Estimados Académicos FEN,

Les comunicamos que el Viernes 28 de Agosto a las 12 horas se realizará el Seminario del Departamento de Economía, titulado "This Time It's Different: The Role of Women's Emplyment in a Pandemic Recession".

Expone: Matthias Doepke, HSBC Research Professor, Department of Economics, Northwestern University.

Co-Autores: Titán Alon, Jane Olmstead Rumsey, Michelle Tertilt 

Abstract: In recent US recessions, employment losses have been much larger for men than for women. Yet, in the current recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the opposite is true: unemployment is higher among women. In this paper, we analyze the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. We argue that women have experienced sharp employment losses both because their employment is concentrated in heavily affected sectors such as restaurants, and due to increased childcare needs caused by school and daycare closures, preventing many women from working. We analyze the repercussions of this trend using a quantitative macroeconomic model featuring heterogeneity in gender, marital status, childcare needs, and human capital. Our quantitative analysis suggests that a pandemic recession will i) feature a strong transmission from employment to aggregate demand due to diminished within-household insurance; ii) result in a widening of the gender wage gap throughout the recovery; and iii) contribute to a weakening of the gender norms that currently produce a lopsided distribution of the division of labor in home work and childcare.

Link del evento: https://fenuchile.webex.com/meet/semdec

Saludos cordiales,

Dirección de Investigación