Abstract
We study the gender life satisfaction gap by using a non-linear version of the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition to isolate the effect of human capital inequalities among men and women in Chile, a country with one of the lowest female labor force participation in the world. We test gender bias hypotheses through the way each individual values their own income in relation to their partner’s. We provide evidence the gender life satisfaction gap favoring men can be more than fully explained by the differences in endowments (e.g., income and education). Nonetheless, there are structural disparities in the way men and women value their endowments, especially their income and labor status. Regarding the partner’s income, we found personal income is always more valued than the partners, and that this difference is higher in the case of men. Finally, we find differences in the valuation of being out of the labor force. We interpret these findings as consequence of a high degree of sexism prevailing in Chile, which masks the full effect of material inequalities in people’s lives.
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Notes
The World Values Survey, the Happy Planet Index (HPI), and the UNDP's Human Development Index are the most recognized worldwide surveys used to get indicators of individuals' subjective well-being (SWB).
Ferrer-i-Carbonell and Frijters (2004) analyze the theoretical and practical implications of this and alternative methodologies, finding few differences in the numbers but indeed some in the interpretation of the coefficients and the model’s assumptions.
We could have also assumed a logistic distribution and thus use an ordered logit model. The results did not differ under each specification, in line with the results reported by Ferrer-i-Carbonell and Frijters (2004).
The complete tables of average marginal effects for all three specifications are available in Appendix 1.
The “Parallel Lines” assumption was rejected for most variables and therefore traditional ordinal models are not suitable for analyzing our data. However, for purposes of comparison with our GO average marginal effects, we present the biased estimates from an ordinal probit model in Appendix 2.
Bauer's and Sinning's (2008) decomposition depends on choosing a reference group for valuation and endowments effects. When changing the reference group from women to men, coefficients differences continue to narrow the gap caused by disparities in gender's endowments but are less effective doing so.
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Acknowledgements
This work has benefited from the comments of Marjorie Murray. We also thank the financial support for the Projects CIE01 from Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica (CONICYT), Centro de Estudios de Políticas y Prácticas en Educación (CEPPE) and Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (FONDECYT) No. 1140980.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Full Average Marginal Effects Tables from Generalized Ordinal Models (Williams 2006)
Appendix 2: Ordinal Probit Coefficients
See Table 7.
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Boncompte, J.G., Paredes, R.D. Human Capital Endowments and Gender Differences in Subjective Well-Being in Chile. J Happiness Stud 21, 241–269 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00085-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-019-00085-y