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“COERCIVE COOPERATION”? ONTARIO'S PAY EQUITY ACT OF 1988 AND THE GENDER PAY GAP
Author(s) -
McDonald Judith A.,
Thornton Robert J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
contemporary economic policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.454
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1465-7287
pISSN - 1074-3529
DOI - 10.1111/coep.12094
Subject(s) - pay equity , gender pay gap , equity (law) , economics , wage , public economics , labour economics , business , political science , law
Evaluating the effect of pay‐equity laws is important and yet difficult as one needs to deduce what would have occurred without the policy intervention. We use a new tool, synthetic‐control method, to examine the effects of Ontario's Pay Equity Act on the gender pay gap. This tool enables us to create a “Synthetic” Ontario, which resembles Ontario more closely than does any other single province. Using Synthetic Ontario to compare what actually happened in Ontario to what would have happened, we find that the act has had little or no effect on the female‐male wage gap in Ontario. ( JEL J7, J3)