Gender Equality (F)or Economic Growth? Effects of Reducing the Gender Gap in Education on Economic Growth in OECD Countries

Abstract

This paper assesses the extent to which the increase in women's human capital, as measured by educational attainment, has contributed to economic growth in OECD countries over the past five decades. Using longitudinal cross-country data covering 30 countries from 1960 to 2008 on education (the Barro-Lee dataset) and growth (update of OECD data), our results point out a positive and significant impact ofthe increase in women's educational attainment relative to men on output per capita growth - as measuredby GDP per capita. Our results are robust to the distinction between sub-periods and indicate that the effect of the equalisation of years of completed education on economic growth has been higher in the most recent periods. Results also hold when countries with an above-average increase in years of completed education are removed from the sample.