The Economics of Women, Men, and Work (4th Edition) [Paperback]

Francine D. Blau (Author), Marianne A. Ferber (Author), Anne E. Winkler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 17, 2001 | ISBN-10: 013090922X | ISBN-13: 978-0130909220 | Edition: 4

For courses concerned with the economic status of women, economics of gender, and economics of the family, but also applicable to interdisciplinary women's studies courses, introductory-level courses in economic problems, and as a supplement to general labor economics courses. This text draws into a single, highly accessible volume the most current summary and synthesis of research and data from economics and other social sciences on women, men, and work in the labor market and household.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Totally updated and revised, the fourth edition reflects recent changes in the labor market and in the family. Like previous editions, this text offers the most current summary and synthesis of research and data on gender issues in these areas in a single volume. Here are just a few of the features you can look forward to in the new edition:

• The text highlights recent developments in the labor market: the declining gender pay gap; the effect of changes in welfare policy on single mothers' employment; growing wage inequality; the declining employment prospects of less educated men; and the rise of nonstandard employment arrangements.
• All discussions concerning policy have been thoroughly revised. Updates include expanded discussion of the glass ceiling, affirmative action, and anti-discrimination legislation; policies that affect paid work and families; the 1996 welfare legislation (TANF) and its impact on welfare case loads and economic well-being; child support enforcement; tax polices; child care; and more.
• Discussion questions have been added at the end of each chapter to stimulate further discussion among students and instructors. Answers to the discussion questions, along with the transparency masters for all figures and tables, can found on the instructor's Web site at www.prenhall.com/blau.

About the Author

Francine Blau

Francine D. Blau is Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Labor Economics.  She is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Research Fellow of the Center for Economic Studies/Ifo Institute in Munich, Germany and of IZA in Bonn, Germany.

Professor Blau is currently first Vice President of the Society of Labor Economics and will serve as its President in 2006.  She is also Chair of the American Economic Association Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession.  She has served as President of the Industrial Relations Research Association, Vice President of the American Economic Association, and President of the Midwest Economics Association.  She is a fellow of the Society of Labor Economics and of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and 2001 recipient of the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the American Economic Association Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession for furthering the status of women in the economics profession.  She was formerly an editor of the Journal of Labor Economics, on the Board of Editors of the American Economic Review, on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Economic Perspectives, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Professor Blau has written extensively on gender issues, wage inequality and international comparisons of labor market outcomes.  She has published articles in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Economica, the Review of Economics and Statistics, and other major journals.  She is the author of Equal Pay in the Office and, with Lawrence Kahn, of At Home and Abroad: U.S. Labor Market Performance in International Perspective (recipient of the Richard A. Lester Prize for the outstanding book in labor economics and industrial relations for 2002).  She is also coauthor, with Marianne Ferber and Anne Winkler, of The Economics of Women, Men, and Work currently going into its 5th edition.

Marianne A. Ferber

Marianne A. Ferber, Professor of Economics and Women's Studies, Emerita, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, was born in Czechoslovakia in 1923, obtained her BA at McMaster University in Canada in 1944 and her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago in 1954. She was Distinguished Visiting Professor at Radcliffe (1993-95), president of the Midwest Economic Association (1986-87) and president of the International Association for Feminist Economics (1995-97). She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from McMaster University (1996), the Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession (2002), and an honorary doctorate from the University of Eastern Illinois. 2002. She serves on the editorial boards of Feminist Economics, and of the Review of Social Economy.

She is editor of Women in the Labor Market, 1998, co-editor of Work and Family, 1991; Beyond Economic Man, 1993 (translated into Korean); Academic Couples, 1997; Nonstandard Work, 2000, and Feminist Economics Today, 2003 translated into Spanish). She has published in economics, sociology, education and women's studies journals.

