Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
健康、性别分工与生产率
Health, Gender Division of Labor, and Productivity
摘要
This paper studies the impact of health on structural transformation and aggregate productivity in low-income economies through its effects on the gender-based division of labor across sectors. I develop a two-sector general equilibrium model in which returns to health are higher for men than for women in agriculture, implying that health improvements reallocate female labor toward nonagriculture. The model is calibrated to African economies. Quantitative results show that health improvements substantially reduce the agricultural employment share—particularly among women—and increase aggregate labor productivity. Over one-third of the productivity gains can be attributed to the gender-based division of labor. Policy experiments indicate that health subsidies are more effective than education subsidies in reducing women’s agricultural employment relative to men’s and in improving aggregate productivity and welfare.
中文摘要
本文研究了健康状况如何通过影响性别分工在不同部门间的分布，进而对低收入经济体的结构转型和总体生产率产生影响。我构建了一个两部门一般均衡模型，在该模型中，农业部门中男性健康回报高于女性，这意味着健康改善会促使女性劳动力向非农业部门转移。模型针对非洲经济体进行了校准。定量结果显示，健康改善显著降低了农业就业份额——尤其是女性农业就业份额——并提高了总体劳动生产率。超过三分之一的生产率提升可归因于基于性别的劳动分工。政策实验表明，相较于教育补贴，健康补贴在减少女性相对于男性的农业就业、提升总体生产率和福利方面更为有效。