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Job protection: The Macho hypothesis

Author

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  • Pierre Cahuc
  • Yann Algan
Abstract
The employment rate of women is twice as high in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries compared to Mediterranean ones while this gap is close to zero for men. This phenomenon is generally explained by institutions such as labor market and family policies. In this paper it is argued that the institutions detrimental to women employment are shaped by the male breadwinner conception linked to religious values. First, by using international individual value surveys, we document that Catholic are more likely to support such "macho values" than the Protestant. Second, we develop a model showing that such a social status bias gives rise to job protection and family policies detrimental to women employment. These predictions are strongly supported by OECD panel data regressions including country-fixed effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre Cahuc & Yann Algan, 2004. "Job protection: The Macho hypothesis," 2004 Meeting Papers 332, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed004:332
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Political economy; Social status; Job protection; Family policies; Religion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General

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