keinen Bedarf, da seiner Ansicht nach die Gleichberechtigung so gut wie erreicht sei.

Abstract There are considerable differences in gender unemployment gaps across the EU. We use labor force survey data on 21 countries to perform a series of data decompositions and show that the cross-country variation in gender unemployment gaps is primarily driven by the differences in female labor force participation behavior after childbirth, namely, the family leave duration and the subsequent attachment of women to the labor force. Further, in countries where a high share of women permanently withdraw from the labor force after childbirth, the size of gender differences in unemployment strongly correlates with the Eurobarometer measure of perceived overall gender discrimination. Our findings suggest that family leave policies and institutions that facilitate the leave to work transition and the work-family balance are crucial to tackle the gender differences in unemployment in countries where the female unemployment rate exceeds that of men. JEL Classification: J13, J21, J70.

This paper studies the labor market consequences of ethnic politics in African democracies. We combine geo-referenced data from 15 countries, 32 parliamentary elections, 62 political parties, 243 ethnic groups, 2,200 electoral constituencies, and 400,000 individuals. We implement a regression discontinuity design that compares individuals from ethnicities connected to parties at the margin of electing a local representative in the national parliament. We find that having a local ethnic politician in parliament increases the likelihood of being employed by 2-3 percentage points. We hypothesize that this effect originates from strategic interactions between ethnic politicians and traditional leaders, the latter retaining the power to allocate land and agricultural jobs in exchange for votes. The available evidence supports this hypothesis. First, the employment effect is concentrated in the historical homelands of ethnicities with strong pre-colonial institutions. Second, individuals from connected ethnicities are more likely to be employed in agriculture, and in those countries where customary land tenure is officially recognized by national legislation. Third, they are also more likely to identify traditional leaders as partisan, and as being mainly responsible for the allocation of land. Evidence shows that ethnic politics shapes the distribution of productive resources across sectors and ethnic groups.

Das Thema einer gesetzlichen Mindestquote für Frauen in Führungspositionen der Privatwirtschaft ist in Deutschland politisch und gesellschaftlich umstritten. Der Beitrag beleuchtet die Thematik näher und gibt eine Einschätzung der Frauenquote und weiterer Maßnahmen, die die Ungleichstellung von Frauen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt verringern können.

We study a search model with employment protection legislation. We show that if the output from the match is uncertain ex ante, there may exist a discriminatory equilibrium where workers with the same productive characteristics are subject to different hiring standards. If a bad match takes place, discriminated workers will use longer time to find another job, prolonging the costly period for the firm. This makes it less profitable for the firms to hire the discriminated workers, thus sustaining discrimination. In contrast to standard models, the existence of employers with a taste for discrimination may make it more profitable to discriminate also for firms without discriminatory preferences.