Astghik Mavisakalyan

Women in the boardroom and fraud: Evidence from Australia

We examine the relationship between women’s representation on corporate boards and fraud. Drawing on a discussion of existing studies, we hypothesise that increasing women’s representation on boards can help mitigate fraud. We provide validation to our conjecture through an empirical analysis of 128 publicly listed companies in Australia. We show that the increase in women’s representation on company boards is associated with a decreased probability of fraud. We demonstrate the consistency of this result across different robustness checks. We believe that our findings could be of interest to policy makers interested in enhancing board governance and monitoring.

Immigration and School Choice in Australia

This article examines the relationship between the share of immigrants in a locality and private versus public school choices of natives and immigrants in Australia. Using the 2001 Australian Census data, it finds that private school attendance among native‐born Australians is higher in localities with a higher share of immigrant populations. Immigrants’ private school attendance is lower where the share of their like‐type immigrants is higher. These effects vary with the presence of a common language and ethnic background between the natives and the immigrants. Overall, the results suggest the possibility of a ‘flight’ from unfamiliar cultures in the Australian school system.

Constitutions and the Political Agency of Women: A Cross-Country Study

ABSTRACT The underrepresentation of women in parliaments worldwide warrants attention to discern underlying sources. This study examines one potential source: the countries’ constitutions. Based on a large cross-country dataset from 2011, the study demonstrates that womens representation in parliament is larger in countries with constitutional protection from gender-based discrimination. Baseline estimates suggest that the presence of such protection results in over a 3.5 percentage point increase in womens share of parliamentary seats. The study probes some underlying mechanisms and shows that places with constitutional protection from gender-based discrimination are likely to have legislation directly targeting womens underrepresentation. The results underscore the role of constitutional design in promoting womens political agency.

Linguistic Structures and Economic Outcomes

Linguistic structures have recently started to attract attention from economists as determinants of economic phenomena. This paper provides the first comprehensive review of this nascent literature and its achievements so far. First, we explore the complex connections between language, culture, thought and behaviour. Then, we summarize the empirical evidence on the relationship between linguistic structures and economic and social outcomes. We follow up with a discussion of data, empirical design and identification. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future research and policy.

Do employers reward physical attractiveness in transition countries

HighlightsI study labour market return to attractiveness in transition countries.Attractive looks have a positive effect on males’ employment probability.Partial identification approach to study of returns to attractiveness is applied.I discuss the role of employer discrimination in explaining the relationship. Abstract This paper studies the labour market returns to physical attractiveness using data from three transition countries of the Caucasus: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. I estimate a large positive effect of attractive looks on males’ probability of employment. Results from the most comprehensive model suggest a marginal effect of 11.1 percentage points. Using a partial identification approach, I show that this relationship is likely to be causal. After accounting for covariates, particularly measures of human capital, there is no evidence for a statistically significant link between females’ attractiveness and employment.

Gender gaps in long-term earnings and retirement wealth: The effects of education and parenthood

We measure gender gaps in long-term earnings and retirement wealth over the 15-year period from 2001 to 2015. Our analysis of data from the Housing, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey generates new estimates of the effects of education on men’s and women’s long-term earnings. These show that whilst university qualifications improve women’s long-term earnings, university education does not, on average, lift women’s earnings above those attained by men with a high school qualification. The increment in long-term earnings associated with parenthood also shows a large gender gap favouring men. Parenthood is associated with higher long-term earnings for men but on average this factor has a strong negative association with women’s earnings. The article also maps the consequences of the gender gap in long-term earnings for retirement wealth in the form of superannuation. The results show how the large gender gaps in retirement wealth reflect in large part the economic costs arising from the gendered division of roles associated with parenthood in many Australian households.

Self-assessed vs. statistical evidence of racial discrimination: the case of indigenous Australians

ABSTRACT This paper provides new insights on the labour market discrimination faced by indigenous Australians one of the most disadvantaged indigenous populations in developed countries. Combining two large, nationally representative datasets, we decompose the employment gap between indigenous and non-indigenous populations as of 2014–2015, and show that differences in characteristics between the two groups account for only 43% of the employment gap for females, and 23% of the gap for males. We then demonstrate that statistical measures are positively related to discrimination reports of females and negatively related to discrimination reports of males. Our findings underscore the importance of improving transparency in employment processes for addressing the issue of disadvantage of racial minorities.