Abstract
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explain relations between socioeconomic factors and gender longevity gap and to test a number of contradicting theories.Design/methodology/approachFixed effects models are used for cross-country panel data analysis.FindingsThe authors show that in developed countries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and European Union) a lower gender longevity gap is associated with a higher real GDP per capita, a higher level of urbanization, lower income inequality, lower per capita alcohol consumption and a better ecological environment. An increase in women’s aggregate unemployment rate and a decline in men’s unemployment are associated with a higher gap in life expectancies. There is also some evidence that the effect of the share of women in parliaments has a U-shape; it has a better descriptive efficiency if taken with a four-year lag, which approximately corresponds to the length of political cycles.Research limitations/implicationsFindings are valid only for developed countries.Practical implicationsThe findings are important for policy discussions, such as designs of pension schemes, gender-based taxation, ecological, urban, health and labor policy.Social implicationsThe factors that increase male and female longevities also reduce the gender longevity gap.Originality/valueThe results contradict to a number of studies for developing countries, which show that lower economic development and greater women discrimination result in a lower gender longevity gap.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-02-2019-0082
Highlights
On average, women live longer than men, and the gender longevity gaps differ across countries and change over time
We show that higher income and lower income inequality are associated with a smaller gender-longevity gap; a higher level of per capita alcohol consumption in a country, and a higher percentage of population living in a rural area give rise to a larger gender longevity gap
We analyzed the relation between the socioeconomic environment in developed countries (OECD and European Union (EU)) and the gender longevity gap
Summary
Women live longer than men, and the gender longevity gaps differ across countries and change over time. A few papers have studied large pools of countries (Ram 1993; Clark and Peck 2012; Ricketts 2014) They find that higher income inequality and a higher level of economic development, measured as GDP per capita or energy consumption per capita, increase the gender longevity gap. In contrast to Clark and Peck we note that in developed countries a higher level of economic development, measured by per capita GDP, negatively affects the gender longevity gap Other factors, such as female enrollment in secondary school, are of lesser importance in developed countries, since all girls have a right to secondary education. The literature suggests that well-functioning democratic institutions increase women life expectancies (Williamson and Boehmer 1997); and hypothetically this factor may increase the gender longevity gap (Clark and Peck 2012) We test this hypothesis for developed countries but have not confirmed it.
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