Esther Ann Boler

Globalisation: A Woman’s Best Friend?

While the impact of globalisation on income inequality has received a lot of attention, little is known about its effect on the gender wage gap (GWG). In a study by Esther Ann Bøler, together with Beata Javorcik and Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe, the authors argue that there is a systematic difference in the GWG between exporting firms and non-exporters. By the virtue of being exposed to higher competition, exporters require greater commitment and flexibility from their employees. If commitment is not easily observable and women are perceived as less committed workers than men, exporters will statistically discriminate against female employees and will exhibit a higher GWG than non-exporters.

Esther Ann Bøler's research interests lie at the intersection of international trade, labour economics and productivity and innovation. Current work includes a paper on the relationship between innovation and relative skill demand at the firm level. Firms invest in research and development (R&D) to develop new or improved products or production processes. If skilled workers are more adaptable to this changing environment or perform tasks that are less substitutable with improved technology, firms investing in R&D will increase the relative demand for skilled workers. Her findings have important implications for understanding the link between innovation and inequality, for unbiased productivity estimation and for policy.

While visiting CESifo, Ms Bøler will work on a new project focusing on the evolution of connections between Colombian firms and their foreign counterparts from 1995 to 2014. The project is joint work with Andrew Bernard (Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth) and Swati Dhingra (LSE).

Esther Ann Bøler is Assistant Professor at Imperial College Business School in London, and a Research Affiliate at CEPR and CEP. She obtained her PhD from the University of Oslo in 2016.