Human Capital Investment and the Gender Division of Labor in a Brawn-Based Economy
Mark M. Pitt, Mark R. Rosenzweig, Mohammad Nazmul Hassan
American Economic Review · 2012 · Volume 102 · Issue 7
Abstract
A model of human capital investment and activity choice is used to explain facts describing gender differentials in the levels and returns to human capital investments and occupational choice. These include the higher return to and level of schooling, the small effect of healthiness on wages, and the large effect of healthiness on schooling for females relative to males. The model incorporates gender differences in the level and responsiveness of brawn to nutrition in a Roy-economy setting in which activities reward skill and brawn differentially. Evidence from rural Bangladesh provides support for the model and the importance of the distribution of brawn.
Keywords
Education and Research Institutions: General, Economics of Gender, Non-labor Discrimination, Human Capital, Skills, Occupational Choice, Labor Productivity, Economic Development: Human Resources, Human Development, Income Distribution, Migration, Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis, Housing, Infrastructure
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