Essays on the effect of trade and location on the gender-gap: A study of the Mexican labor market.

摘要

This thesis analyzes the effects of trade liberalization, location and labor market development on the gender-gap (log of male-to-female wage ratio) in Mexico. The first chapter finds that trade decreases the gender-gap. Looking at data on Mexican wages before and after NAFTA, the paper finds a reduction between 10 to 12 percent in the gender-gap for low-skilled people. The main channels through which trade affected the gender-gap are through raising the wage of Mexico's relatively abundant factor, low-skilled-females (LSF); and by increasing the competitiveness of the economy producing a reduction in discrimination. The paper finds that after NAFTA, the gender-gap narrowed in LSF-intensive industries relative to non-LSF intensive ones. With respect to increased competition, the paper finds that after NAFTA, the gender-gap decreased more in non-competitive industries and in industries that were more affected by trade in terms of import licenses' reductions or import penetration.; The second chapter analyzes the “urban premium” (urban-rural wage differential) for males and females in Mexico. The paper finds a large urban premium for men and women, but finds a significantly larger urban premium for males than for females (27 vs. 15 percent), which produces a larger gender-gap in urban than in rural areas. The larger male urban premium could be caused by male self-selection to urban areas (Roy's model) or by an expansion in the occupations available for males in urban areas relative to rural areas. The paper finds evidence for both theories, which is not contradictory since the theories may not be independent.; The third chapter finds evidence that the gender-gap decreases significantly as city size increases. Looking at Mexican wage data from 44 cities, the paper finds that the elasticity of less-educated females' relative wages with respect to population is 0.035, which implies a decrease of 10 percent in the gender-gap as city size increases from 100,000 to 1.5 million. I find that this reduction is caused by changes in wages within occupations and firms of varying sizes, which suggests that the increase in females' relative earnings could be explained by more modern social norms or less discrimination in larger cities.