Jacobsen to Speak on Equality

On Thursday, May 1st at 7:30 P.M., Joyce P. Jacobsen, Andrew Professor of Economics and Dean of Social Sciences & Director of Global Initiatives at Wesleyan University, will speak to the Middlebury College community about the economics of gender inequality.

David K. Smith Chair in Applied Economics Phanindra V. Wunnava invited Jacobsen, an authority on gender economics, to speak on campus as part of the D.K. Smith ’42 Lecture Series. Jacobsen has an A.B. in economics from Harvard/Radcliffe College, a M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.

She is the author and co-editor of many books and articles, including, “Labor Force Participation” in the Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, “The Effects of Child-Bearing on Married Women’s Labor Supply and Earnings: Using Twin Births as a Natural Experiment” in Journal of Human Resources, Labor Markets and Employment Relationships, and The Economics of Gender.

Discussing her work, Professor Wunnava said, “The Economics of Gender is a masterpiece in providing a comprehensive, and up-to-date introduction to the contemporary research being conducted on the differences between women’s and men’s economic opportunities, activities, and rewards.”

Jacobsen will focus on this topic during her May 1 lecture. The talk will discuss how gender inequality pervades the world, using the workforce as a case in point.

Jacobsen will point to the fact that women are less likely to participate in the formal work sector than men, that women are more likely to live in poverty than men, and that more women work in the household sector than men. The takeaway, which Jacobsen will discuss, is that these gender structures hold women back, prohibiting them from developing their absolute potential in the workforce and thereby capping national productivity at a level lower than it would otherwise be with full female participation.

The lecture will discuss how to quantify this gendered opportunity cost by studying high GDP growth scenarios. Professor Jacobsen has estimated that world GDP lost 17-37 percent in 1900, 7-16 percent in 2010 and will lose 4-9 percent in 2050 if trends continue.

Jacobsen will pose hypotheticals of what a gender-neutral world could have produced 110 years ago, or what it could produce 40 years into the future. She will look at factors like son-favoring and the many girls who were not born as a result, the cost of educating women, and the lost household output from a female move into the formal work sector. These points will generate a key question in her lecture — How much is society willing to lose by excluding women from the workforce and how much is society willing to invest to reap the potential gains from reducing gender inequality?

Wunnava spoke to the event and its pertinence to the College community.

“I am so excited that Professor Jacobsen will be sharing her research on the ill effects of gender inequality at Middlebury. Her work is indeed timely given the recent push by President Obama about gender equality pay structure and ‘The Equal Pay Act’.” Jacobsen, one of a few prominent economists who paved Dr. Janet Yellen’s way to be the next Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, will share her experience with the politics of gender economics.

Joyce Jacobsen has visited Middlebury before when she delivered a C.A. Johnson Lecture in 2001. As a leading authority in her field, she will bring a powerful voice back to the community during her lecture on May 1. She will leave those who choose to attend with a greater sense of the economics of inequality, poverty, and gender discrimination.