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Gender Inequality Redux

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Swissotel Chicago, Montreux 3
Hosted By: Union for Radical Political Economics & International Association for Feminist Economics
  • Chair: Randy Albelda, University of Massachusetts-Boston

Opening the Farm Gate to Women? Sustainable Local Agriculture in the United States

Anders Fremstad
,
Colorado State University
Mark Paul
,
Duke University

Abstract

This paper analyzes the relationship between the growth in the number of women farmers and the rise in sustainable agriculture using the US Census of Agriculture. Assessing full time farmers, we show that farms operated by women earn much lower farm incomes than farms operated by men, such that the gender gap in agriculture is amongst the largest in any occupation. While this inequity can be partly explained by the patrilineal inheritance of land and capital, farms headed by women generate nearly 40 percent less income after controlling for farm assets, work time, age, experience, farm type, and location. We investigate whether three different forms of sustainable agriculture improved incomes for women farmers during 2012. We find that only farms engaging in Community Supported Agriculture experience a marked decline in the gender gap. We argue that the diverse set of principles associated with Community Supported Agriculture results in women selecting into that form of farming, and that the men involved in it may be more supportive of women farmers.

Economic Factors and Mental Health: A Gender Analysis for the United States

Chiara Piovani
,
University of Denver
Nursel Aydiner-Avşar
,
UNCTAD-Geneva

Abstract

Economic Factors and Mental Health: A Gender Analysis for the United States

Does Classroom Gender Composition Affect School Dropout?

Gokce Uysal
,
Bahcesehir University
Tuba Toru Delibasi
,
Bahcesehir University
Bulent Anil
,
Bahcesehir University

Abstract

Does Classroom Gender Composition Affect School Dropout?

Conforming to or Defying Gender Stereotypes? Empathy versus Financial Nudging in Environmental Context

Natalia Czap
,
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Hans J. Czap
,
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Mark E. Burbach
,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Marianna Khachaturyan
,
Independent Researcher

Abstract

Environmental policy traditionally relies on financial incentives and direct regulation to achieve desirable outcomes in terms of conservation and pro-environmental behavior. Empirical research has shown that market based approaches are more cost-effective than direct regulation. However, experimental research has demonstrated that a combination of financial and non-financial incentives (specifically empathy nudging) is, on average, even more effective than a financial nudge, or empathy nudge, individually. The current study looks at environmental policy, specifically financial and empathy nudging, in the agricultural context. The increase of the number of farms headed by females raises the question whether previous findings of the effectiveness of these nudges are gender specific or gender neutral. We investigate this question using data from a framed laboratory experiment in the context of farmers’ conservation behavior. Specifically, we compare the change in conservation efforts of females and males in response to financial incentives and empathy nudging applied separately and at the same time. Our findings show that both females and males are moderately affected by financial nudges, but only females are affected by empathy nudges separately. The combination of both nudges is economically and statistically significantly higher than each nudge individually, and substantially higher for females than for males. This implies that policy makers could increase the effectiveness of environmental policy by accounting for these gender specific differences in the policy design.
Discussant(s)
Yavuz Yasar
,
University of Denver
Hsueh-Hsiang Li
,
Colorado State University
JEL Classifications
  • B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches