International competitiveness and gender inequality: rethinking the balance-of-payments constrained growth model

Grazini, Chiara and Guarini, Giulio and Srinivas, Raghavendra (2026) International competitiveness and gender inequality: rethinking the balance-of-payments constrained growth model. Review of Keynesian Economics, 14 (3). pp. 365-400. ISSN 2049-5323

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Abstract

The paper aims to introduce a gender-sensitive balance-of-payment constrained growth (BoPCG) model by analyzing the relationship between international competitiveness and gender division of labor, primarily focusing on developing countries. The BoPCG model posits that long-term output growth is driven mainly by export expansion, maintaining trade account equilibrium. While there is some early literature on the gendered consequences of trade liberalization, the consequences for women have been explored little. To analyze the women’s perspective on international competitiveness strategies, the novelty of this paper is the introduction of the gender division of labor in the BoPCG model: social norms allocate the primary responsibility for social reproduction to women, so that their time allocation is divided across market paid work and unpaid home care. The paper analytically demonstrates that disequilibrium adjustment mechanisms ultimately depend on women’s time allocation between market work and unpaid self-care. In the short term, international price competitiveness is driven by low women’s wages, thereby generating time stress for women due to gendered caregiving norms. In the long run, adequate social care infrastructure allows women to increase paid labor without compromising care time and reducing time stress. Disequilibrium adjustment in the model shows how international trade could reinforce structural inequalities by reinforcing the gender inequality that women unequally bear in capitalist economies.

Item Type:	Article
Authors:	Grazini, Chiara and Guarini, Giulio and Srinivas, Raghavendra
Document Language:	Language English
Subjects:	Social sciences > Sociology & anthropology Social sciences > Sociology & anthropology > Factors affecting social behavior > Human ecology
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru
Full Text Status:	Restricted
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/7933
Publisher URL:	https://doi.org/10.4337/roke.2026.03.05

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