The Paradox of Seclusion: Regional Differences in Female Employment and Wages in Urban India
研究发现印度北方城市性别工资差距小于南方，但这是由于北方社会规范压制低薪女性就业，导致就业者正向选择偏差，校正后差距与南方相似。
Why are urban gender wage gaps lower in northern than in southern states of India, despite greater gender equality (in non-wage dimensions) in the south? I show that this is due to greater suppression of women’s low-wage employment in the north, resulting in stronger positive selection: selection-corrected gaps that impute wages for the non-employed based on observed and unobserved characteristics are similar for both north and south. I suggest that stronger social norms in the north that stigmatise women’s wage work produce lower employment rates, particularly among less-educated, low-wage women who do not have access to white-collar jobs. These patterns of participation introduce significant selection biases in the measurement of gender wage gaps and help explain why urban gender wage gaps are lower in the north.