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Economics of Women, Men and Work, The, 7th Edition

Francine D Blau, Cornell University

Marianne A Ferber, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Anne E Winkler, University of Missouri at St. Louis

Economics of Women, Men and Work, The, 7th Edition — View larger

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Overview

Description

For courses found in Economics Departments and Departments of Women's Studies, on The Economics of Women, Women and Work, or the Economics of Gender.

The most current and comprehensive source available for research, data, and analysis on women, gender, and economics.

Blau, Ferber, and Winkler are widely known for their research and contributions on the study of the economics of gender. As active researchers and leading scholars on the subject, the authors are in tune with the most current and relevant research that’s included in Economics of Women, Men, and Work.

Features

Suitable for a variety of courses.
Because of its scope and recent research concerning gender and the economy, Economics of Women, Men, and Work has found a home in numerous curriculums. This text is a great resource for courses on the economics of gender, as well as women’s studies courses, courses on economic problems, general labor economics, and the economics of the family, and is a useful reference for anyone interested in learning more about economics of gender.

New organization provides additional flexibility.

To provide additional flexibility to instructors, and to break the material into smaller units for students, the book is now divided into five major parts: (I) Introduction and Historical Perspectives; (II) Allocation of Time Between the Household and the Labor Market; (III) Labor Market Outcomes: Theory, Evidence and Policy; (IV) The Economics of the Family: Theory, Evidence and Policy; and (V) The Economic Status of the World’s Women. In addition, we have increased the number of chapters from 12 to 18, so chapter length is correspondingly reduced.

Insight on current social trends.
In keeping with changing demographics, the text incorporates additional discussion of same-sex marriage and its changing legal status. Chapter 13 also points to changing dimensions of fertility, including the rise in serial cohabitation and multi-partner fertility, and the decline in teen birth rates.

Developments in the labor market.
Recent developments in the labor market are highlighted and researched for cause and consequence. These developments include the increasingly divergent outcomes for individuals and families by level of educational attainment, as well as the implications of the Great Recession for both individuals and families.

Updated discussion of gender differences from an international perspective.
The international chapters point to dramatic changes occurring across the globe, including rapid declines in fertility in nearly all countries, as well as dramatic increases in women’s education in developing countries. While the ratio of boys to girls at birth remains high in many East Asian countries, we point to substantial declines in in this ratio in South Korea, and point to evidence that suggests that ratios may well have peaked in the largest East Asian countries of India and China.

New material on “hot topics” in the news.

New to this edition are discussions of the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Wal-Mart discrimination case; the finding reported in the press that young women earn more than young men in large cities; the ongoing debate about whether women can, indeed, “have it all” (both a career and family); and the extent to which gender differences in math test scores are influenced by social factors, gender differences in competition, and “stereotype threat.”

New topics and discussions.

A section examining why the engine of growth in women’s labor force participation has stalled (Chapter 6); a section on the role of gender differences in psychological attributes (attitudes towards negotiation, competition, and risk, and personality traits) in explaining the gender difference in earnings (Chapter 9); a consideration of corporate board quotas for women (Chapter 12), and a discussion of the relationship between women’s status, globalization, and economic development (Chapter 17).

Fully revamped chapter: Women and Men: Historical Perspectives.

Chapter 2 has been fully revamped. The first section provides a substantially revised discussion on the ongoing debate about nature versus nurture in explaining gender differences. The latter part of the chapter, which provides a historical context, introduces the theory behind the U-shaped female labor force function to explain the relationship between women’s role in production

New to This Edition

The seventh edition reflects the numerous changes in the labor market and in the family that have occurred in recent years. All data and tables have been updated and discussions and references take into account the most recent research on each subject covered.

Key features of the seventh edition include the following:

