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Commentary

Watch exclusive video from conferences, debates and other events on labor market economics as well as reading the latest opinion pieces from IZA World of Labor authors.

January 04, 2022

Shyamal Chowdhury

Microfinance and rural non-farm employment in developing countries during the Covid-19 crisis

Supporting small enterprises in rural areas will continue to be critical for a sustainable economic recovery.
December 13, 2021

Magnus Henrekson

How do labor market institutions affect job creation and productivity growth?

Policymakers need to know where to draw the line between protections that provide job stability and those that discourage high-growth firms.
November 29, 2021

Martin Hagen, Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga

Can market mechanisms solve refugee crises?

EU member states should be given a choice between taking in refugees themselves and financially supporting other countries to do so.
November 15, 2021

Olivier Deschenes

Saving the planet and creating jobs

With countries around the world committing to emission-reduction targets at COP26, Olivier Deschenes looks at the likely effects of climate targets on job creation.

Nina Smith on the gender pay gap: An interview with with Daniel S. Hamermesh

Nina Smith on the gender pay gap: An interview with with Daniel S. Hamermesh

Some of the questions include:

What causes the gender pay gap in Europe?

In most Western countries, looking at time-use data, men are doing more household work, women are doing somewhat less. There should have been some change because of the changing nature of the intra-household bargain but you are saying there isn’t?

To what extent is it the fact that the woman, rightly or wrongly, is viewed as the manager of the household?

So, if the child is sick, it is assumed that the woman disrupts her day to take care of the child? Even if it is not a long time, the uncertainty about time at the workplace has an overwhelming effect on an employer’s interest in paying and employing women, is that true?

What is your opinion on gender quotas and corporate quotas?

Is it possible that gender quotas are a way to help better-off women to do better?

What can we do to reduce the gender-wage gap? Do any countries require that the father takes at least a third of the parenting quota?

In 2050, will the gender pay gap be reduced? Will there be more equality, in your opinion, in household behaviour – e.g. taking care of children?

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Interview with Antti Kauhanen on gender differences in corporate hierarchies

Interview with Antti Kauhanen on gender differences in corporate hierarchies

Some of the questions asked by IZA World of Labor Editor-in-Chief Daniel S. Hamermesh include:

- Why is there a pay gap between men and women?
- You mention human capital differences and yet in most rich countries women are now more educated than men. So, why should that matter anymore?
- Very few people outright discriminate against women anymore, it is rather unconscious. Can you give me examples of that and what can be done about it?
- I know you can do blind auditions for orchestras but how can we formalize hiring for office jobs?
- Could you also look at women who have been single all their lives compared to men who have been single all their lives – is there a difference there too?
- What does “make workplaces more family-friendly”? What does that entail, can we achieve that?
- In the last year with Covid-19, looking at the data, it seems that working from home has not had a positive effect on women’s careers. Why is that?
- Covid-19 on the impact on the gender pay gap: is it here to stay or just a passing phenomenon?

Read Antti Kauhanen's article Gender differences in corporate hierarchies.

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Gender discrimination and sexual harassment: A discussion with Joni Hersch

Gender discrimination and sexual harassment: A discussion with Joni Hersch

In this video Joni Hersch answers Daniel S. Hamermesh's questions.

Some of these include:

- What are the causes for women to receive lower wages than men?
- There is very little difference in job tenure by gender these days and that wasn't true 25 years ago. What is this difference due to?
- Can we discuss examples of sexual harassment on various levels?

Read Joni Hersch's article Sexual harassment in the workplace.
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Panel discussion on air pollution and human development

Panel discussion on air pollution and human development with Sefi Roth from the London School of Economics, Jonathan Colmer from the University of Virginia and Ludovica Gazze from the University of Warwick.

Some of the questions discussed in this panel discussion include:

- Environmental pollution: what is the basis of it?
- We are all exposed to pollutants at all ages - at what age is a given exposure worse for one?
- Global warming is worsening. Does it have similar effects - directly or indirectly?
- What do we know about the old style of pollutants and their impact on mental development?

Read Sefi Roth's article Air pollution, educational achievements, and human capital formation

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