[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedlrv/y2013ijanuaryp89-114nv.95no.1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International trade, female labor, and entrepreneurship in MENA countries

Author

Listed:
  • Silvio Contessi
  • Francesca De Nicola
  • Li Li
Abstract
Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) countries stand out in international comparisons of de jure obstacles to female employment and entrepreneurship. These obstacles manifest themselves in low rates of female labor participation, entrepreneurship, and ownership. Recent research suggests a connection between international trade and female labor participation. In this article, the authors focus on the relationship between international trade and gender in the MENA countries. They first analyze female labor as a production factor and then focus on female entrepreneurship and firm ownership. The authors use country- and industry-level data to identify countries and industries characterized by a comparative advantage in female labor. They find evidence suggesting a strong link between a country?s specialization and its measures of female labor participation consistent with theories of brain-based technological bias and factor endowments trade theories. Using firm-level data, the authors then study whether trade empowers female entrepreneurs in country/industry pairs that exhibit comparative advantage. They conclude that the evidence supports the view that exposure to trade disproportionately affects firms in country/industry pairs with a comparative advantage in female labor?both in terms of female employment and female entrepreneurship and ownership?for the MENA countries and the period they study.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvio Contessi & Francesca De Nicola & Li Li, 2013. "International trade, female labor, and entrepreneurship in MENA countries," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Jan, pages 89-114.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlrv:y:2013:i:january:p:89-114:n:v.95no.1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/13/01/Contessi.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Harrigan & Ariell Reshef, 2015. "Skill-biased heterogeneous firms, trade liberalization and the skill premium," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 48(3), pages 1024-1066, August.
    2. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2016. "Comparative advantage, international trade, and fertility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 48-66.
    3. Ernesto Aguayo-Tellez & Jim Airola & Chinhui Juhn & Carolina Villegas-Sanchez, 2014. "Did Trade Liberalization Help Women? the Case of Mexico in the 1990s," Research in Labor Economics, in: New Analyses of Worker Well-Being, volume 38, pages 1-35, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    4. Michelle Petersen Rendall, 2010. "Brain versus brawn: the realization of women's comparative advantage," IEW - Working Papers 491, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich, revised Jun 2017.
    5. Almeida, Heitor & Wolfenzon, Daniel, 2005. "The effect of external finance on the equilibrium allocation of capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 133-164, January.
    6. Marco Leonardi, 2007. "Firm heterogeneity in capital-labour ratios and wage inequality," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(518), pages 375-398, March.
    7. Galor, Oded & Weil, David N, 1996. "The Gender Gap, Fertility, and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 374-387, June.
    8. Philip U. Sauré & Hosny Zoabi, 2009. "Effects of Trade on Female Labor Force Participation," Working Papers 2009-12, Swiss National Bank.
    9. George-Levi Gayle & Limor Golan & Robert A. Miller, 2012. "Gender Differences in Executive Compensation and Job Mobility," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(4), pages 829-872.
    10. Hallward-Driemeier, Mary & Aterido, Reyes, 2009. "Comparing Apples with....Apples : how to make (more) sense of subjective rankings of constraints to business," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5054, The World Bank.
    11. Ariel Burstein & Jonathan Vogel, 2017. "International Trade, Technology, and the Skill Premium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(5), pages 1356-1412.
    12. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A., 2007. "Comparative advantage, demand for external finance, and financial development," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 796-834, December.
    13. World Bank, 2011. "World Development Report 2011 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2011 : Conflits, sécurité et développement - Abrégé]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4389.
    14. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2011. "Engendering trade," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5777, The World Bank.
    15. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    16. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Report 2012 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2012]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4391.
    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. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Su, Thanh Dinh, 2021. "Economic integration and economic complexity: The role of basic resources in absorptive capability in 40 selected developing countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 609-625.
