Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/226343 
Year of Publication: 
2020
Series/Report no.: 
IAI Discussion Papers No. 249
Publisher: 
Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Ibero-America Institute for Economic Research (IAI), Göttingen
Abstract: 
This article investigates how trade liberalization affects gender and racial pay inequalities in the short run. Guided by an intersectional perspective, we consider overlapping effects across gender, race, and wage levels. We exploit Brazil's trade liberalization process (1988-95) as a natural experiment. On average, liberalization increased wages of nonwhite women relative to men and white women. However, this average effect masks substantial heterogeneity. When we decompose pay gaps along the wage distribution, we find that liberalization reduced racial and gender discrimination at low wages, which mitigated preexisting "sticky floors" by gender. In contrast, at the top of the distribution, liberalization increased racial discrimination, which reinforced existing "glass ceilings" by race.
Subjects: 
trade liberalization
wage inequality
intersectionality
gender, race
JEL: 
F13
F14
J15
J71
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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