[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/asieco/v21y2010i2p198-218.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Superior female education: Explaining the gender earnings gap trend in Thailand

Author

Listed:
  • Nakavachara, Voraprapa
Abstract
It is well-known that along with Thailand's remarkable increase in real income per capita during 1985-2005, an increase in overall income inequality was observed. What is not documented in the literature is that, during the same time period, the gender earnings inequality declined considerably. This paper seeks to identify the main factors that contributed to the decline in gender earnings gap in Thailand's wage and salary sector during 1985-2005. A parametric methodology, the Neumark (1988) version of the Blinder-Oaxaca (1973) method, is implemented in order to decompose gender earnings gap. I also make a methodological contribution by proposing a way to modify the DiNardo-Fortin-Lemieux (1996) nonparametric decomposition method so that its results are comparable to those from the Neumark version of the Blinder-Oaxaca method. The key findings of this paper are as follows. First, I find that increases in female education and changes in unobserved factors, which were concurrent with modernization, were the main sources of the decline in gender earnings gap. Second, over time, improvements in the education of females in this sector surpassed that of males. However, the superior education of females did not result in females earning higher than males due to the existing counteracting effect of the unexplained factors. Finally, the nonparametric investigation corroborated the results from the parametric methodology.

Suggested Citation

  • Nakavachara, Voraprapa, 2010. "Superior female education: Explaining the gender earnings gap trend in Thailand," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 198-218, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:21:y:2010:i:2:p:198-218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049-0078(09)00091-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter G. Warr, 1999. "What Happened to Thailand?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 631-650, July.
    2. DiNardo, John & Fortin, Nicole M & Lemieux, Thomas, 1996. "Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973-1992: A Semiparametric Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(5), pages 1001-1044, September.
    3. Jeong, Hyeok, 2008. "Assessment Of Relationship Between Growth And Inequality: Micro Evidence From Thailand," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(S2), pages 155-197, September.
    4. Hawley, Joshua D., 2004. "Changing returns to education in times of prosperity and crisis, Thailand 1985-1998," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 273-286, June.
    5. Cotton, Jeremiah, 1988. "On the Decomposition of Wage Differentials," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(2), pages 236-243, May.
    6. Karel Jansen, 2001. "Thailand, Financial Crisis And Monetary Policy," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 124-152.
    7. Reimers, Cordelia W, 1983. "Labor Market Discrimination against Hispanic and Black Men," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 65(4), pages 570-579, November.
    8. Thomas Lemieux, 2002. "Decomposing changes in wage distributions: a unified approach," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 35(4), pages 646-688, November.
    9. Dan Black & Amelia Haviland & Seth Sanders & Lowell Taylor, 2006. "Why Do Minority Men Earn Less? A Study of Wage Differentials among the Highly Educated," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 300-313, May.
    10. Cameron, Lisa A & Dowling, J Malcolm & Worswick, Christopher, 2001. "Education and Labor Market Participation of Women in Asia: Evidence from Five Countries," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(3), pages 461-477, April.
    11. David Neumark, 1988. "Employers' Discriminatory Behavior and the Estimation of Wage Discrimination," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 23(3), pages 279-295.
    12. Lauridsen, Laurids S., 1998. "The financial crisis in Thailand: Causes, conduct and consequences?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 1575-1591, August.
    13. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
    14. Xin Meng, 1996. "The Economic Position of Women in Asia," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 10(1), pages 23-41, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat & Lusi Liao, 2024. "Who Suffers the Most During the COVID‐19 Pandemic? Evidence From Thailand," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 62(3), pages 238-268, September.
    2. Rendall, Michelle, 2013. "Structural Change in Developing Countries: Has it Decreased Gender Inequality?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Jithitikulchai, Theepakorn, 2018. "Gender Wage Inequality in Thailand," Asian Journal of Applied Economics/ Applied Economics Journal, Kasetsart University, Faculty of Economics, Center for Applied Economic Research, vol. 25(1), pages 79-97, June.
    4. Tatli, Ahu & Vassilopoulou, Joana & Özbilgin, Mustafa, 2013. "An unrequited affinity between talent shortages and untapped female potential: The relevance of gender quotas for talent management in high growth potential economies of the Asia Pacific region," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 539-553.
    5. Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat & Lusi Liao, 2019. "“Gold Miss†or “Earthy Mom†? Evidence from Thailand," PIER Discussion Papers 110, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    6. Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat & Robert McNown, 2018. "A synthetic cohort analysis of female labour supply: the case of Thailand," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(5), pages 527-544, January.
    7. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2021. "The inversion of married women's labour supply and wage: Evidence from Thailand," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 35(1), pages 82-98, May.
