How Does Gender Inequality Affect a Country’s Economic Performance?

Stephan Klasen

Public policy discussions have tended to assume that reducing gender inequality in areas including education, labor force participation and pay will automatically lead to improved economic performance. In this video, STEPHAN KLASEN reviews existing economics research in order to determine whether this assumption is robust. Examining theoretical models, accounting studies, cross-country regressions, and micro-level studies, Klasen finds that while reducing gender gaps in education clearly has a positive impact on a country’s economic performance, much more work is required before we have a reliable understanding of the economic impact of reductions in other forms of gender inequality. With evident relevance to public policy debates, Klasen’s work draws attention to a considerable gap in knowledge that should occupy researchers for many years to come.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10645

Researcher

Stephan Klasen is Professor of Development Economics at the University of Göttingen. Having completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University, he has also held posts at the University of Munich and at the University of Cambridge. Klasen’s research focuses on poverty, inequality, environment, and gender. President of the European Development Research Network (since 2015), and a member of the UN Committee on Development Policy, Klasen regularly provides consultancy expertise to organizations including the World Bank, the OECD, and UNESCO.

University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)

Founded in 1737, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen is a research university of international renown with strong focuses in research-led teaching. The University is distinguished by the rich diversity of its subject spectrum particularly in the humanities, its excellent facilities for the pursuit of scientific research, and the outstanding quality of the areas that define its profile. From 2007 to 2012 Georg-August-Universität Göttingen was rewarded funding from the Initiative of Excellence of the German Federal and State Governments with its institutional strategy for the future entitled “Göttingen.Tradition – Innovation – Autonomy”. The University was able to realise all measures of the concept. Now Göttingen University develops the successfully established measures further to continously advance the University’s positive developments in research and teaching. ( Source )

Original Publication

The Impact of Gender Inequality on Economic Performance in Developing Countries

Stephan Klasen

Published in 2018