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Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The efficiency of gender equity in economic growth: neoclassical and feminist approaches

Gender equity in economic growth

By: Braunstein E
Published by: The International Working Group on Gender, Macroeconomics and International Economics (GEM-IWG)
Via: Eldis

This paper critically discusses neoclassical and feminist challenges to standard neoclassical approaches to institutions by focusing on analyses of the role of gender equity in economic growth. It reviews gender in neoclassical growth theory, moving from traditional theories of factor accumulation to the new growth theory literature which contends that institutions like gender matter for growth. Moreover the author examines the feminist/heterodox political economy, focusing primarily on the macroeconomic literature and looks at the evolution of the sexual division of labour.

The primary context of this discussion is development and the processes of industrialisation in the late twentieth century, as that is the focus of much of the growth literature.

The author’s conclusions include that:

  • it is important from a theoretical as well as a social justice standpoint that dominant growth paradigms incorporate the point that inequities evolve and persist partly because they advantage some over others
  • treating institutions as endogenous results of social struggle as well as economic exigencies strengthens the case for public policies that target changing social norms, as well as points to the importance and effectiveness of collective action in challenging inequities.
(http://www.econ.utah.edu/genmac/WP/07-4.pdf)

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