Do Multinationals Transfer Culture? Evidence on Female Employment in China

Arbeitspapier

We study the global diffusion of culture through multinationals, focusing on gender norms. Using data on manufacturing firms in China over 2004-2007, we find that foreign affiliates from countries with a more gender-equal culture tend to employ proportionally more women and appoint female managers. They also generate cultural spillovers, increasing domestic firms’ female labor shares in the same industry or city. Based on a multi-sector model with firm heterogeneity in productivity, gender biases, and learning, we perform counterfactual exercises. Hypothetically eliminating firms’ gender biases raises China’s aggregate total factor productivity by 5%, of which spillovers from multinationals account for 19%.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 6295

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Neoclassical Models of Trade ; International Investment; Long-term Capital Movements ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Firm Organization and Market Structure ; Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
• Subject: cultural spillover ; gender inequality ; FDI ; misallocation

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Tang, Heiwai ; Zhang, Yifan
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2017

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/155537
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET