The Gender Wage Gap and Domestic Violence

摘要

Three-quarters of all violence against women is perpetrated by domestic partners, with poor women disproportionately affected. The estimated costs of domestic violence in terms of medical care and declines in productivity exceed $5.8 billion annually (Centers for Disease Control 2003). In this paper I examine the impact of the gender wage gap on levels of domestic violence in the United States. An economic theory of household bargaining that incorporates violence predicts that increases in a woman's relative wage increase her bargaining power and lower levels of violence by improving her outside option. To test the predictions of this theory, I estimate the impact of the gender wage gap on violence against women by exploiting exogenous changes in the demand for labor in female dominated industries relative to male dominated ones. I find that decreases in the wage gap reduce violence against women.