Carla
Varona
Cervantes

This paper studies policy interventions intended to eliminate gender differences in labor market outcomes, principally wages. It studies these policies through an estimated model of statistical discrimination with dynamic choices of education and labor market participation. The estimated model succeeds in matching observed gender gaps in wages, college attainment rates, the college premium, and labor market participation rates. Introducing the various interventions into the estimated model allows us to quantify both the intended and unintended consequences of the policies. In the short run, the policy that requires gender-free applications in the market for skilled labor eliminates wage gaps; but once education choices respond, the effects are attenuated. A more comprehensive policy that enforces gender-free compensation reverses the wage gap in skilled markets and eliminates it in unskilled labor markets, even once education adjusts. These interventions impact college rates, the college premium gap, and participation rates as well. The effects are country-specific, reflecting underlying differences in estimated parameters by gender across countries.