Does Gender Inequality Reduce Growth and Development? Evidence from Cross-Country Regressions

Abstract

Using cross-country and panel regressions, this paper investigates to what extent gender inequality in education and employment may reduce growth and development. The paper finds a considerable impact of gender inequality on economic growth which is robust to changes in specifications and controls for potential endogeneities. The results suggest that gender inequality in education has a direct impact on economic growth through lowering the average quality of human capital. In addition, economic growth is indirectly affected through the impact of gender inequality on investment and population growth. Point estimates suggest that between 0.4-0.9 % of the differences in growth rates between East Asia and Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East can be accounted for by the larger gender gaps in education prevailing in the latter regions. Moreover, the analysis shows that gender inequality in education prevents progress in reducing fertility and child mortality rates, thereby compromising progress in well-being in developing countries. Acknowledgments: I would like to thank Jere Behrman, Chitra Bhanu, Mark Blackden, Lionel Demery, David Dollar, Bill Easterly, Diane Elson, Roberta Gatti, Beth King, Andy Mason, Claudio Montenegro, Susan Razzazz, Lynn Squire, Martin Weale, Jeffrey Williamson, and participants at a research seminar in Munich and a workshop in Oslo for helpful comments and discussion on earlier versions of this paper. I also want to thank Frank Hauser for excellent research assistance.