Investigating The Effect of Gender Inequality in the Academic Education of Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) on the Economic Growth of Iran: A Structural Time Series Approach

Document Type : Scientific paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. student in economics, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran,

2 Associate Professor of Economics, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran.

3 Professor of Economics, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran,

Abstract

Education, especially in academic fields of basic sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), is one of the significant indicators of human capital. STEM represents the economy's capacity for innovation and creativity, which forms the core of economic growth. The current research used the model of Knowles et al. (2002), who have added gender inequality in education to the economic growth model of Mankiw, Romer, and Weil (1992), to investigate the effect of gender inequality in STEM and deal with the economic growth of Iran in the period of 1988 to 2020. In this study, due to the random nature of unobservable factors affecting economic growth such as technological progress, the structural time series econometric model (STSM) approach was used. The results of the estimation showed that the positive effect of women's enrollment in STEM on economic growth is greater than the effect of men's enrollment, and the increase in gender inequality in STEM has a negative and significant effect on economic growth in Iran. Therefore, adopting appropriate policies in the labor market to eliminate gender discrimination will lead to gender equality in the education of these academic fields; because the sustainable growth of the economy depends on the intertwining of labor market policies and other institutions, including educational institutions.

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Main Subjects

References

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Macroeconomics Research Letter
Volume 16, Issue 32
December 2021
Pages 191-217

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History

  • Receive Date: 16 January 2022
  • Revise Date: 15 September 2022
  • Accept Date: 01 November 2022

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