Introduction to the Special Issue 'The Determinants of Gender Gaps'

This volume contributes to advancing our knowledge on the determinants of gender gaps. It focuses on the role of historical factors in shaping persistent gender gaps and on how careful institutional design can allow different outcomes to reflect only differences in abilities rather than differences in gender. The contributions collected in this volume emphasize that there is no unique determinant of the gender gaps and that the gender gap itself is a multidimensional, complex indicator. They also shed new light on critical factors which favour, on the one side, the emergence of gender gaps and, on the other, reduce their importance. At the end of the 90s, differences in the accumulation of human capital and (taste-based or statistical) discrimination were the main explanation for gender differences on the labour market (Bertrand 2011). Though these explanations have not been abandoned, they have been enriched by analyses of gender differences in psychological traits and preferences and of social norms on what is appropriate for men and women, i.e. gender culture (see Fernandez 2007; Fernandez and Fogli 2009). The two keynote contributions by Alison Booth, together with Patrick Nolen and Paola Giuliano can be cast in this light.