While the coverage and order of the content largely remains the same, the book is now divided into five major parts: (I) Introduction and Historical Perspectives; (II) Allocation of Time Between the Household and the Labor Market; (III) Labor Market Outcomes: Theory, Evidence and Policy; (IV) The Economics of the Family: Theory, Evidence and Policy; and (V) The Economic Status of the World’s Women. In addition, we have increased the number of chapters from 12 to 18 and so chapter length is correspondingly reduced. The purpose of this change is to provide additional flexibility to instructors, and to break the material into smaller units for students. Some material has been relocated cross chapters. The material covered in Chapter 8 in the 6^th edition has been relocated as follows: the analysis of the narrowing of the gender pay gap has been moved to Chapter 10 (“Evidence on the Sources of Gender Differences in Earnings and Occupations: Supply-Side Factors Versus Labor Market Discrimination”); the material on the rising college wage premium has been moved to Chapter 8 (“Gender Differences in Educational Attainment: Theory and Evidence”); and the material covered in Chapter 9 of the 6^th edition on unionism, self-employment and nonstandard work has been shortened and moved to Chapter 7 (“Evidence on Gender Differences in Labor Market Outcomes”).
We highlight recent developments in the labor market and their consequences for women and men. These developments include the increasingly divergent outcomes for individuals and families by level of educational attainment, as well as the implications of the Great Recession for both individuals and families.
This edition includes several new topics: a section examining why the engine of growth in women’s labor force participation has stalled (Chapter 6); a section on the role of gender differences in psychological attributes (attitudes towards negotiation, competition, and risk, and personality traits) in explaining the gender difference in earnings (Chapter 9); a consideration of corporate board quotas for women (Chapter 12), and a discussion of the relationship between women’s status, globalization, and economic development (Chapter 17).
Chapter 2 has been fully revamped. The first section provides a substantially revised discussion on the ongoing debate about nature versus nurture in explaining gender differences. The latter part of the chapter, which provides a historical context, introduces the theory behind the U-shaped female labor force function to explain the relationship between women’s role in production and women’s status across countries and over the course of U.S. economic development.
In keeping with changing demographics, the text incorporates additional discussion of same-sex marriage and its changing legal status. Chapter 13 also points to changing dimensions of fertility, including the rise in serial cohabitation and multi-partner fertility, and the decline in teen birth rates.
New material has been included on “hot topics” in the news. New to this edition are discussions of the recent Supreme Court ruling in the Wal-Mart discrimination case; the finding reported in the press that young women earn more than young men in large cities; the ongoing debate about whether women can, indeed, “have it all” (both a career and family); and the extent to which gender differences in math test scores are influenced by social factors, gender differences in competition, and “stereotype threat.”
The international chapters point to dramatic changes occurring across the globe, including rapid declines in fertility in nearly all countries, as well as dramatic increases in women’s education in developing countries. While the ratio of boys to girls at birth remains high in many East Asian countries, we point to substantial declines in this ratio in South Korea, and point to evidence that suggests that ratios may well have peaked in the largest East Asian countries of India and China.

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About the Author(s)

Francine Blau

Francine D. Blau is the Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Professor of Economics at Cornell University and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is also a Research Fellow of the Institute for the Study of labor (IZA) in Bonn, Germany and of the Center for Economic Studies/Ifo Institute (CESIfo) in Munich, Germany, and a Research Professor at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), Berlin, Germany. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and her B.S. in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. She has served as President of the Society of Labor Economists, the Labor and Employment Relations Association, and the Midwest Economics Association; as Vice President of the American Economic Association (AEA); and as Chair of the AEA Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. She is a fellow of the Society of Labor Economics, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the Labor and Employment Relations Association. In 2010, she received the IZA Prize for outstanding academic achievement in the field of labor economics; she was the first woman to receive this prestigious award. In 2001, she received the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the AEA Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession. She is on the Editorial Boards of the Industrial & Labor Relations Review, Journal of Labor Economics, Feminist Economics, and The Annals and is an Associate Editor of Labour Economics; she was formerly an editor of the Journal of Labor Economics, on the Board of Editors of theAmerican Economic Review, an Associate Editor and on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Professor Blau has written extensively on gender issues, wage inequality, immigration and international comparisons of labor market outcomes. She has published articles in leading economics journals and is the author of Equal Pay in the Office and, with Lawrence Kahn, of At Home and Abroad: U.S. Labor Market Performance in International Perspective (recipient of the Richard A. Lester Prize for the outstanding book in labor economics and industrial relations for 2002); and the editor, with David Grusky and Mary Brinton of The Declining Significance of Gender?, and with Ronald Ehrenberg ofGender and Family Issues in the Workplace.

Marianne A. Ferber

After a long, successful career, Marianne A. Ferber, Professor of Economics and Women's Studies, Emerita, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, passed away in May 2013, just prior to the publication of the 7^th edition of the textbook. She was born in Czechoslovakia in 1923 and obtained her B.A. at McMaster University in Canada in 1944 and her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1954. She was Distinguished Visiting Professor at Radcliffe (1993-95), president of the Midwest Economic Association (1986-87), and president of the International Association for Feminist Economics (1995-97). She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from McMaster University (1996), the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (2002), and an honorary doctorate from the University of Eastern Illinois (2002). She served for many years on the editorial boards of Feminist Economics and of the Review of Social Economy. She was editor of Women in the Labor Market, 1998, co-editor of Work and Family, 1991; Beyond Economic Man, 1993 (translated into Korean); Academic Couples, 1997; Nonstandard Work, 2000, and Feminist Economics Today, 2003 (translated into Spanish). She published in economics, sociology, education and women's studies journals. Her passing is deeply mourned by her many friends, colleagues, and admirers, and the many women that she had mentored over the years.

Anne E. Winkler

Anne E. Winkler is Professor of Economics and Public Policy Administration at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She is also a Research Fellow at IZA (the Institute for the Study of Labor), Bonn and a Research Affiliate at the National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her undergraduate degree in economics from Wesleyan University. Professor Winkler’s main research interests are in the economics of gender, the economics of the family, and welfare and poverty. Her work has appeared in economics and broader social science journals includingJournal of Human Resources, Research in Labor Economics, Monthly Labor Review, Demography, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Journal of Urban Economics, and Management Science. Prof. Winkler previously served as 2nd Vice President of the Midwest Economics Association and as President of the St. Louis Chapter of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). She currently serves on the editorial boards of Social Science Quarterly and Journal of Labor Research and is a board member of the AEA’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (CSWEP).