Can the digital economy close the gender wage gap? Evidence from China

Abstract

Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project and Chinese Family Panel Studies, this paper systematically examines the impact of the digital economy on the gender wage gap. According to empirical evidence, the development of the digital economy can reduce the gender wage gap, and this result still holds after a series of robustness tests. Consistent with our theoretical analysis, the results of mechanism analysis confirm that this relationship holds because the development of the digital economy can promote women’s formal employment, ease family care burdens of women, and promote the formation of egalitarian gender perspectives. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that this effect weakens with increasing wage rates and differs among people with different skills, industries, sectors, and regions. Further analysis suggests that among the entrepreneurial population, the digital economy has a sizable effect on reducing the gender wage gap.