Alejandro Hoyos

Evolution of Gender Gaps in Latin America at the Turn of the Twentieth Century: An Addendum to 'New Century, Old Disparities'

This paper complements the findings of Atal, Nopo and Winder (2010) on gender and ethnic wage gaps for 18 Latin American countries circa 2005 by analyzing gender wage gaps for the same countries between circa 1992 and circa 2007. During this span the overall gender earnings gaps dropped about 7 percentage points, while the unexplained component dropped between 3 and 4 percentage points, depending on the control variables used. The gap declined most notably among workers at the bottom of the earnings distribution, with children at home, the self-employed, part-time workers and those in rural areas – the segments of the labor market that were previously reported as having the highest unexplained gender disparities. Most of the reduction in unexplained gaps occurred within segments rather than due to the composition of labor markets. The paper additionally finds a limited role for job tenure in explaining gender wage gaps.

Inequality of opportunities among children : how much does gender matter?

Authors apply a decomposition method to a measure of inequality of opportunities among children (the human opportunity index) to examine the question of how much does gender of a child contribute to inequality in access to critical services that should be available as basic minimum opportunities to all children. Authors use a database of 47 countries for which Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data is available during 2003-2010, four indicators for opportunities and a limited set of circumstances or characteristics of the child. On the average and for most countries, the contribution of gender of the child to inequality of opportunity in two measures of school attendance and immunization tends to be low and much below the contribution of household factors such as economic status and urban/rural location. In a few countries, however, gender still plays a more substantial role in influencing a childs access to a particular service. Preliminary evidence also suggests that inequalities and contributions of gender to inequality across opportunities are correlated, particularly for opportunities in the same sector.

Gender Earnings Gaps in the Caribbean: Evidence from Barbados and Jamaica

This paper analyzes gender earnings gaps in Barbados and Jamaica, using a matching comparisons approach. In both countries, as in most of the Caribbean region, females’ educational achievement is higher than that of males. Nonetheless, males’ earnings surpass those of their female peers. Depending on the set of control characteristics, males’ earnings surpass those of females by between 14 and 27 percent of average females’ wages in Barbados, and between 8 and 17 percent of average females’ wages in Jamaica. In the former, the highest earnings gaps are found among low-income workers. Results from both countries confirm a finding that has been recurrent with this matching approach: the complete elimination of gender occupational segregation in labor markets would increase rather than reduce gender earnings gaps. The evidence is mixed regarding segregation by economic sectors. Occupational experience, in the case of Barbados, and job tenure, in the case of Jamaica, help to explain existing gender earnings gaps.

Anemia and Child Education: The Case of Colombia

Welfare programs in Colombia have focused on both reducing malnutrition and hunger and increasing school attendance. But there is not much evidence on the hypothesized relationship between nutrition status and schooling outcomes. Using the National Survey of Nutritional Status in Colombia – 2005 ( ensin ) and the Demographic and Health Survey – 2005 ( dhs ), this paper estimates the impact of nutrition on schooling outcomes. The results suggest that anemic children have a higher probability of being overage in school. Malnutrition, defined by anthropometric measures, does not have an impact on the probability of being overage. School attendance seems to be unrelated to nutrition measures. The results are consistent under different specifications.