Urbanization and accompanying socio-economic change, alter intra-household behaviours including paid and unpaid work patterns. China's rapid urbanization raises important questions about the changing nature of gender asymmetries in the household division of labour. Using 24-hour time module data...

This is a policy paper which examines the development challenges of the Caribbean island of Barbados against the backdrop of the government's decision to enter into a structural adjustment agreement with the International Monetary Fund in 2018. The paper gives an overview of Barbados' trajectory...

Economic participation of women in the labour force or as entrepreneurs is low compared to peers and has declined over the past decades despite strong growth. The gap with men is over 50%--the largest among key emerging markets. Participation declines with higher education achievements and...

In the past 30 years Costa Rica has grown steadily and social indicators have improved markedly. Well-being indicators are comparable or even above the OECD average in several dimensions, such as health, environment or life-satisfaction. This paper reviews the social progress that Costa Rica has...

Using Integrated Household Survey data from Georgia, we measure the observable and discriminatory ethnic wage gap, among male and female workers, and the gender wage gap, among Georgians and non-Georgians. The gender wage discrimination is larger than the ethnic wage discrimination. In the...

High employment growth has sustained Israel’s high GDP growth in recent decades, but demographic change and labour market duality put future growth at risk. Policy action is required to stimulate employment and raise labour productivity, especially among population groups with weaker labour...

The present dissertation aims to describe three essays related to labor market institutions, growth and gender inequality. Essay 1 addresses the impact of labor market institutions on economic growth. Using a quantitative study and considering the time and country-specific characteristics, I...

This paper studies the effects of policies aimed at mitigating discrimination against women in the marketplace on the gender wage gap, decisions to invest in skills, the composition of employment and unemployment, and long-run growth. The analysis uses a gender-based overlapping generations...

This paper studies the implications of introducing child care in the human capital production function when assessing the effects of labor income taxation on growth. We develop an OLG model where formal schooling and child care enter the human capital production function as complements and we...

Economic theory predicts that military conscription is associated with static inefficiencies as well as with dynamic distortions of the accumulation of human and physical capital. Relative to an economy with an all-volunteer force, output levels and growth rates should be lower in countries that...