    8. Jithitikulchai, Theepakorn, 2020. "Labour Skills, Economic Returns, and Automatability in Thailand," MPRA Paper 119748, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Grohmann, Antonia & Hübler, Olaf & Kouwenberg, Roy & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2021. "Financial literacy: Thai middle-class women do not lag behind," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    10. Paweenawat, Sasiwimon Warunsiri & Liao, Lusi, 2022. "Parenthood penalty and gender wage gap: Recent evidence from Thailand," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Yamamoto, Yuki & Matsumoto, Ken’ichi & Kawata, Keisuke & Kaneko, Shinji, 2019. "Gender-based differences in employment opportunities and wage distribution in Nepal," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Kaewkwan Tangtipongkul, 2015. "Rates of Return to Schooling in Thailand," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 32(2), pages 38-64, September.
    13. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat, 2018. "Labour Supply of Married Women in Thailand: 1985–2016," PIER Discussion Papers 88, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    14. Kampon Adireksombat & Zheng Fang & Chris Sakellariou, 2016. "The Evolution Of Gender Wage Differentials In Thailand: 1991–2007 — An Application Of Unconditional Quantile Regression," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 61(05), pages 1-30, December.
    15. Jacques Silber & Sasiwimon Warunsiri Paweenawat & Lusi Liao, 2022. "On the measurement of non-random mating and of its change over time," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 161-198, March.
    16. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon W. Paweenawat, 2020. "A Glass Ceiling? Gender Inequality of Top Earners in Thailand," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(1), pages 500-515.
    17. Lusi Liao & Sasiwimon W Paweenawat, 2020. "Is there a wage penalty for occupational feminization? Evidence from Thai labor market," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 2143-2153.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sloczynski, Tymon, 2018. "Average Gaps and Oaxaca's Blinder Decompositions: A Cautionary Tale about Regression Estimates of Racial Differences in Labor Market Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 12041, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Sloczynski, Tymon, 2015. "Average Wage Gaps and Oaxaca–Blinder Decompositions," IZA Discussion Papers 9036, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Sonja C. Kassenboehmer & Mathias G. Sinning, 2014. "Distributional Changes in the Gender Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 67(2), pages 335-361, April.
    4. Robert Breunig & Sandrine Rospabe, 2005. "Parametric vs. semi-parametric estimation of the male-female wage gap: An application to France," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2005-458, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    5. Karolina Goraus & Joanna Tyrowicz, 2014. "Gender Wage Gap in Poland – Can It Be Explained by Differences in Observable Characteristics?," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 36.
    6. Roshchin, Sergey & Yemelina, Natalya, 2021. "Gender wage gap decomposition methods: Comparative analysis," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 62, pages 5-31.
    7. Dang, Rui, 2015. "Explaining the body mass index gaps between Turkish immigrants and Germans in West Germany 2002-2012: A decomposition analysis of socio-economic causes," Ruhr Economic Papers 580, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Fortin, Nicole & Lemieux, Thomas & Firpo, Sergio, 2011. "Decomposition Methods in Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 1, pages 1-102, Elsevier.
    9. Tymon Słoczyński, 2020. "Average Gaps and Oaxaca–Blinder Decompositions: A Cautionary Tale about Regression Estimates of Racial Differences in Labor Market Outcomes," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(3), pages 705-729, May.
    10. Karolina Goraus Tanska & Joanna Tyrowicz & Lucas Augusto van der Velde, 2020. "How rankings disguise gender inequality: A comparative analysis of cross-country gender equality rankings based on adjusted wage gaps," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-21, November.
    11. Karolina Goraus & Joanna Tyrowicz & Lucas Velde, 2017. "Which Gender Wage Gap Estimates to Trust? A Comparative Analysis," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(1), pages 118-146, March.
    12. Adam Pilny, 2017. "Explaining Differentials in Subsidy Levels Among Hospital Ownership Types in Germany," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(5), pages 566-581, May.
    13. Ben Jann, 2008. "A Stata implementation of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition," ETH Zurich Sociology Working Papers 5, ETH Zurich, Chair of Sociology, revised 14 May 2008.
    14. Sloczynski, Tymon, 2013. "Population Average Gender Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 7315, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Chen, Yiu Por (Vincent) & Zhang, Yuan, 2018. "A decomposition method on employment and wage discrimination and its application in urban China (2002–2013)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 1-12.
    16. Niels-Hugo Blunch & Maitreyi Bordia Das, 2015. "Changing norms about gender inequality in education: Evidence from Bangladesh," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(6), pages 183-218.
    17. Matuszewska-Janica Aleksandra, 2018. "Differences in Men’s and Women’s Wages in the Education Sector in the Baltic Sea Region States," Folia Oeconomica Stetinensia, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 157-168, June.
    18. Yun Liang & John Gibson, 2017. "Location or Hukou: What Most Limits Fertility of Urban Women in China?," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 527-540, September.
    19. Böheim, René & Himpele, Klemens & Mahringer, Helmut & Zulehner, Christine, 2013. "The distribution of the gender wage gap in Austria : evidence from matched employer-employee data and tax records," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 46(1), pages 19-34.
    20. Rupi, Federico & Freo, Marzia & Poliziani, Cristian & Postorino, Maria Nadia & Schweizer, Joerg, 2023. "Analysis of gender-specific bicycle route choices using revealed preference surveys based on GPS traces," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1-14.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:21:y:2010:i:2:p:198-218. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/asieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.