    2. George O. Tasie, 2017. "The Symbiosis between Entrepreneurship Formation and Employment Creation: A Strategy for Job Opportunities in Kurdistan Region," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(3), pages 33-46, March.
    3. Ali Fakih & Pascal Ghazalian, 2015. "Female employment in MENA’s manufacturing sector: the implications of firm-related and national factors," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 37-69, February.
    4. Bach Nguyen & Nguyen Phuc Canh & Su Dinh Thanh, 2021. "Institutions, Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Density," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1270-1293, September.
    5. Hazarika, Bhabesh & Goswami, Kishor, 2014. "Rural Non-Farm Micro-Entrepreneurship or Not: Gender Issue in Decision Making," EconStor Conference Papers 125611, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    6. Edward Nissan & Farhang Niroomand, 2015. "Economic, welfare, demographic, and gender inequalities among selected Arab countries," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 39(2), pages 396-411, April.
    7. Vo, Thang T. & Ha, Truong Thiet, 2021. "Decomposition of gender bias in enterprise employment: Insights from Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 182-194.
    8. Audi, Marc & Ali, Amjad, 2016. "Gender Gap and Trade Liberalization: An Analysis of some selected SAARC countries," MPRA Paper 83520, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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. Do, Quy-Toan & Levchenko, Andrei A. & Raddatz, Claudio, 2016. "Comparative advantage, international trade, and fertility," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 48-66.
    2. Isis Gaddis & Janneke Pieters, 2017. "The Gendered Labor Market Impacts of Trade Liberalization: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(2), pages 457-490.
    3. Ghani,Syed Ejaz & Grover,Arti & Kerr,Sari & Kerr,William Robert, 2016. "Will market competition trump gender discrimination in India ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7814, The World Bank.
    4. Juhn, Chinhui & Ujhelyi, Gergely & Villegas-Sanchez, Carolina, 2014. "Men, women, and machines: How trade impacts gender inequality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 179-193.
    5. Silvio Contessi & Francesca De Nicola, 2012. "What do we know about the relationship between access to finance and international trade?," Working Papers 2012-054, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    6. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2018. "Global Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(2), pages 565-619, June.
    7. Benjamin Faber & Thibault Fally, 2022. "Firm Heterogeneity in Consumption Baskets: Evidence from Home and Store Scanner Data," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(3), pages 1420-1459.
    8. Le, Manh-Duc & Pieri, Fabio & Zaninotto, Enrico, 2019. "From central planning towards a market economy: The role of ownership and competition in Vietnamese firms’ productivity," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 693-716.
    9. Kölling, Arnd & Mertens, Antje, 2020. "Exporting behavior and the demand for skills in German establishments," Working Papers 97, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute of Management Berlin (IMB).
    10. Bhalotra, Sonia & Fernandez Sierra, Manuel, 2018. "The distribution of the gender wage gap," ISER Working Paper Series 2018-10, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    11. Michał Brzozowski, 2013. "Gender Equality as the Determinant of FDI Flows to Central European Countries," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 33.
    12. Bas, Maria & Bombarda, Pamela & Jean, Sébastien & Orefice, Gianluca, 2021. "Firms’ exports, volatility and skills: Evidence from France," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    13. Pierre-Richard Agénor & Baris Alpaslan, 2013. "Child Labor, Intra-Household Bargaining and Economic Growth," Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research Discussion Paper Series 181, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    14. Ferretti, Fabrizio & Mariani, Michele, 2017. "Gender Discrimination, Gender Disparities in Obesity and Human Development," MPRA Paper 77728, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Carlo Perroni & Davide Suverato, 2023. "Skills scarcity and export intensity," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(2), pages 719-757, May.
    16. Giordani, Paolo E. & Mariani, Fabio, 2022. "Unintended consequences: Can the rise of the educated class explain the revival of protectionism?," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    17. Carluccio, Juan & Cuñat, Alejandro & Fadinger, Harald & Fons-Rosen, Christian, 2019. "Offshoring and skill-upgrading in French manufacturing," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 138-159.
    18. Kent Matthews, 2014. "Cost Inefficiency in the Pakistan Banking Sector 2002-2009," SBP Research Bulletin, State Bank of Pakistan, Research Department, vol. 10, pages 1-20.
    19. Melitz, Marc J. & Redding, Stephen J., 2014. "Heterogeneous Firms and Trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-54, Elsevier.
    20. Audi, Marc & Ali, Amjad, 2016. "Gender Gap and Trade Liberalization: An Analysis of some selected SAARC countries," MPRA Paper 83520, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:fip:fedlrv:y:2013:i:january:p:89-114:n:v.95no.1. 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: Scott St. Louis (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbslus.html .

    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.