Anne E. Winkler

Anne E. Winkler is Professor of Economics and Public Policy Administration at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.   She is also a Research Affiliate at the National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan.  She received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her undergraduate degree in economics from Wesleyan University.   Professor Winkler’s main research interests are in the economics of gender, the economics of the family, and welfare and poverty.  She is co-author (with Francine D. Blau and Marianne A. Ferber) of the third and subsequent editions of The Economics of Women, Men and Work, published by Prentice Hall.   Her work has appeared in economics and broader social science journals including Journal of Human Resources, Research in Labor Economics, Monthly Labor Review, Demography, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and Journal of Urban Economics. Prof. Winkler previously served as 2^nd Vice President of the Midwest Economics Association and as President of the St. Louis Chapter of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 446 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 4 edition (July 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 013090922X
• ISBN-13: 978-0130909220
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 6.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,831,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gender Equity as Mainstream Economists See it, July 19, 2000

By 

teresa ghilarducci (south bend, in USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Economics of Women, Men, and Work (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

This book can be read at many levels -- used for a course or read as needed. You can answer questions like: How is unfair discrimination measured? Why do jobs that employ women pay less than those that employ men even if the requirements are similar. Go beyond romantic love to answer questions about whether marriage makes sense. Does welfare make peole work less? These two academics represent mainstream, what is called "institutional labor econmics." Anyone interested in the labor market, gender equity, international comparisons on how women are doing will find this book accessible. You do not have to have formal education in economics.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Economic theory of work and gender, August 26, 2005

By 

Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Economics of Women, Men and Work (Hardcover)

This book is an overview of how gender and race play into neo-classical economic theory. The authors discuss both macro- and micro-economic models, and how differences in gender and race can be explained using the models. Topics covered include: gender roles and economic development (in the US), division of labor within the family, allocation of time between the household and the labor market, consequences of women's employment for the family, differences in occupations and earnings, joblessness, and sex differences in other countries. The discussion is confined primarily to the US economy, although the theoretical aspects should be applicable elsewhere, and there is a brief section at the end of the book examining a few economic aspects of gender in developing countries, the U.S.S.R, and Sweden. Although the text generally focuses on gender differences, racial differences are also discussed with almost every topic. For the most part, the book examines only the economics of married heterosexual women, and women who are single or partners in same-sex unions fall outside the scope of the discussion. More in-depth explorations of theoretical issues are provided in appendices which follow several of the chapters. Each chapter includes a brief list of suggested readings. End material consists of an author index and a subject index.

The authors strongly advocate for women engaging in the labor market rather than restricting their work to household activities. They argue that this will likely maximize household income both in the short run and the long term, and provide a much better chance of financial viability for a woman and her children in case her marriage dissolves through divorce or widowhood. They also point out national policies, such as limited subsidies for childcare, that tend to make working in the labor market less attractive for American women. They point out that the families of women who take part in the labor market do not suffer adversely, and that the benefits for the family outweigh the costs.

Rather than simply reporting the facts about gender differences relating to economics, the authors seek to explain motivations and behaviors through economic theory. The book is filled with charts of supply-and-demand-type "indifference curves", designed to show how a typical person feels about participating in the labor market, and at what point he or she will join or leave the market according to possible financial returns. These charts are used both to explain labor market statistics, and to argue the authors' point that women should participate in the labor market. I found the explanatory approach interesting in its attempts to provide a theoretical basis for observed gender differences. However, I'm not entirely convinced that the assumptions that the theory is based on are correct. For example, the authors assume that couples will strive to maximize their income, but is this the real goal that couples are working towards? What about couples who seek to maximize their satisfaction in their family relationships, or their children's development, or those whose financial goal is only to earn "enough" and not to spend a single superfluous minute in the labor market? And what about those who participate in the labor market solely for the joy of it, and not for the financial returns? The possibility that some individuals might have different goals that would affect their participation in the labor market would probably complicate the models found here so much as to make them unworkable. The models must be made simple in order to work, but since the real world is more complex, it's not clear how relevant the simple models are for the real world. In general, the authors tend to overlook or downplay cultural factors that may have stronger effects on economic behavior than the theoretical economic factors that they discuss. Nevertheless, the book provides an interesting starting point for analyzing gender differences in economic behavior, and it also provides an excellent overview of research on women's labor market participation in the US through the 1980s.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great service, January 30, 2012

By 

emilywil - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Economics of Women, Men, and Work, The (6th Edition) (Paperback)

Said it was going to be here between Feb. 1st and Feb. 24th, I received it January 30th Great service, good quality book.