Female teachers’ relative wage level in the 1930s and its long-term effects on current views on female labor participation: A case study from Japan

Yamamura, Eiji (2019): Female teachers’ relative wage level in the 1930s and its long-term effects on current views on female labor participation: A case study from Japan.

Abstract

This study analyzes how the historical work status of women contributed to subjective views about female labor participation in Japan. We matched historical and individual-level data. Based on a sample size of almost 10,000, we examined the long-term effect of female teachers’ wage level relative to that of male teachers in the 1930s. We find higher female teachers’ wages in the 1930s leads to positive views about women’s labor participation in 2016; this effect is only observed in the male sample (and not the female sample). By contrast, female teachers’ wages in 2013 did not influence the views in 2016.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Historical wage rate, norm, subjective view, labor participation
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I25 - Education and Economic Development; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z18 - Public Policy

References

Akerlof, G. A. and R. E. Kranton, 2000, Economics and identity. Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, pp. 715-753.

Algan, Y, P. Cahuc and A. Shleifer, 2013, Teaching practices and social capital. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5(3), pp. 189–210.

Corcoran, S. P., W. N. Evans and R. M. Schwab, 2004, Changing labor-market opportunities for women and the quality of teachers, 1957-2000. American Economic Review, 94(2), pp. 230-235.

Croson, R. and U. Gneezy, 2009, Gender differences in preferences. Journal of Economic Literature 47, pp. 448-474.

Falck, O. and L. Woessmann, 2013, School competition and students’ entrepreneurial intentions: international evidence using historical Catholic roots of private schooling. Small Business Economics, 40(2), pp. 459-478.

Fernandez, R., A. Fogli and C. Olivetti, 2004, Mothers and sons: Preference formation and female labor force dynamics. Quarterly Journal of Economics 119, pp. 1249-1299.

Holmlund, H. and K. Sund, 2008, Is the gender gap in school performance affected by the sex of the teacher. Labor Economics, 15(1), pp. 37-53.

Ito, T., K. Kubota and F. Ohtake, 2014, The hidden curriculum and social preferences. RIETI Discussion Paper Series 14-E–024.

Kawaguchi, D. and J. Miyazaki, 2009, Working mothers and sons’ preferences regarding female labor supply: Direct evidence from stated preferences. Journal of Population Economics, 22(1), pp. 115-130.

Lim, J. and J. Meer, 2017, The impact of teacher–student gender matches: Random assignment evidence from South Korea. Journal of Human Resources, 52(4), pp. 979-997.

Oswald, A. J. and N. Powdthavee, 2010, Daughters and left-wing voting. Review of Economics and Statistics, 92, pp. 213-227.

Sansone, D., 2017. Why does teacher gender matter? Economics of Education Review 61 (C), pp. 9-18.

Schwab, K., R. Samans, S. Zahidi, T. A. Leopold and V. Ratcheva, 2016, The global gender gap report 2016. World Economic Forum. Geneva. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR16/WEF_Global_Gender_Gap_Report_2016.pdf (Accessed on December 19, 2016).

Tanaka, R., 2008, The gender-asymmetric effect of working mothers on children’s education: Evidence from Japan, Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, 22(4), pp. 586-604.

Washington, E., 2008, Female socialization: How daughters affect their legislator fathers’ voting on women’s issues. American Economic Review, 98, pp. 311-332.

West, M.R., and L. Woessmann, 2010, Every Catholic child in a Catholic school: historical resistance to state schooling, contemporary private competition and student achievement across countries. Economic Journal, 120(546), F229-F255.

Winters, M. A., R. C. Haight, T. Swaim and K. A. Pickering, 2013, The effect of same-gender teacher assignment on student achievement in the elementary and secondary grades: Evidence from panel data. Economics of Education Review, 34(C), pp. 69-75.

Yamamura, E., 2017, Effect of historical educational level on perceived inequality, preference for redistribution and progressive taxation. International Economic Journal, 31(3), pp. 355-369.

Yamamura, E. 2019, Gender wage gap and its effect on test scores of immigrant students. Forthcoming in Journal of Economic Studies.

Yamamura, E. and Y. Tsutsui, 2019, Trade policy preference, childhood sporting experience, and informal school curriculum: an examination of views of the TPP from the viewpoint of behavioral economics. Review of International Economics, 27(1), pp. 61-90.