By Amanda Loudin
What makes one country wealthy and another poor? And within those countries, what causes the wealth gaps between genders? These were a few of the questions pondered by Paola A. Suarez, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics in the Stillman School of Business, when considering a major for undergraduate studies at George Mason University.
As an immigrant from Bolivia who arrived to the United States in high school, Suarez’s curiosity was piqued through her own lens of comparison. “The difference in quality of life was enormous,” she explains. “Bolivia is a poor, developing country, but it’s not even close to the poorest. I was curious why, and when I took an economics class in high school, I became interested in economic development.”
Suarez entered George Mason with that curiosity intact and began pursuing a degree in economics. There she began to understand economic disparities and became interested in how that shook out along gender lines. “I found economics to be a powerful tool, and I loved that it’s so very broadly applicable,” she says. “It has helped me understand things about the world that I couldn’t before.”
As Suarez pursued economics through her academic career, she realized how much the field informs social science. To her, economics serves to identify patterns of human behavior in all walks of life. “It doesn’t explain everything,” she says, “but it can be applied in incredibly diverse ways.”
Suarez designed her thesis around the phenomenon of child brides in developing countries where parents exhibit strong preferences for sons. Her research concluded that the frequency of child bride arrangements in developing countries motivated the international community’s campaign to “end child marriage.” However, Suarez learned, although such efforts may improve some outcomes for females — like health and education — they may worsen others. This is particularly true in countries with a strong preference for sons, such as India.
More recently, Suarez has turned her attention to women in the labor market in the United States. “There are different characteristics in the jobs women seek versus men,” she explains. “The distinct investments in education and work experience made by women versus men are tied to the difference in the demand for care-taking activities that women tend to disproportionately face.”
Suarez and a colleague explored the types of jobs women seek in traditional and gig economy jobs. Using the Occupational Information Network database, Suarez found that women seek jobs that allow for greater flexibility. “This might look like jobs with a shorter workweek, for example, or jobs that offer autonomy in completing required tasks,” she says. “But when traditional jobs pose constraints, especially when women are the main childcare provider, they are more likely to seek out independent contract work.”
Amanda Loudin is a Maryland-based freelance writer.
